Leading Through Change and Crisis

Axel joined Daimler-Benz in 1979. He held a number of positions in financial controlling before taking on international senior leadership positions including CFO of Mercedes-Benz Mexico, President of Mercedes-Benz Argentina and later President of Mercedes-Benz Turkey. Presented with the option to move into the aerospace industry by Daimler, Axel took up the role of CFO of EADS (today Airbus), where he was responsible for the complex international merger between French Aerospatiale Matra, Spanish Casa and German Daimler-Chrysler Aerospace. In parallel to this merger an important part of the company was publicly listed. Axel then moved on to join Rolls Royce Plc as a member of the Executive team, where he was first in charge of the company’s Aerospace activities in Germany and later, until his retirement, in charge of all Defence related activities of Rolls Royce. Axel continues to consult and currently heads the Supervisory Board of Rolls-Royce Power Systems. Read more