Studied Business Administration at University St. Gallen
Executive Chairman of the Board at Stadler Rail AG

Since 1989: Chairman of the Board at Stadler Rail AG, 1989 – 2017: Group CEO at Stadler Rail AG. Other activities and interests: Chairman of the Board at several companies of the Stadler Rail Group; of Estonia Train Finance AG, Nordic Train Finance AG and PCS Holding AG; Member of the Board of Directors at several other companies such as European Loc Pool AG, Allreal Holding AG, Autoneum Holding AG, Rieter Holding AG and Evonik Industries AG; since April 2019: shareholder of Rudolf Bosch Industrietreuhand KG and member of the Supervisory Board at Rudolf Bosch GmbH; 1999 – 2012: member of the Swiss Parliament (National Council); member of the Board of Directors at Von Roll Holding AG (2002 – 2004), UBS AG (2004 – 2008) and Kühne Holding AG (2006 – 2008)

Dipl. Bau-Ing. ETH Zurich
Dr. oec. publ.

Since 1993: Self-employed entrepreneur, 1985 – 1993: NUEVA Holding AG (formerly Schweizerische ETERNIT Holding AG), Delegate of the Board of Directors

lic. oec. HSG
Qualified Public Accountant

Since 2017: PCS Holding AG, Finance and Investment Management, 2001 – 2017: CFO Stadler Rail Group, 1994 – 1997: CFO Lüchinger + Schmid Group, 1990 – 1994: CFO Elektronikgruppe FELA, 1981 – 1990: PwC, Public Accountant

lic. iur. Solicitor

Since 1994: Owner of a lawyer’s office in Weinfelden specialized in economic and revenue law, Member of the Board of Directors in various SMEs for example Gerlinger Industries AG, Kissling Swiss Switches AG, KMU Personal AG, Polygal AG, Rausch AG Kreuzlingen (SSI AG), TLA Transport Logistik Swiss AG, SwissChem AG, Kifa AG, SUN Bürglen AG, Arbenz + Partner AG Risk Service as well as Board member of Chamber of Industry and Commerce Thurgau.

Dipl. Kaufmann
doctorate in political science

Since 1990: Member of the German Bundestag, since 2018: Chairman of the Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development in the German Bundestag, 2009 – 2013: Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Development, 2005 – 2009: Chairman of the CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag, general partner of the company Ramsauer Talmühle KG in Traunwalchen, Bavaria, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Streicher GmbH & Co. KGaA, Deggendorf, Germany, member of the Supervisory Board of Münchener Hypothekenbank eG, Munich and of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Bonn, Germany

Master of Science (MSc)
Business economist

Since 2016: Owner of Andreas Rickenbacher Management AG, Bern, 2006 – 2016: member of the Bern cantonal government, Member of the Board of Directors of Bernexpo AG, BKW AG, HRS Real Estate AG, Vice President of the Switzerland Innovation foundation and the Internationale Lauberhornrennen Wengen association

Executive MBA – University of St. Gallen

Since 1999: Stadler Rail AG, Executive Vice President, 1995 – 1999: Operations Manager and Member of the Board of Directors of Elektrolux-Compactus AG, 1993 –1995: Divisional Management and Member of the Executive Board of Aluwag AG, Member of the Board of Directors of LRS Engineering AG and Trunz AG, Member of the Board of Trustees of the ALLVISA pension fund

Barend Fruithof is a skilled farmer and holds a degree as Executive MBA of the University of St. Gallen. He began his professional career in agricultural enterprises before he completed a successful career in the banking sector. In addition to further management functions, he worked for Raiffeisen Switzerland as financial officer and was head of the Credit Suisse's corporate banking business for seven years.

Barend Fruithof took over as the CEO of Aebi Schmidt Group on 1 March 2017.

Thomas Schenkirsch holds a degree in business administration. Before starting to work for the Aebi Schmidt Group, he gained extensive experience in various functions at Von Roll Management AG in Switzerland as well as at PerkinElmer in Switzerland and at various locations abroad. Thomas Schenkirsch has been working for the Aebi Schmidt Group as Director Group Controlling for nine years and already successfully served as the interim CFO from June 2016 to February 2017.

Thomas Schenkirsch took over as the CFO of Aebi Schmidt Group on 1 April 2017.

