There has been a change in leadership at Leonhard Kurz, a global leader in thin-film- and finishing technology. On 1 February 2023, long-serving CEOs Walter and Peter Kurz retired from the operational side of the business and have taken up advisory functions as chairman and deputy chairman of an advisory Board.
At the same time, Andreas Hirschfelder, previously senior vice president of the Business Area Plastic Decoration, has become CEO at Kurz. Hirschfeld has already been with the company for 26 years, working in various roles including as CEO of the subsidiaries PolyIC and Burg Design. Since 2018, the Doctor of Organic Chemistry has also been responsible for the Business Area Plastic Decoration as senior vice president and a member of the management board.
Andreas Hirschfelder said: “I’m delighted by the confidence the Kurz family have placed in me. Continuing the Leonhard Kurz success story is both an honor and an incentive – especially in the challenging times we currently live in. But I am convinced that, as an international team, we can meet this challenge and continue to delight our customers in the future.”
In a joint statement, Walter and Peter Kurz stated, “We are handing over a highly innovative company that is financially very healthy. We have every confidence that Andreas Hirschfelder will lead Kurz to continued success.”
Since the early/mid-70s, Walter and Peter Kurz have developed the Fürth-based family business, which was founded back in 1899, into one of the world’s most successful experts in attractive, functional surface finishing. The decorative, functional layers applied to carrier foil are used in countless everyday products such as cosmetics packaging, wine bottle labels, household devices, and in plastic components for cars. One mainstay is the creation of security features, for example for documents. The Kurz Group is represented in more than 30 locations worldwide and employs over 5,500 people.
In recent years, the Group has consolidated its position in the sustainable finishing industry. For example, in 2021 Kurz joined the UN Global Compact Network, the world’s largest, most important initiative for sustainable, responsible company management. A comprehensive sustainability report was published in 2022. The Kurz range of products and services is also continually being made more environment- and climate-friendly.
The newly founded Leonhard Kurz Advisory Board will comprise Walter Kurz, Peter Kurz, Andreas Kurz, Katharina Kurz, Anja Kurz, and two external members. This will ensure that Leonhard Kurz continues as a family business. The company’s legal form will remain unaltered by the change in leadership.
These changes at the top mean the Leonhard Kurz management board is also being partly reorganized: Thomas Hertlein, previously executive vice-president of Kurz Transfer Products USA, becomes a member of the executive board of the Kurz Group from the beginning of the 2023 fiscal year. Rainer Süßmann succeeds Hirschfelder as senior vice-president of the Business Area Plastic Decoration. Both add their strength to that of existing Management Board members Werner Adel, Markus Hoffmann, Ralph Hopfensitz, and Dirk Bockwinkel.
