OREANDA-NEWS. Just a few weeks before E.ON and Uniper begin to operate separately, the E.ON Supervisory Board has made a number of important personnel decisions, with the result that the future leadership teams of both companies are now complete. Bernhard Reutersberg, a member of the E.ON Management Board, will be the Chairman of the Uniper Supervisory Board. He will end his service on the E.ON Management Board effective June 30, 2016, after the Annual Shareholders Meeting. Karsten Wildberger will become a member of the E.ON Management Board in the second quarter of 2016 as Chief Markets Officer. Keith Martin will join the Uniper Management Board as Chief Commercial Officer on March 1, 2016.

“Bernhard Reutersberg is an excellent choice for Chairman of the Uniper Supervisory Board. During his career at E.ON, he successfully led and played a key role in developing the international gas business and the operations in Russia, which will be important businesses at the new company. His breadth of experience and expertise will serve him extremely well as he helps guide Uniper into the future,” said Wenning, Chairman of the E.ON SE Supervisory Board.

Reutersberg asked the Supervisory Board to terminate his Management Board contract at the time of Uniper’s stock-market listing so that he can focus fully on his new role independently of his duties at E.ON. “It’s important to me for there to be a clear demarcation in mid-2016 between my membership on the E.ON Management Board and my chairmanship of the Uniper Supervisory Board. This will enable me to devote all my energies to helping propel Uniper on its new, independent course,“ Reutersberg emphasized.

Succeeding Reutersberg as E.ON’s Chief Markets Officer will be Karsten Wildberger. He will join the E.ON Management Board in the second quarter of 2016. The 46-year-old executive is currently a Group Executive at Telstra, an Australian telecommunications company based in Melbourne. Prior to this, he held leadership roles at Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, and Boston Consulting Group. During his career he has gained extensive experience, both nationally and internationally, in networked systems, product development, and in the launch of new technologies. “Karsten Wildberger knows all about the retail business and how to design and roll out new products. These capabilities make him an ideal fit for the new E.ON,” Wenning said. As a member of the E.ON Management Board, Wildberger will be responsible for innovation management, product development, and the renewables business.

The appointment of Keith Martin (47) to the Uniper Management Board means that its future leadership team is now complete as well. Martin is currently Vice President for Gas, Power, Carbon, and LNG at Petrochina in London, before which he held numerous leadership roles at Shell and Gazprom Marketing & Trading in Europe. Among his accomplishments was establishing a leading power, gas, and LNG trading organizations in Europe, the United States, and Asia. In addition, he is a recognized expert in doing business in and with Russia and China. “Keith Martin’s track record, wealth of experience, and expertise in international trading fit superbly with Uniper’s portfolio of businesses. He’s a proven, highly respected international executive, and we’re extremely pleased to have him on board our new company,” said Klaus Sch?fer, the designated CEO of Uniper. Martin will assume his duties as Uniper’s Chief Commercial Officer on March 1, 2016. He will oversee the company’s international trading business. With the two companies beginning to operate separately, Sch?fer will end his service on the E.ON Management Board effective December 31, 2015, in order to devote himself entirely to his role as Uniper CEO and to the company’s upcoming stock listing.

“These personnel decisions by the Supervisory Board represent another important step toward the spin-off. As planned, E.ON and Uniper will begin operating separately on January 1, 2016. Uniper’s stock-market listing will take place in the second half of the year. We’re right on schedule,” E.ON CEO Johannes Teyssen said.

He added that the new setup represents E.ON’s systematic, uncompromising response to the altered challenges of tomorrow’s energy markets. “E.ON’s businesses—renewables, energy networks, and customer solutions—focus on the new energy world. Uniper’s businesses—conventional generation and global energy trading—are geared toward the demands and opportunities of the conventional energy world,” Teyssen said. The distinctive features of E.ON’s strategy are the clear separation of the two companies and their sharp focus.