30.10.2002
Effective 1 January 2003 Feuerstein will assume responsibility for the areas of Buying/Imports, Advertising, Catering and also for food retailing. In doing so he succeeds Joachim Suhr (55) who will leave operational management on 31 December 2002 in line with his personal life plan. Joachim Suhr will continue to be available to the group in a consultative capacity.
The Chairman of the METRO AG Supervisory Board, Jan von Haeften, paid tribute to the achievements of Joachim Suhr: "Joachim Suhr’s departure means that an experienced and highly regarded retail manager is leaving the group. With his high level of competence, new concepts and strategic far-sightedness he has contributed to the positive development of METRO AG." Joachim Suhr joined Metro in 1986 as a member of the management of Metro Cash & Carry in Duesseldorf. Since the inception of METRO AG in the year 1996 he has been a Member of the Management Board.
Dr. Hans-Joachim Körber, Chairman and CEO of METRO AG, emphasized that Joachim Suhr had significantly shaped the concept and development of Strategic Buying and Category Management within the group. "In Stefan Feuerstein the company has found an experienced marketing and sales expert as a successor who will in the years to come vigorously push ahead the concepts and strategies, like the internationalization of procurement, so successfully introduced by Suhr," said Körber.
Stefan Feuerstein has for some three years been the spokesman of the management of Real Holding GmbH. During this time the Real hypermarkets were able to improve their performance substantially in spite of a difficult economic environment. Previously, Feuerstein had a successful spell as the management spokesman of Metro Großhandelsgesellschaft mbH, Duesseldorf for several years.
