Utz Claassen

Utz Claassen (2011)

Utz Claassen (born on the 7th of May, 1963 in Hanover) is a German manager, management consultant, entrepreneur, investor and author. He has held senior management positions with some of Germany’s most prominent companies, across a number of industry sectors.^[1][2]

Claassen finished his high school dimploma (Abitur) after skipping two grades^[3] with a numberic average grade of 0.7.^[4] As it was the best high school diploma awarded to a student in Germany, he was invited to the German ARD (broadcaster) TV Show "Auf Los geh's los".^[5] Claassen studied economics at the University of Hanover and at Oxford University. From 1986 to 1987, he served as the President of all post-graduate students at Magdalen College and of the entire University of Oxford.^[6]

Utz Claassen began his career with McKinsey. He then moved to Ford Europe, where he was eventually appointed Director of Research and Development at VW.^[1][6] A few days after his 31st birthday, Claassen was then appointed Executive Vice President Finance of SEAT.^[7]

From 1997 until 2003 he was the Chairman of the Executive Board and Group CEO of Sartorius AG in Goettingen, Germany.^[8] The company is an international pharmaceutical and laboratory equipment supplier.^[9]

From 2003 to until 2007 he was CEO/Chairman of the Board of Management of EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG, Karlsruhe,Germany.^[10] EnBW is a publicly traded electric utilities company headquartered in Karlsruhe,Germany.^[9] About 5.4 million customers make EnBW the third-largest utilities company in Germany.^[11][12]

From January 2010 until March 2010 he was CEO of Solar Millennium AG. After three months, he utilized the contractually granted right to resign any time within a predefined period of consideration.^[13] He stated that he had been given misleading information by Solar Millennium before he accepted the position as CEO.^[14] In April 2013, a legal dispute that had evolved around the resignation ended with the legally binding conclusion that Classens resignation was lawful, valid and justified.^[15][16]

From 2008 to 2013 he was member of the Supervisory Board of AWD Holding AG.^[17][18][19]

From December 2014 - June 2016, Claassen was President of RCD Mallorca.^{[20][21][22][23]} He restructured the club through a strategic reorientation. In January, there was an entry of a US American investor group within the context of a capital increase by more than 20 million euros. it was the first engagement by NBA franchise owners in European soccer.^[24][25]

In April 2016, Utz Claassen received from the hands of EU Commissioner Günther Oettinger the award as "Most Innovative Entrepreneur International 2016".^[26]

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