After serving four years as CEO of the KraussMaffei Group, Dr. Michael Ruf will be leaving that position at his own request as of 31 Dec 2022. He will be succeeded by Mr. Li Yong, a longtime employee of Sinochem, who will assume the role of CEO on January 1, 2023.
Since 2018, KraussMaffei Group GmbH has been part of KraussMaffei Company Limited, a stock corporation listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, with Sinochem, one of the world’s leading chemical conglomerates as majority shareholder.
Ruf will remain KMG Management Board Chairman and CEO until December 31, 2022, after which his responsibilities will be transferred to Li on January 1. Until his contract's expiration on March 31, 2023, Ruf will continue to work to ensure a comprehensive handover and a smooth transition. He will also remain involved in a number of ongoing projects.
Ruf has been a member of the KMG Management Board since April 2019, initially as Chief Operating Officer and, since April 2020, as CEO for KMG and for KraussMaffei Company Limited.
Li Yong has been with Sinochem for nearly two decades in various executive, operational and project management positions. He has spent a third of his career abroad, gaining an impressive trove of intercultural cooperation experience.
Supervisory Board Chairman Bai Xinping thanked Ruf for his commitment and years of leadership at KraussMaffei throughout ‘some unprecedented challenges in recent years’, and wished him all the best. Ruf significantly developed the company and comprehensively modernised its processes, technology, strategy and site development, he said.
He added that he had great confidence in the future and in KraussMaffei's competitiveness. “With his international experience and deep knowledge of the Asian growth markets in particular, Li Yong is exactly the right person to continue the company transformation already initiated and to return KraussMaffei to its former strength,” he concluded.