Werner M. Dornscheidt retires leaving Messe Düsseldorf after almost 37 years
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Werner M. Dornscheidt has left his mark on Messe Düsseldorf: its corporate strategy, its international outlook, its state-of-the-art premises, its digital transformation and its financial stability. After almost 17 years as a President & CEO – and serving the company for about 37 years – Werner M. Dornscheidt will now resign from his office on 30 June 2020. Messe Düsseldorf are the organizers of the K fair - the fair No. 1 for plastics processing in the world.
Profitable, subsidy-free management and financial stability are two trademarks of the Dornscheidt era. The Messe Düsseldorf Group closed the last full business year under his leadership with a sales increase of 28.7% to EUR 378.5 million (previous year: EUR 294 million).
While in 2004 Messe Düsseldorf had 65 foreign representatives for 104 countries, today 77 foreign representations look after 141 countries. The share of foreign exhibitors in Düsseldorf rose from 58% to the recent figure of 73.4% and the share of foreign visitors from 34% to 37.1%. According to a study by the Munich-based ifo Institute, Düsseldorf’s trade fair and congress business alone generates annual sales worth EUR 2.98 billion across Germany (in Düsseldorf: EUR 1.66 billion), securing 27,692 jobs (16,664 in Düsseldorf) and producing EUR 567 million in additional tax revenue (EUR 36.3 million).
Groundbreaker for the Digital Messe Düsseldorf
Werner Dornscheidt also drove the further development of digital presentation possibilities. “On our online portals our trade fairs have long been in operation 365 days a year,” underscores Dornscheidt. Here Messe Düsseldorf makes it possible for its exhibitors to showcase themselves and their products in a multi-media format and make contact with other industry representatives", he said.
Perfectly Positioned for the Future
In future, the fate of the company will fall into the hands of Wolfram N. Diener and his team. Wolfram N. Diener has served Messe Düsseldorf as Managing Director Operative Business since 2018 and will take over as Chief Executive Officer from 1 July 2020. Erhard Wienkamp (Managing Director of Fair Management) and Bernhard J. Stempfle (Managing Director Finance & Technical Operations, Digital Strategy & Communication) will complete the Board of Managing Directors.
