Dual leadership secures the Asklepios Group’s success

Asklepios founder Bernard gr. Broermann is putting the management of his family company in new hands. A dual leadership team made up of two employees with many years of experience will take responsibility for the financial future of the Asklepios Group from 1 May 2016. The COOs Kai Hankeln, Group Managing Director for the subgroup in northern and eastern Germany, and Thomas Wolfram, the long-standing chairman of the management of the Hamburg subgroup, will take on the leadership of the second-largest private hospital operator. They are to continue the successful and solid business development of recent years. Broermann thanks all employees and the Asklepios Group’s entire management team for their various contributions to the fact that Asklepios is in a stronger medical and financial position than ever before. He says this good position will be further strengthened by the new top management.

When choosing the new management team, Broermann deliberately selected experienced managers from the Group’s management. “Wolfram and Hankeln have already had a significant influence on the company’s success in the past with their high level of commitment and will continue to enhance the quality and strength of the Group in the long term,” says Broermann.

The current Chairman of the Group Management, Ulrich Wandschneider, is being appointed to the Supervisory Board of the Asklepios Group after Stephan Witteler – the previous Chairman of the Supervisory Board – announced his resignation from the Supervisory Board in connection with a legal mandate by mutual agreement with the shareholder and to avoid a potential conflict of interests. Bernard gr. Broermann thanks Stephan Witteler today for his prudent as well as sustainable management of the Board’s concerns and will advise the Supervisory Board to elect Ulrich Wandschneider as his successor. In the future, Ulrich Wandschneider would like to attend more intensively to the work on the Supervisory Boards he leads. In addition, he wishes to take up his previous work as a consultant again. Asklepios has performed very well during his tenure as Chairman of the Group Management over the last five years. “Wandschneider has made a significant contribution to the success of our company. I am delighted that he is staying with the Asklepios Group by moving to the Supervisory Board and wish him every success in this important role,” says Bernard gr. Broermann.

Broermann himself has shaped Asklepios’ fortunes for 30 years as its sole shareholder. "I am convinced that the Asklepios Group will continue to build on the good business development thanks to the experienced team of Kai Hankeln and Thomas Wolfram.

Thomas Wolfram is a consultant surgeon and trauma surgeon with a degree in health economics and an MBA (public health). He has complemented the Group management team since 2013 and is responsible for the Hamburg subgroup. Before his time at Asklepios, Thomas Wolfram was the Chief Health Officer at SRH Holding in Heidelberg and Managing Director of maximum-care hospitals.

Kai Hankeln has been at Asklepios since 2007 and part of the Group management since 2012. He is responsible for the hospitals in northern and eastern Germany. Hankeln is a business economist with a focus on marketing and studied applied health sciences. Previously, he brought the Group’s largest hospital on track for success.

The dual leadership team of Kai Hankeln and Thomas Wolfram will be supported by Hafid Rifi, who has held the office of CFO since March 2016. Hafid Rifi has also been at Asklepios for many years, since 2009. The members of the newly assembled team already know each other from their shared past at Asklepios. In the coming months, the well attuned team will purposefully implement the strategy they have developed together.

Andreas Hartung, Group Managing Director responsible for central and southern Germany, is leaving Asklepios on 30 June 2016 of his own volition. Subject to his appointment by the Supervisory Board, Marco Walker will then become Group Managing Director for this area on 1 July 2016. He started at Asklepios 14 years ago as a trainee and has since worked successfully in various positions, most recently as Managing Director of Asklepios Klinikum Harburg.

"I would also like to thank Mr Hartung for the good cooperation and his great commitment to Asklepios. I wish him all the best for the future and much continued success personally and professionally," says Bernard gr. Broermann.

Broermann founded the Asklepios Group in 1984, and it has been growing steadily ever since. Today, more than 46,000 employees work at around 150 medical facilities. They ensure that more than two million patients a year receive high-quality healthcare. Asklepios sets high standards not least by practising quality management throughout the Group and ensuring patients’ safety.