30-01-2020

Ton Büchner is new Chairman of Burckhardt Compression's Board of Directors

Ton Büchner will be nominated by the Board of Directors for election to the Board of Directors and as its new Chairman at the Annual General Meeting on July 3, 2020. Valentin Vogt, the current Chairman of the Board of Directors who has served as a director for 18 years, 9 of which as chairman, will not stand for re-election at the pending Annual General Meeting.

Ton Büchner (54) was the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Management of AkzoNobel, a Dutch multinational company, from 2012 to 2017. Prior to joining AkzoNobel, he worked for Sulzer for 18 years, ultimately serving as the company’s CEO from 2007 to 2011. Ton Büchner began his professional career in the oil and gas industry. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of Novartis since 2016 and a member of the Shareholders' Committee of Voith (Germany) since 2014.

Ton Büchner, a Swiss/Dutch dual citizen, holds a degree in civil engineering. He received his master’s degree in civil engineering from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands in 1988, majoring in offshore construction technology and coastal engineering. Ton Büchner also holds a Master of Business Administration from IMD Business School in Lausanne.

Valentin Vogt on his proposed successor: “Ton Büchner is a business executive with exceptional qualifications who is deeply familiar with our products and targeted markets. He brings a strong and well-established track record to Burckhardt Compression and lives the same values we do.”

Valentin Vogt, the CEO of Burckhardt Compression from 2000 to 2011 – with a seat on the Board of Directors as a delegate since 2002 – and the Chairman of the Board of Directors since 2011, will not stand for re-election to the Board of Directors. This decision is based on his own, long-term planning. He will, however, continue to coordinate the group of shareholders comprised of former members of the management buyout team and he will remain engaged in Burckhardt Compression as one of its major shareholders.

The Board of Directors would already like to take this opportunity to express its gratitude to Valentin Vogt for his many years of excellent and successful service. He was the driving force behind the management buyout from Sulzer Corporation in 2002 as well as the decision to take the company public in 2006. Valentin Vogt has had a determining influence on the development of Burckhardt Compression during the past 20 years of its now 176-year history.