Rümlang, 5 December 2023 – The Board of Directors of dormakaba has appointed Till Reuter as new CEO effective 1 January 2024. He will succeed Jim-Heng Lee, who will leave the company after ten successful years in various roles to return to his homebase. Till Reuter has broad industrial expertise and proven leadership skills to further develop dormakaba on its growth path and effectively execute its strategy and transformation program.
Till Reuter was CEO of Kuka AG from 2009 to 2018, a global automation corporation headquartered in Germany, which he successfully transformed from an automotive supplier to a high-tech robotic and digitization company, managing to quadruple revenues during his tenure. From 2014 to 2018, he also served as a Board member and Chairman for Swisslog Holding AG following its acquisition by Kuka.
From 2017-2018, he was a Board member of the Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie eV. With his proven leadership skills and international industrial and change management expertise, Till Reuter has excellent prerequisites to further develop dormakaba on its growth path and effectively execute the Shape4Growth strategy and its related transformation program.
Svein Richard Brandtzæg, Chair of dormakaba: “With Till Reuter, the Board has appointed an experienced leader and proven CEO for dormakaba. We are convinced that he brings the spirit and vigor we need to successfully drive the execution of our strategy and sustainable profitable growth in line with our mid-term targets.”
Till Reuter will succeed Jim-Heng Lee, who will return to Asia after ten years of service with dormakaba and two years as CEO based in Switzerland. “Jim-Heng Lee assumed the CEO role under challenging circumstances after successfully developing the company’s Asia Pacific business to a market leading position as President Asia Pacific since 2014. Since then, his leadership in setting up the ongoing Shape4Growth and transformation initiatives ensured that dormakaba is now on a clear path of sequential improvements”, says Svein Richard Brandtzæg. “Jim-Heng has expressed his desire to return to Asia after a suitable successor has been found, which is now the case. We owe Jim-Heng deep gratitude for his commitment and very valuable contributions and wish him all the best for the future.”
Jim-Heng Lee, CEO dormakaba says: “During my entire ten-year tenure with the company, I have been blessed to work with capable and committed teams to surpass goals with a one-dormakaba spirit. I am convinced that the company will successfully continue on its trajectory, getting better in order to get bigger. I will always be grateful to the people of dormakaba for the experience I have had here, but the time is now right for me to return to Asia and I wish everyone at dormakaba all the best.”
Till Reuter, CEO designate of dormakaba: “I highly appreciate the trust dormakaba has placed in me and very much look forward to my role as CEO. I will focus all my energy on further developing dormakaba and executing its Shape4Growth strategy and transformation program, thus intensifying our efforts to free up resources for growth-oriented investments and innovation. I’m convinced that our initiatives will further leverage dormakaba’s compelling customer offering.”
Till Reuter will take over the CEO position of dormakaba effective 1 January 2024. At the same time, he will step down from the Board of Directors of dormakaba, of which he has been a member since October 2023.
Change in COO position
Separately, dormakaba announced that Alex Housten, Chief Operations Officer (COO) and member of the Executive Committee (EC), will leave the company by the end of March 2024 at the latest to take on a progressive leadership position at a larger US-based company within the HVAC industry. Housten joined dormakaba in 2020 as a member of the EC and served as President Americas, before he was appointed COO in 2023. The Board and the EC would like to thank him for his great commitment and achievements for dormakaba and wish him all the best in his future endeavors. The search for a successor has been initiated and will continue under the leadership of the CEO designate.
Outlook
For the 2023/24 financial year, dormakaba continues to expect organic growth to be in line with its 3-5% mid-term guidance and profitability with a sequential improvement above 2022/23 performance.
