Dr. Ing. e.h. Bernhard Plettner (December 2, 1914 in

Oberlahnstein Oberlahnstein () is a part of the city of Lahnstein in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. It lies on the right bank of the Rhine, at the confluence of the Lahn 4 m. above Koblenz, on the Right Rhine railway from Cologne to Frankfurt-on-Main. Oberl ...

– November 2, 1997 in

Erlangen Erlangen (; , ) is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 119,810 inhabitants (as of 30 September 2024), it is the smalle ...

) was a German engineer and manager. From 1971 to 1981 he was

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Siemens AG Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the posit ...

. Plettner studied

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

. After an

internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used to practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and g ...

in 1937 he returned to

Siemens-Schuckertwerke Siemens-Schuckert (or Siemens-Schuckertwerke) was a German electrical engineering company headquartered in Berlin, Erlangen and Nuremberg that was incorporated into the Siemens AG in 1966. Siemens Schuckert was founded in 1903 when Siemens & H ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 1940. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Plettner was especially engaged in restoring the export relations of the firm. Plettner became a member of the board of directors of ''Siemens-Schuckertwerke'' in 1959 and

of this company in 1962. After the merging of ''Siemens-Schuckertwerke'' with

Siemens & Halske AG Siemens & Halske AG (or Siemens-Halske) was a German electrical engineering company that later became part of Siemens. It was founded on 12 October 1847 as ''Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske'' by Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg ...

he was a member of the board of directors of

. In 1971 he was appointed

. When he was succeeded by

Karlheinz Kaske Karlheinz Kaske (April 19, 1928 in Essen – September 27, 1998) was a German manager and CEO of the Siemens AG from 1981 to 1992. Kaske studied Physics at RWTH Aachen and joined Siemens in 1950, when he became an engineer in the Siemens factory a ...

in 1981, Plettner became the first chairman of the supervisory board not to be a member of the Siemens family. He resigned in 1988.

References

*''Shaping the Future. The Siemens Entrepreneurs 1847–2018.'' Ed. Siemens Historical Institute, Hamburg 2018, ..

External links

Presidents and Chief Executive Officers of Siemens AG
Siemens 1914 births 1997 deaths People from Erlangen Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany {{Germany-business-bio-stub