Rudi Rosenkamp studied electronics and business management. His career at our company started already in 1986 as customer service manager at Nido Universal Machines BV, the present-day Aebi Schmidt Nederland BV. In 2002 he moved to the management of the Schmidt Group and took over the function of after sales central division manager. From 2004 to 2008 he was responsible for the management of the sales organisation in the Netherlands as well as the support of selected French key accounts. In 2008 he assumed responsibility within the Aebi Schmidt divisional management board for the international service department. Two years later this area of responsibility was expanded by the divisional management of direct international sales (Europe).

On 1 July 2013 Rudi Rosenkamp, as CCO of Aebi Schmidt Group, took over the responsibility for sales, marketing, customer service and spare parts. 

Since October 2016, he was responsible for the Markets & Sales in Europe, later focussing on the dealer and airport business for which he was also responsible globally since June 2017. Starting 1 January 2021 he is Head Sales Northern Europe & Rest of World, which specifically comprises the business of recently acquired Arctic Machine company and brand.

Gerhard Neudorfer studied business administration with a focus on exports and international marketing at Johannes Kepler University, Linz. He began his career at Neuson Baumaschinen and had a significant impact on the company over his 25 years in various management positions, finishing as Managing Director of the Austrian production facility and Vice President of Wacker Neuson SE in Munich. After four years as CEO of Linde Material Handling in Austria, he left to become an independent consultant, gaining international experience in company restructuring and turnarounds.

Gerhard Neudorfer took on the role of CCO Sales Europe at the Aebi Schmidt Group in October 2018, meanwhile focussing on Western and Central Europe as Head Sales Western & Central Europe.

Steffen Schewerda studied Mechnical and Production Engineering and complemented his studies with a MBA degree from the Universities of Augsburg and Pittsburgh. He started his career 1997 at SAF Holland, where he worked in various functions until the end of 2019, most recently as President Americas. In 2007, at the time he took over as President Global Operations, Steffen moved from Germany to the USA and is meanwhile after more than a decade of experience perfectly fluent in English and very familiar with the culture and customs of the country.

Steffen Schewerda joined our group in October 2020 and took over as the CEO North America of the Aebi Schmidt Group on 1 January 2021.

After finishing school, Burkhard Ditsche completed a banking apprenticeship at Deutsche Bank, followed by a degree in business administration. He has been part of the after-sales business since the mid-90s. His career has primarily been spent in the agricultural technology sector, with positions at Kramp Groep B.V., John Deere (both in the domestic German business and internationally in the EU, CIS and NAME) and Kubota. At Kubota, he successfully transformed the after-sales division into one of the key pillars of the company.

Burkhard Ditsche assumed the role of Chief After-Sales Officer at the Aebi Schmidt Group on 1 June 2018. Since 1 January 2021, he has been additionally responsible for the expansion of the group-wide service business.

Jochen Schneider studied economics at the Technische Universität Darmstadt, gaining an MBA, before taking on a variety of international management roles. Among other positions, he served as CTO of FAUN Umwelttechnik within the Kirchhoff Group, while also managing FAUN Trackway worldwide as CEO. From 2011, he was also responsible for establishing the North American market as CEO of FAUN North America.

In April 2012, Jochen Schneider became Managing Director of the Schmidt division within the Aebi Schmidt Group. Since the end of 2016, he has been COO Operations Global. In this role, he manages production in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Norway and the US, as well as the Product Management, Development, Purchasing, Logistics and Quality Management divisions. Jochen then took over as CEO North America in early 2019 and was successfully integrating M-B Companies into our group. Meanwhile back in Europe, he is responsible for the plants in his current role as Heads Plants Europe, starting 1 February 2021.

Henning Schröder has many years of strategic and operational experience in leading positions in the automotive industry. Born in Germany, he can look back on a successful and international career at Hella KGaA Hueck & Co. where he was, among other positions, Head of Product Management Aftermarket & Special OE Asia Pacific in Singapore and was Managing Director of the joint venture Hella Pagid GmbH in Essen. As President of Hella Automotive Sales Inc. in the USA, he was most recently responsible for the Independent Aftermarket Business in North and South America. Henning Schröder studied industrial engineering with a focus on production management, logistics and sales at the Wilhelmshaven University of Applied Sciences.

Henning Schröder took over as Chief Product Officer on 1 April 2019 and continuously took on further responsibilities within the group. Since January 2021 in his role as Head Group Technology, he accounts globally responsible for Product Management, Research & Development as well as Quality Management.