Dr. Dieter Kurz

Dr. Dieter Kurz, Chairman of the Executive Board of Carl Zeiss AG in Oberkochen, will speak on the topic of "Managing for value in a high-tech portfolio company" from the perspective of a company that is one of the largest in the world in the field of optics.

Whether in medical technology and life sciences, system solutions for industrial markets or optical consumer goods, the Carl Zeiss Group is one of the top three players on the global market in almost every one of its five divisions. Innovations determine the company's business. Carl Zeiss generates 65 percent of its revenue with products that are no more than five years old. In line with its motto "We make it visible", the company wants to give its customers the opportunity to recognize the previously invisible. The company has been researching, developing and working on this since its foundation.

Although Carl Zeiss operates as a stock corporation, it is not listed on the stock exchange. Carl Zeiss AG and its sister company Schott AG in Mainz are owned by the Carl Zeiss Foundation. Around 19,500 employees, 8,300 of them in Germany, generated sales of EUR 2.4 billion in the 2005/06 financial year. The company is generating its current growth primarily in the fields of medical technology and semiconductor technology.

After studying physics at the Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen and completing his doctorate, Dr. Dieter Kurz began his professional career in 1979 by joining Carl Zeiss as a project manager. He then held various positions as Head of Development, was Marketing and Sales Manager in North America for two years, among others, and then rose to become Business and Division Manager. From January 1999 he was a member of the Executive Board (technical department), then from January 2001 Spokesman of the Executive Board of Carl Zeiss, before taking over as Chairman of the Executive Board of Carl Zeiss AG on July 1, 2004.

Status: Beginning of 2008