Kögel is strengthening its presence in Scandinavia: Kim Aaskov assumes the role of Country Manager for Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway as a long-standing industry expert. With over 25 years of experience in the transport and logistics industry, he will from now on be responsible for the sales business in the Nordic countries from the headquarters in Padborg, Denmark. The new Country Manager has previously worked at Kögel and knows both the internal structures and the specific needs of customers in Northern Europe. A particular focus of his new role lies not only in the sale of vehicles, but also in customer consulting, services and digital offerings. The after-sales area also constitutes one of the strategically important fields.
Nils Reich has taken office as Chairman of the Board of KRAVAG, the logistics and transport insurer. The 45-year-old PhD mathematician takes over the duties from Klaus Endres. Endres was already appointed in April within the R+V Group to the Board of the newly created IT and Operations division. Reich also carries responsibility in a dual role for the entire composite business within the R+V Group, to which KRAVAG also belongs. He brings extensive experience in the claims/accident business. From 2018 to 2023 Reich led the composite division of the Cologne-based AXA Konzern AG for five and a half years. Previously he was Global Head of P&C Retail for the French AXA parent company and thus responsible for coordinating and orchestrating all activities in AXA's composite private client business. Reich began his career in 2008 at the consulting firm Boston Consulting Group, before joining AXA in Cologne in 2015 as Head of
Strategy, Organization and Smart Data. Most recently Reich was responsible for AXA's worldwide health insurance business.
On October 1, Alexander Winter will take over the leadership of the Air & Sea Logistics EMEA business unit at Dachser. He succeeds Marc Meier, who will leave the company at the end of the month. The 53-year-old Austrian Winter comes from DB Schenker (now part of DSV), where he has held various management positions since 1999 with a focus on ocean freight and contract logistics. Since 2018 he has been responsible for Austria and the Southeast Europe region for the Air and Ocean Freight, Road Transport, and Contract Logistics businesses. In his new role as Managing Director Air & Sea Logistics EMEA, Winter reports to Dr. Tobias Burger, COO Air & Sea Logistics.
At the Raben Group, Reiner Heiken has joined the Supervisory Board. Heiken rounds out the current members of the Supervisory Board, Gerard van Kesteren, Stefan Delacher, Ben van de Vrie and Robert Erni. From December 2018 to May 2024 Heiken was CEO of Hellmann Worldwide Logistics. Before his time at Hellmann he held senior leadership positions at DB Schenker and Kühne + Nagel. There he was responsible, among other things, for European-wide activities in the areas of road and rail transport, contract logistics, as well as sea and air freight. His career began in maritime logistics; he is a graduate of Hochschule Bremen with a degree in Nautical Science.
The Members' Assembly of the Association of the Railway Industry in Germany (VDB) e.V. has elected three new members to the VDB Presidium: Kerstin Schreiber (Funkwerk AG), Tim Dawidowsky (Alstom Transportation
Germany GmbH) and Martin Wawra (J.M. Voith SE & Co. KG | VTA). Schreiber, a board member of Funkwerk AG, thus succeeds Dr. Anne-Marie Großmann (Georgsmarienhütte Holding GmbH), who is stepping down from her mandate. Dawidowsky, President Central & Northern Europe of Alstom Transportation Germany GmbH, takes the position from Müslüm Yakisan. And Wawra, Executive Vice President and CEO Rail & Marine of J.M. Voith SE & Co. KG | VTA, follows Cornelius Weitzmann.
Weiterhin im VDB-Präsidium tätig sind Präsident Andre Rodenbeck (Siemens Mobility GmbH), VDB-Vizepräsident Mittelstand Andreas Becker (EPHYMESS Gesellschaft für Elektro-Physikalische Messgeräte mbH), VDB-Vizepräsident Infrastruktur Dr. Michael Bernhardt (Rail Power Systems GmbH), VDB-Vizepräsident Fahrzeuge Jure Mikolčić (Stadler Deutschland GmbH), VDB-Sprecher für Cybersecurity Markus Fritz (Thales | GTS Deutschland GmbH), Thomas Milewski (Schaltbau AG) und Dr. Peter Radina (Knorr-Bremse Systeme für Schienenfahrzeuge GmbH).
Marie-Christine Lombard, CEO of Geodis, has appointed Amaury Valicon as of November 1 to Executive Vice President Europe. He thereby succeeds Thomas Kraus. Since joining the company in 2017, Valicon has served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operations Officer. He will continue to report directly to Marie-Christine Lombard and remain a member of the COMEX. At the same time, Marc Meier, who has more than 30 years of international experience, will become Managing Director Germany-Austria-Switzerland as of October 1. Maurizio Bortolan, former CEO at BRT (Geopost), MAERSK and Number 1, will assume the position of Managing Director Italy on October 1. Meier and Bortolan will report to Valicon.
The contract logistics provider Simon Hegele has announced a leadership change. Stefan Ulrich will withdraw from day-to-day operations as of 30 September 2025 and will support the
company in an advisory capacity until the end of the year. His successor as CEO will be assumed on 1 October 2025 by the long-standing managing directors of the Simon Hegele Group, Mike Winter and Michael Wahl, jointly as Co-CEOs.
Winter brings extensive expertise in the logistics field. He has experience on the OEM side in production logistics and can look back on 25 years of activity in various roles within the corporate group up to managing director and shareholder. Since 2014 he has been responsible for the Healthcare EMEA business. As Co-CEO, Winter will in the future assume global responsibility for the Healthcare business of the Simon Hegele Group.
Wahl has been part of the corporate group for almost twelve years and has helped shape its development there, first as Head of Finance and most recently as CFO and Managing Director. He possesses solid commercial expertise and an understanding of the operational processes in contract logistics. In his new role, Wahl will take overall responsibility for the commercial disciplines as well as the logistics business of the Industrial, Trade and Pharma sectors.
The global real estate services provider CBRE has appointed Stefan Bendix on 1 October as Director and Co-Team Leader Industrial & Logistics Leasing NRW at the Cologne site. He will be primarily responsible for the Ruhr area and reports to Imad El Akrouche, Team Leader Industrial & Logistics Leasing NRW. Bendix has more than 18 years of experience in the industrial and logistics real estate market and was most recently Team Leader & Director Industrial Agency at Savills. Previously, from 2007 to 2018, he worked for JLL.
