The Management Board is responsible for the business and affairs of the company and the preparation, implementation, and monitoring of Sonovaʼs strategy, the management of the membersʼ respective Group functions, and the preparation, implementation, and delivery of the annual plan and budget. The Management Board also prepares for and executes decisions made by the Board of Directors. In accordance with the Organizational Regulations of Sonova Holding AG, the Management Board is chaired by the CEO and comprises at least the CFO, plus such additional members as appropriately reflect the companyʼs structure and activities. The members of the Management Board are proposed by the CEO and are appointed by the Board of Directors based on the recommendation of the Nomination and Compensation Committee (NCC).
The yearly evaluation of the CEO is based on the input of each member of the Board of Directors addressed to the Chair. The consolidated input is reviewed first by the NCC and subsequently finalized by the entire Board of Directors. Finally, the results are reviewed and discussed between the Chair and the CEO.
As of March 31, 2024, the composition of the Management Board is as follows:
(born 1967, German citizen) joined the Sonova Group in October 2017 as Chief Operating Officer and became CEO as of April 1, 2018.
He joined Sonova from Danaher Corporation, where he served in various leadership capacities since 2008, as Group Executive of the Diagnostics Platform and President Beckman Coulter Diagnostics from 2013 until 2017. Arnd Kaldowski led significant sales growth, innovation and productivity initiatives. He also brings significant experience and a successful track record in M&A, commercial excellence, and new product introduction, which he gained during his career at Danaher and as SVP Point-of-Care Solutions at Siemens Medical, following his previous assignments as Investment Director of Atila Ventures and as a Manager with the Boston Consulting Group.
Arnd Kaldowski holds a Master of Science in Physics from the Technical University Darmstadt, Germany, and an MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.
(born 1965, Belgian citizen) joined the Sonova Group in May 2021 and assumed the CFO position mid-June of the same year.
She was previously Chief Financial Officer and member of the Executive Board of TUI AG, a global leader in tourism, from 2018 to 2021. Before joining TUI AG, she was Chief Financial Officer of the Belgian media, cable and telecommunications group Telenet Group NV from 2013 until 2018. Prior to that, she held various top-level positions in finance, strategy and business operations in the pharmaceuticals and medical devices business units at Johnson & Johnson, and in finance at Heineken, Tenneco and Reed Elsevier.
Birgit Conix holds an MBA from the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, USA and a Master of Science in Business Economics from the University of Tilburg, Netherlands.
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(born 1964, German citizen) joined the Sonova Group in January 2019 as Vice President (VP) Operations and became Group Vice President Operations as of April 1, 2019.
Before joining Sonova, he was Senior VP Quality and Operations at ABB Power Grids from 2016 until 2018 where he held functional responsibility for all factories and engineering centers of the business. Before that, he held various key operation leadership positions within the Danaher Corporation from 2001 until 2016, including the role of VP Global Operations of Danaherʼs Dental Group and the role of VP Global Operations of Leica Microsystems. Ludger Althoff brings with him over 25 years of international management experience in operations, global sourcing and logistics as well as continuous improvement.
Ludger Althoff completed his education at the City of Mönchengladbach Technical School and was certified Quality Manager (EOQ) by the European Organization for Quality.
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(born 1964, US citizen) was appointed Group Vice President Cochlear Implants and President of Advanced Bionics as of April 1, 2019.
She is an accomplished medical device executive with vast experience across several therapeutic areas, in both 510K and PMA devices. She started her career as a scientist in research and development and took on increasingly larger business and management roles throughout her career. Before joining Sonova, she worked for JenaValve Technology Inc., a global and innovative transcatheter heart valve company, where she became CEO in mid-2015. Prior to that, she worked at Boston Scientific from 2004 until 2015 in roles spanning R&D, project management, franchise general manager/general manager for the neurovascular, electrophysiology, and peripheral interventions divisions, and the Bayer acquisition.
Victoria E. Carr-Brendel holds a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from University of Illinois at Chicago.
As further described in the shareholder letter, Alistair Simpson will succeed Victoria Carr-Brendel as Group Vice President Cochlear Implants as of July 2024.
(born 1966, French citizen) joined the Sonova Group in February 2017 as Group Vice President Audiological Care.
