Prof. Dr. Utz Claassen

EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG, headquartered in Karlsruhe, is the third largest German energy company with around five million customers. With currently around 17,700 employees, EnBW achieved annual sales of 9,844 million euros in 2004. The Group's core activities focus on the business areas of electricity, gas and energy and environmental services.

The company is traditionally firmly rooted in Baden-Württemberg. EnBW AG is also active throughout Germany and in other markets in Central and Eastern Europe. The aim is to continue to concentrate on its core competencies in the future and to supply customers with energy and energy-related services safely and competently. The close proximity to customers and their loyalty are ideal prerequisites and also an incentive to continuously improve EnBW's sales structures, to further develop the product range in line with customer requirements and to optimize services along the entire value chain.

In the course of the liberalization of the electricity market, EnBW was one of the first energy companies to offer its electricity throughout Germany. As a pioneer and trailblazer on the energy market, EnBW provides impetus for scientific research and development. The company sees itself as an economically, socially and ecologically responsible company in terms of sustainability. Prof. Dr. Utz Classen, born on May 7, 1963 in Hanover, studied economics at the University of Hanover. From 1985 to 1987, he was a Michael Wills Scholar at Magdalen College, University of Oxford, and undertook research at Templeton College, The Oxford Centre for Management Studies.

After working as a management consultant at McKinsey, Prof. Dr. Classen completed his doctorate at the University of Hanover in 1989. From 1989 to 1997, he held various management positions at Ford Europe, Brentwood / Essex and Cologne, Volkswagen AG, Wolfsburg and SEAT S.A. in Barcelona.

From 1997 to 2003, Prof. Dr. Claassen held the position of Chairman of the Executive Board of Sartorius AG, Göttingen. From 2001 to 2003, he was Chairman of the Association of the Precision Engineering and Optical Industry, Cologne. Cologne and a member of the Executive Board of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), Berlin. In November 2001, he was appointed honorary professor at the University of Hanover. In January 2003, he received the "Knowledge Manager of the Year 2002" award.

Prof. Dr. Utz Claassen has been Chairman of the Management Board of Energie Baden-Württemberg AG, Karlsruhe, since May 2003. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Verband der Elektrizitätswirtschaft e.V. (VDEW), Frankfurt and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Verband der Verbundunternehmen und Regionalen Energieversorger in Deutschland - VRE e.V., Berlin.

Status: Beginning of 2006