Ekkehard Schulz (born 24 July 1941) is the former

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

and Chairman of the Executive Board of

ThyssenKrupp AG ThyssenKrupp AG (, ; stylized as thyssenkrupp) is a German industrial engineering and steel production multinational conglomerate. It is the result of the 1999 merger of Thyssen AG and Krupp and has its operational headquarters in Duisburg and Es ...

and has been a member of this organization since 1991. Following his retirement in January 2011 he was appointed to the Supervisory Board of ThyssenKrupp AG.

Early life

Ekkehard Schulz was born in the city of

Bromberg Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the Vistula River, River Vistula with its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda River, Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December ...

(in modern-day

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

, but at the time of his birth part of Nazi Germany). He attended school at Clausthal Technical University studying

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sci ...

from which he graduated in 1971. He was a

research assistant A research assistant (RA) is a researcher employed, often on a temporary contract, by a university, a research institute or a privately held organization, for the purpose of assisting in academic or private research. Research assistants are not in ...

and

chief engineer A chief engineer, commonly referred to as "ChEng" or "Chief", is the most senior engine officer of an engine department on a ship, typically a merchant ship, and holds overall leadership and the responsibility of that department..Chief engineer ...

at Clausthal University, which can be found under

Institute of Technology An institute of technology (also referred to as: technological university, technical university, university of technology, technological educational institute, technical college, polytechnic university or just polytechnic) is an institution of t ...

from 1967 to 1972 while obtaining his

doctorate degree A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' ...

in metallurgical engineering. In 1999 he was awarded an honorary professorship by

Clausthal University of Technology The Clausthal University of Technology (german: Technische Universität Clausthal, also referred to as TU Clausthal or TUC) is an institute of technology (''Technische Universität'') in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Lower Saxony, Germany. The small publi ...

. In just two years he was awarded two different doctor's degrees from two different schools. In 2004 he received an honorary doctor title from

Berlin University The Humboldt University of Berlin (german: link=no, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick Willi ...

and in 2005 another from

Aachen University RWTH Aachen University (), also known as North Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Technical University of Aachen, University of Aachen, or ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hoch ...

1970s and 1980s

After working as a research assistant and chief engineer at Clausthal University he moved on to Thyssen in 1972. When he began working for their organization his work focused on

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, scie ...

in different areas of the business. Schulz worked in the technology part of the organization until 1984 when he began to move up into the higher positions of the business group. In 1985 he was appointed deputy member and in 1986 regular member of the Executive Board of Thyssen Stahl AG where his job was being responsible for production. In 1988 he became Head of Technology at Thyssen Stahl AG.

1990s

His career moved forward in the 1990s as he moved up in the company. In 1991 he was appointed Chairman of the Executive Board of Thyssen Stahl AG and member of the Executive board of Thyssen AG. In 1998 he became

and Chairman of the Executive Board of Thyssen AG before becoming in 1999 the first CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of ThyssenKrupp AG after the merger of Thyssen and

Krupp The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Krupp ...

. "Ekkehard Schulz helped guide merging of the two oldest and largest

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

an steelmaking companies in the late 1990s."http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/biography/s-z/schulz-Eckhart-d-1941.html He held that job until retirement in 2011 and then was a member of the Supervisory board of ThyssenKrupp AG until the end of 2011.

References

1941 births German chief executives Living people ThyssenKrupp people Academic staff of the Clausthal University of Technology Businesspeople from Bydgoszcz {{Germany-business-bio-stub