Before joining Sonova, he held the role of President Latin America and was a member of the Executive Board at GrandVision, a global leader in optical retailing from 2008 until 2016. In the course of his career, he gained extensive experience in global retail management, leading transformational growth of large-scale retail enterprises, including acquisitions, mergers, and integrations.
Prior to joining GrandVision he held various roles of international responsibility at Pearle, Bata, and FNAC.
Christophe Fond received a Master of Business Administration from IMD-Switzerland and graduated from the Superior School of Military Engineering (ESAG) in France.
As further described in the shareholder letter, Oliver Lux will succeed Christophe Fond as Group Vice President Audiological Care as of June 2024.
Martin Grieder (born 1965, Swiss and British citizen) joined Sonova as Group Vice President Phonak in August 2014. Between September 2016 and March 2022, he was Group Vice President Hearing Instruments Marketing. In April 2022, he was appointed Group Vice President Consumer Hearing.
He joined Sonova from Nestlé, where he was Vice President and Global Head of Nestlé BabyNes from 2009 until 2014. Martin Grieder joined Nestlé in 1992 and brings over 20 years of experience in senior management roles within the company. His diversified cross-functional work experience in 18 countries ranges from leading the global Nespresso professional division to managing Nestlé Nespresso North America. Further senior roles at Nestlé included Vice President, Head of Finance for the Americas and Head Nestlé Group Audit as well as R&D Head for Food & Beverage systems solutions for the Nestlé Group.
Martin Grieder received a Master of Business Administration degree from IMD-Switzerland and a Bachelorʼs degree in business and economics from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts (FHNW) in Basel.
As further described in the shareholder letter, Lilika Beck will succeed Martin Grieder as Group Vice President Consumer Hearing, after he passed away in a tragic accident at the beginning of April 2024.
(born 1971, British citizen) joined the Sonova Group in March 2023 and was appointed Group Vice President Human Resources & Communications in May 2023.
She has more than 25 years of global HR experience in large-scale organizations and various industries, including medical devices, life sciences and financial services. She joined Sonova Group from GE Healthcare, a global medical technology company, where she led a global HR team located in more than 30 countries as VP Human Resources from 2017 until 2023. She also played a key role in the spin-off of GE Healthcare into a publicly listed company in 2022. Prior to that, from 1998 until 2017, Katya Kruglova held HR positions with growing responsibilities in various General Electric entities, including GE Healthcare Life Sciences and GE Capital.
Katya Kruglova has a Masterʼs degree in English/Spanish Linguistics and Psychology from the State Linguistic University in Moscow, Russia.
Katya Kruglova succeeded Claudio Bartesaghi; further details on him can be found in the last yearʼs annual report, which is available here.
(born 1976, US citizen) joined the Sonova Group in January 2022 and was appointed Group Vice President Hearing Instruments in April 2022.
He previously held the position of Executive Vice President for North America from September 2019 until December 2020 and became Executive Vice President Western Europe in January 2021. Prior to Straumann, Robert worked for Stryker as the Global Vice President and General Manager of Stryker ENT. He has longstanding experience in leadership roles in the medical device and healthcare sector, both in the USA and Switzerland, among others at Stryker, Trivascular and Medtronic. Robert has a broad range of functional experiences including roles with increasing responsibility in general management, sales and marketing, product portfolio management and business development.
Robert Woolley is an engineer by training with a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Brigham Young University and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Except as disclosed in the biographies of the members of the Management Board, no member of the Management Board holds any position in a governing or supervisory body of any important private or public sector organization, institution, or foundation; none holds any permanent management or consulting position with an important interest group, or any public or political office.
No member of the Management Board may hold more than one mandate in a listed company and no more than three mandates in other companies and organizations. Each of these mandates shall be subject to approval by the Board of Directors. Mandates shall mean mandates in comparable functions at other enterprises as well as in (trading) associations, organizations, foundations and similar legal entities with an economic purpose.
The following mandates are not subject to these limitations:
For further details please see Art. 30 of the Articles of Association.
The Board of Directors and the Management Board conduct business directly and have not delegated any management tasks to companies outside the Group.
Details of Board and Management compensation are contained in the Compensation Report. In accordance with the Articles of Association, no loans were granted to the members of the Board of Directors or the members of the Management Board.