Villeroy & Boch has announced that its CEO and executive chairwoman, Gabi Schupp, will step down from her role next month, with the company unveiling a new “streamlined” executive board which will be in place after her departure.
Schupp has been a member of the company’s executive board since 2019, and served as its chairwoman and CEO since 2024.
The company says she is stepping down “for personal reasons and on the best of terms”, and will handover her responsibilities on May 31. According to Villeroy & Boch, she will also continue to be available to the company in an advisory capacity after that time.
Following her departure, Villeroy & Boch says it will adopt a collegial management structure, unveiling a new spokesperson for the executive board position. After Schupp’s handover, board member Georg Lörz will take up this position.
After this, Villeroy & Boch’s new “streamlined” executive board will be made up of four members, which the company says is structured in line with its strategic priorities. As well as being the executive board spokesperson, Lörz will be responsible for the company’s Bathroom & Wellness division. He will be joined by Dr Peter Domma, who will head up the Dining & Lifestyle division as well as the digitalisation and IT departments. Dr Markus Warncke will remain responsible for finance. Finally, Esther Jehle will be responsible for human resources & organisational development, also leading the company’s operations department within the Bath & Wellness division.
“On behalf of the Supervisory Board, the owner families and the entire workforce, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Gabi Schupp for her consistently trusting and constructive partnership over the past seven years,” commented Andreas Schmid, chairman of the company’s Supervisory Board.
“As chairwoman of the Executive Board, she has led the company with great personal commitment and played a key role in its further advancement. She leaves behind a company that is ideally positioned for the future. Particularly noteworthy is the integration of Ideal Standard, the largest acquisition in the company’s history, which Gabi Schupp used as a catalyst with entrepreneurial vision and great skill to transform a company with a long tradition into a forward-looking group.
“Two years after the acquisition, Villeroy & Boch AG is now resilient and focused on the future. In her role as executive board member for Dining & Lifestyle, she strategically repositioned this business division and successfully established it both economically and organisationally. We wish her all the very best and continued success on a professional and personal level. Gabi Schupp will occupy a well-deserved place in our company’s history.”
Reflecting on her time at the company, Gabi Schupp commented: “The past few years have been an intense and formative period for the company and for me personally. The integration of Ideal Standard is complete, the company’s transformation is progressing well, and the key foundations for further successful development have been laid.
“Against this background, I have decided to turn my attention to new challenges. I would like to thank the owner family, the Supervisory Board, my colleagues from the Executive Board and, above all, the entire workforce at Villeroy & Boch for our shared successes over the past seven years.”
