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New CEO for Siemens

Peter Löscher has been appointed chief executive of Siemens, the scandal-hit German engineering group. Löscher, current president of global human health at Merck, will assume his new position on 1 July.

He succeeds Klaus Kleinfeld, and the company will undoubtedly be hoping fresh leadership will help steer it through its current difficulties, which include ongoing bribery investigations.

The Financial Times' Haig Simonian (22 May) suggested that while Löscher’s status as an outsider means he has not been tainted by the company’s scandals, Siemens – even for Germany – is a complicated and arguably insular company that may display resistance to someone from outside the business.

This is why, said Simonian, it is vital that Siemens chairman Gerhard Cromme supports his new chief executive as much as possible and ensures Löscher does not become entrapped in the German system.

June 2007