Roland Roth, CEO of the RKW Group is joining the supervisory board. As of July 1, 2014 Harald Biederbick will be the new CEO of the executive management board. Aside from the personnel changes, the RKW Group is also undergoing a restructuring of its organization and bundling the activities in three divisions to optimize performance.

In naming Biederbick as the new CEO of the board, the manufacturer of plastic films and nonwovens is making a clear statement for continuity in the corporation. Since 2009, the 42-year-old Biederbick has been a member of the executive management board. As CFO he has been responsible for the finance, controlling, HR and IT functions.

Roth is joining the supervisory board and will maintain close ties to the company. Even after stepping down from the RKW executive management board, he will continue with his activities as president of the IK Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen e. V. (German Association for Plastic Packaging and Films). Along with Roth, Franklin Smith is another experienced international expert in the plastics industry who will be joining the RKW supervisory board.

Since 1998, Roth has been a member of the RKW board of directors and subsequently of the executive management board. Since 2009 he has headed the group as its CEO.

Moving forward RKW says it will focus more strongly on the global expansion of strategic product areas in the different growth markets and will continue to expand its leading position in the domestic European market. The conversion of the five global business areas into three divisions will become effective as of July 1, 2014.

Each of the three divisions will be managed by one of the executive management board members:

• The packaging division will be headed by Matthias Kaufmann;
• the hygiene and industrial division, including nonwovens, will be headed by Manfred Bracher; and
• the agriculture division will be headed by Harald Biederbick.