Geri Aebi takes over as Chairman of the Wirz Group Management Board
The Wirz Group is undergoing a leadership change: Peter Strub will hand over the chairmanship of the Group Executive Board to Geri Aebi—currently CEO of Wirz Werbung and a member of the Wirz Group Executive Board—effective early 2008. According to a statement from Wirz, this transition marks a shift in group leadership from a turnaround manager back to an advertising executive.
There will be a change of leadership at the Wirz Group: Peter Strub will hand over the chairmanship of the Group Management to Geri Aebi, who is currently CEO of Wirz Werbung and a member of the Wirz Group Management, at the beginning of 2008. The 54-year-old Strub was brought in as turnaround manager in mid-2002 and took over as CEO of the Group Management Board in 2003. Under his leadership, the Group was financially restructured and its structure consistently simplified and streamlined following a strategic realignment, as detailed in a press release. Among other things, Wirz Corporate - resulting from the merger of Wirz Identity and Wirz PR - was relaunched and a majority stake in Assai Interactive was acquired. A management buy-out also took place in 2005. With the current handover from Strub to Aebi, the management of the Group is being returned from the hands of a turnaround manager to those of an advertising executive, the press release continues. The 48-year-old Geri Aebi has been CEO of Wirz Werbung for five years. In addition to Aebi as the new Chairman, the Wirz Group Executive Board will continue to consist of Urs Binggeli, CEO Wirz Corporate, and Michel Juhasz, CEO Assai Digital+Dialog, following Peter Strub's departure.
After handing over his role to Geri Aebi, Peter Strub will continue his work as a change manager in the context of new mandates: "It's a great feeling to be able to say: I have fulfilled my mission. The Group has been generating stable, rising profits again for four years and gross operating income per employee has increased by over 50 percent during this time. Now is the right time for Wirz and for me to put the management of the Group back into the hands of an industry insider," Strub is quoted as saying in the press release.
After handing over his role to Geri Aebi, Peter Strub will continue his work as a change manager in the context of new mandates: "It's a great feeling to be able to say: I have fulfilled my mission. The Group has been generating stable, rising profits again for four years and gross operating income per employee has increased by over 50 percent during this time. Now is the right time for Wirz and for me to put the management of the Group back into the hands of an industry insider," Strub is quoted as saying in the press release.
