Company Founder Fred Jung Moves to Supervisory Board in Mid-2016 / Michael Class Becomes New CEO of juwi
Now that the juwi group has stabilized and prospects are bright following the reorientation, juwi founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Fred Jung (45) is moving to the Supervisory Board on July 1, 2016. Michael Class (48), currently Managing Director of MVV Umwelt GmbH, is to succeed him as a member of the Executive Board of the company, headquartered in Wörrstadt, in mid-January.
juwi AG, one of the leading companies in the renewable energy sector, has now reached calmer waters after some turbulent years. This stability is a good reason for the current Chairman of the Executive Board, Fred Jung, to hand over his position at the helm of the company, which has good prospects of success in the fields of project development, construction and operation of wind and solar power projects. At the latest Supervisory Board meeting, the Supervisory Board accepted Fred Jung’s request to retire from the business operations of the company and to move to the Supervisory Board of juwi AG in mid-2016.
Jung will be succeeded by Michael Class (48) – who initially will be appointed Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board on January 18, 2016 and thereafter will act as CEO from and after July 1, 2016. Class, who was born in Wehr in the south of Baden, has been Managing Director of MVV Umwelt GmbH of Mannheim since 2008 and has more than 20 years of experience in the energy and environmental sector. Like Fred Jung, he initially received agricultural training before studying general agricultural science at the University of Hohenheim. “I am looking forward to the new challenge of playing a key role in the energy transition with juwi. At the climate conference in Paris, politicians laid the foundations for the energy system of the future. Now, industry will need to consistently follow this path. juwi is very well positioned for these developments,” said Class, who is to join the company in Wörrstadt on January 18, 2016. The other members of the Executive Board are Stephan Hansen and Marcus Jentsch, as well as Fred Jung, who remains a member until mid-2016.
“Following three years of company transformation, the right time has now come to take this step,” said Jung, explaining the reasons for his decision. “Already at the beginning of 2013, I had already decided to retire from business operations after about 20 years of dedication to the development of renewable energy, which I really enjoyed.” In his opinion, juwi now has a sufficiently stable position, in part as a result of the participation of MVV Energie AG, and will continue with a significant role in the energy transition at the national and international level. “I myself will continue to be active in the renewable energy sector as a Supervisory Board Member of juwi AG. At the same time, I will have greater freedom to devote myself to other things, which may not necessarily have anything to do with the energy industry,” Jung adds. Jung founded the company in 1996 with Matthias Willenbacher. Willenbacher left the company at the beginning of 2015.
After MVV Energie AG joined juwi as a new shareholder in 2014 and made a capital increase in the first half of August this year, MVV Energie AG now holds a stake of 63 percent in juwi. The juwi group can therefore look to the future with optimism again. By consistently concentrating on its core business, the company intends to strengthen its position as a leading project developer and operator in Germany and to continue its course for international growth.
Supervisory Board Chairman Dr. Georg Müller thanked Fred Jung for his dedication over the past years: “Over the past 20 years, juwi has become one of the leading companies in the renewable energy sector both in Germany and internationally. In the future too, juwi can benefit from the megatrend of renewable energies. Together with the entire Supervisory Board, I am very pleased that Mr. Jung will continue to be available to us as a member of the Supervisory Board with his experience of juwi and his expertise in the renewables market.“
