Firmenich Elects Barbara Kux as Board Member
30 July 2013 --- Firmenich is pleased to announce the election of Ms. Barbara Kux to its Board of Directors, effective July 1st, 2013. Ms. Kux previously served on the Firmenich Board from May 2008 to October 2011, but had to step down at the end of her three-year term as her role in the Managing Board of Siemens required much of her time.
Firmenich is delighted that she has chosen to rejoin its Board once more. Ms. Kux brings to Firmenich many years of exceptional executive management experience gained during her tenure with leading international companies.
In 2008 she was appointed the first woman to the Managing Board of Siemens AG with responsibilities for Supply Chain Management, Sustainability and Global Shared Services. Under her leadership, Supply Chain Management has achieved profit contributions in the upper single-digit-billion Euro range. As Siemens’ Chief Sustainability Officer Ms. Kux is responsible for the overall sustainability strategy and the marketing of the company's Environmental Portfolio which grew from 19 billion Euros in 2008 to over 33 billion Euros in 2012 and now accounts for 42% of Siemens’ total revenue. In 2012, Siemens was recognized as Supersector Leader “Industrial Goods and Services” in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.
Prior to joining Siemens, Ms. Kux was a member of the Group Management Committee at Royal Philips Electronics N.V. from 2003 to 2008 and has over 30 years of experience in management positions with leading international industrial companies. She started her career as management consultant with McKinsey. Ms. Kux is a member of the Board of Directors of Total S.A. She was recently appointed to the Supervisory Board of Henkel AG & Co. KGaA and to the Board of Directors of Umicore S.A., a global materials technology and recycling group. Furthermore she is a member of the INSEAD Advisory Board and of the Board of Trustees of the Max Schmidheiny Foundation of the University of St. Gallen. Ms. Kux is 59, a Swiss national and holds a Master's Degree in Business Administration with Distinction from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France. Already in 1995 the World Economic Forum in Davos nominated her as “Global Leader of Tomorrow”. Furthermore, the Wall Street Journal and CNN Fortune have recognized her among the leading and most powerful international women in business.
Firmenich is the world’s largest privately owned company in the fragrance and flavor business (No. 2 worldwide).Founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1895, it has created many of the world’s best-known perfumes and flavors that we enjoy each day. Its passion for smell and taste is at the heart of its success. It is renowned for its creativity and innovation, as well as its exceptional understanding of consumer trends. Each year, it invests around 10% of its turnover in R&D, reflecting its continuous desire to understand, share and sublimate the best that nature has to offer. Firmenich had an annual turnover of 2.64 billion Swiss Francs at end June 2012.
