New Chairman of the ZEW Sponsors’ Association
Dates and NewsDr. Ralph Rheinboldt Succeeds Dr. Georg Müller
The ZEW – Sponsors’ Association for Science and Practice at ZEW Mannheim has a new chairman: Dr. Ralph Rheinboldt, board member at Fuchs Petrolub SE, succeeds CEO of MVV Energie AG, Dr. Georg Müller, on 1 February 2022. After more than five successful years, Dr. Müller will retire from his position at the ZEW Sponsors’ Association for health reasons. Rheinboldt has already been a board member at the ZEW Sponsors’ Association since 2017.
Under Dr. Müller’s chairmanship, the Sponsors’ Association received ground-breaking impulses: A new office dedicated to the coordination of the Sponsors’ Association’s work was created. With outstanding personal commitment, Müller has helped the Sponsors’ Association win new members and to adjust membership fees. He initiated the awarding of two prizes each year and reorganised the annual Heinz König Award, granted once a year at ZEW by one of the companies in the Sponsors’ Association. The launch of its new website has increased the visibility of the Association, and numerous digital formats such as the #ZEWBookTalks have helped ZEW events reach a wide audience, even during the pandemic, thanks to the support of the Association. Finally, the outgoing chairman supported the expansion of the Association’s executive board, which will be finalised in 2022.
ZEW Director Thomas Kohl acknowledged Müller’s exceptional commitment: “Over the past five years, you have been instrumental in professionalising the work of the Sponsors’ Association and taking it to a new level. Under your aegis the Sponsors’ Association expanded its reach significantly and gained many new members. On behalf of the entire ZEW staff, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for all you have done and wish you all the best for the future.”
With Dr. Ralph Rheinboldt, the Sponsors’ Association has an experienced and competent new chairman. Dr. Rheinboldt has been a board member at Fuchs Petrolub SE since 2009, one of the Sponsors’ Association’s founding members who has been closely connected to ZEW’s work for many years. The entrepreneur Dr. Manfred Fuchs, renowned even beyond our metropolitan region, was one of the initiators of the Sponsors’ Association in 1993. Fuchs Petrolub’s former board member, Dr. Alexander Selent, successfully represented the Sponsors’ Association for twelve years until he retired in 2017.
In addition to Rheinboldt, the board of the ZEW Sponsors’ Association for Science and Practice includes:
- deputy chair Luka Mucic (SAP SE),
- Manfred Bauer (MLP SE),
- Claudia Diem (Bank of Baden-Württemberg AG), and
- Dr. Ralf Krieger (Freudenberg SE).
The entire board is to be confirmed at the general meeting in July 2022, including the newly appointed board members Karin Dohm (Hornbach Baumarkt AG), Saori Dubourg (BASF SE), Alexander Moser (Roche Diabetes Care GmbH) and Markus Ochsner (ABB AG). With this expansion of the board, the Sponsors’ Association is increasing both its regional outreach and diversity.
The members of the Sponsors’ Association, 140 companies and individuals, ensure a constant exchange between the domains of research and entrepreneurial practice. Among other things, the ZEW Sponsors’ Association provides funding for research projects and supports the organisation of lecture series with top-level speakers from the areas of politics, business and academia at ZEW.
