18 December 2009
Corporate News

Karl-Ulrich Köhler to join Corus as new COO

Corus today announces the appointment of Dr Karl-Ulrich Köhler as its new Chief Operating Officer with effect from 1 February 2010.

Dr Köhler succeeds Rauke Henstra, who held the position until his retirement last year.  He will report to Kirby Adams, Managing Director and CEO of Tata Steel Europe.

Dr Köhler, 53, will be based at IJmuiden in the Netherlands.  He has worked during his 30-year steel industry career at the companies that today comprise ThyssenKrupp Steel, where he was most recently Chairman of the Executive Board and a Member of the Board of the parent company, ThyssenKrupp AG.  Until October he was President of Eurofer, the European steelmaking federation, in which role he succeeded former Corus CEO Philippe Varin.  He brings to Corus a wealth of knowledge and experience of steelmaking in Europe, as well as of the European steel supply chain and customer base.

Kirby Adams said: “I am extremely pleased to be able to welcome Karl-Ulrich Köhler to the Board and Executive Committee of Tata Steel Europe.  This appointment demonstrates Tata Steel’s ambition to further enhance its European business, as well as the determination of this management team to emerge from the financial crisis in a strong and highly competitive position.”

Dr Köhler stated: “I have been greatly impressed by the strategic changes that Kirby Adams and his team are bringing about to optimise manufacturing and commercial operations throughout Corus and I very much look forward to adding my own contribution and experience to their efforts.”

Born in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Dr Köhler studied metallurgy at Clausthal University of Technology, where he gained his doctorate in 1988.  In 2005 he was awarded an honorary professorship in flat steel product technology by Freiberg University.  Married with four children, Dr Köhler is a former member of the executive committee of the World Steel Association and Vice Chairman of VDEh, the German Iron and Steel Institute.

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About Corus

Corus is Europe's second largest steel producer. With main steelmaking operations primarily in the UK and the Netherlands, Corus supplies steel and related services to the construction, automotive, packaging, mechanical engineering and other markets worldwide.

Corus is a subsidiary of Tata Steel, one of the world’s top ten steel producers. The combined enterprise has an aggregate crude steel capacity of more than 28 million tonnes and approximately 80,000 employees across four continents.

For further information, please call
Bob Jones
Tel. +44 (0) 207 717 4532
bob.jones@corusgroup.com

  

Dr Karl-Ulrich Köhler
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