The supervisory board of the energy group is to be headed by Erich Clementi in the future.
(Photo: imago images / Rupert Oberhäuser)
Eat After seven years, Karl-Ludwig Kley is giving up his position as chairman of the supervisory board at the energy company Eon. On Tuesday afternoon, the committee proposed his previous deputy, Erich Clementi, as his successor. The new chief controller will be officially elected at the general meeting in May. Born in Italy, Clementi has been a member of the Supervisory Board since 2016.
His experience as a supervisor was a key reason why he proposed Clementi as his successor, Kley said in an interview with the Handelsblatt. “I think it makes sense to already be on the supervisory board and thus to know Eon well.”
But the IT background of the 64-year-old also played a major role. The business administration graduate worked in various positions at the US group IBM for over 35 years. Among other things, Clementi helped set up the IT service provider’s cloud service. “Digitization and information technology will be the decisive drivers of the future,” said Kley.
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For a long time, the 71-year-old was considered the most powerful supervisory board in Germany. Kley held three mandates at the same time: chief controller at Eon and Lufthansa and deputy at BMW. He gave up his position at the carmaker in 2021 after 13 years. Kley only wants to keep the post at Lufthansa. At the beginning of May he is to be re-elected for another three years.
Under Kley, Eon has completely changed its business through the spin-off of the coal and gas group Uniper, the mega deal with RWE and a change of boss. “Financially, we have achieved an attractive rating over the past few years. And we have a reasonable equity ratio again. Then we built a strong management team around Leonhard Birnbaum,” Kley sums up.
For a long time, the manager was considered the most powerful supervisory board in Germany.
(Photo: imago images / sepp spiegl)
After the restructuring, the focus is now on digitization. All processes are to be digitally optimized – in sales, but also in the energy networks. The 1.5 million kilometer long lines are to become the intelligently controlled control center for the energy transition – and bring new sales for the group.
This also applies to new digital products for more than 50 million customers. Eon wants to work with industry giants such as Microsoft, Google and SAP, but also with start-ups. At the end of last year, Eon completely took over the Munich start-up GridX. The start-up develops solutions for intelligent control in the power grid.
Kley once said that for Eon’s realignment, the main thing in the coming years will be to further develop the company as a driver of the European energy transition in the digital age. The 71-year-old is now leaving this task to his successor.
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