On January 1, Burkhard Eling (pictured) became Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Spokesperson of the Executive Board of logistics provider Dachser. He heads the Corporate Strategy, Human Resources, Marketing executive unit, which also includes Corporate Key Account Management and the Corporate Governance & Compliance division. Eling succeeds Bernhard Simon, who will take over as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the family-owned company in mid-2021.
Also moving to the Supervisory Board with Simon is the former Chief Operations Officer (COO) Road Logistics, Michael Schilling. In response, Dachser has made further changes to the Executive Board as of January 1, 2021. Two Dachser managers of many years’ standing have been promoted to the logistics provider’s operational management body: Stefan Hohm as Chief Development Officer (CDO) and Alexander Tonn as COO Road Logistics. They are joined on the Executive Board by Robert Erni, who left DSV Panalpina to join Dachser on September 1, 2020 and has taken up the role of Chief Financial Officer (CFO). The five-man Executive Board team is completed by Edoardo Podestà, who has been COO Air & Sea Logistics since October 2019.
Eling, 49, joined Dachser in 2012 as deputy head of the Finance, Legal and Tax executive unit. He joined the Executive Board as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) the following year, since when he has been responsible for the logistics provider’s group-wide strategic idea and innovation management program. With a degree in industrial engineering, Eling joined Dachser from the engineering and service group Bilfinger SE, where he was Head of the controlling and internal audit departments, CFO of a US subsidiary and of an international facility management service provider. Eling started his career with the construction companies Hochtief AG and Philipp Holzmann AG.
With sound judgment and agility
“My fellow board members and I are taking over an extremely robust and fast-growing company that even the challenges of the coronavirus crisis haven’t managed to throw off course. With their tremendous know-how and commitment, the people at Dachser have succeeded in maintaining the supply chains of our global customers even under adverse conditions,” says Burkhard Eling, CEO of Dachser. “With the trust and support of the founding family, we as an Executive Board team, will preserve the unique, people-oriented culture of Dachser as a family-owned company. At the same time, we will continue to develop the company with sound judgment and agility on its way to becoming the world’s most integrated logistics provider,” Eling continues.
Alexander Tonn is a new member of Dachser’s Executive Board as of January 1, 2021. As COO Road Logistics, he will be responsible for the European overland transport networks for industrial goods and food. In addition, he will continue to lead the European Logistics Germany business unit. Tonn, 47, has been with the company for over 20 years, having held managerial positions including at Dachser’s Allgäu logistics center in Memmingen and at company headquarters, where he was responsible for the logistics provider’s global contract logistics business for several years.
Stefan Hohm, 48, will head the newly created IT & Development executive unit as Chief Development Officer (CDO). Hohm has been working for Dachser for 27 years, during which time he has managed, among other things, the branches in Erfurt (Thuringia) and Hof (Upper Franconia). Most recently, he was Corporate Director for the logistics provider’s research and development work as well as its Corporate Solutions business. Besides the further development of IT, he is now also responsible for worldwide contract logistics.
Burkhard Eling’s successor as CFO is Robert Erni, an internationally experienced logistics finance manager, who took over as CFO on January 1, 2021 after a four-month induction and transition phase. Before joining Dachser, the 54-year-old Swiss national was Group CFO at logistics provider Panalpina for nearly seven years.
There are no changes to Dachser’s air and sea freight business, which has been led by Edoardo Podestà, COO Air & Sea Logistics, since October 2019. The 58-year-old Italian, based in Hong Kong, became Managing Director of Dachser’s air and sea freight business in the Asia Pacific business unit in 2014. Podestà is also a highly experienced Dachser manager. He joined the company in 2003 when it acquired the joint venture Züst Ambrosetti Far East Ltd.
