After successful restructuring measures, follow-up financing and a realignment of Landgard under the leadership of the CEO Armin Rehberg and producer-chairman Karl Voges since 2013, he has now resigned as scheduled (and due to his age) as the chairman of Landgard eG. Chairman of the board Bert Schmitz, thanked him on behalf of the Landgard committees and especially on behalf of the board, for his involvement in the successful restructuring of the company. "I wish him all the best for his resignation and retirement and I'm hoping he will keep his positive attachment to Landgard. Dear Karl, thank you for your dedication and your commitment to your Landgard since 2013."
As of July 1st, 2017, the supervisory board of Landgard eG appointed Markus Schürholz (52) as a representative. Prior to the appointment, the expert for finance and restructuring worked the for German market leader for energy infrastructure services, the SAG Group GmbH, as the director of finance for two years. He was largely involved in the successful refinancing and the operational turnaround of the company. Schürholz has 25 years of experience in different leading positions at home and abroad in trade and industry, among others in sectors such as strategic corporate development, finance and controlling, restructuring as well as mergers and acquisitions.
"With Markus Schürholz we are adding a certified finance expert to our board. With his long-standing national and international experience he will aid our CEO Armin Rehberg with the reorientation of Landgard as a modern producer organization for flowers & plants and fruit & vegetables," says Bert Schmitz.
Structure and Staff Decisions
In this regard, the chairmen and supervisory board of Landgard eG made the following decisions on structure and staff:
Realignment of the producer management
To modernize the strategic and operational structure in terms of producer management, and to secure the goal-image of cooperative marketing 4.0, there will be a realignment of producer management. Especially in the interface of producer management it is important to define the requirements for members and customers and coordinate them expedient. As a marketing association, Landgard considers a modern producer management the right solution for long-term added value for customers and members. In the coming months, the company will have to develop the new strategic and operational duties, structures and necessary staff decisions.
In the course of the future division of the departments, Rehberg will be in charge of sales/marketing, producer/acquisition, staff, company communication & marketing, corporate audit, company development/strategy, technical procurement/acquisition, law/compliance and sustainability/CSR. As a member of the board, Schürholz will be in charge of the finance and accounting departments, group controlling, IT/EDV, logistics/FLS and real estate. "I want to personally thank Karl Voges for the fruitful cooperation of the last four years. Dear Karl, you are a great person and colleague, thank you very much for your support and your open, honest and successful cooperation. I wish you all the best, stay healthy and thank you again, we will keep in touch," says Armin Rehberg, CEO of Landgard eG. "With proximity and timely structures, after the restructuring and realignment as a new board-team, it is now time to guide Landgard into a new era of modern, cooperative marketing."
Structure and Staff Decisions
In this regard, the chairmen and supervisory board of Landgard eG made the following decisions on structure and staff:
The contract of Franz-Willi Honnen as CEO of Landgard Flowers & Plants GmbH has been extended ahead of schedule until December 31st of 2018. Honnen will be the head of the flower & plant segment together with the operational managers of Landgard Flowers & Plants, Dirk Bader and Jörg Winckelmann. He will be focusing on his role as member of the Landgard joint-venture Rhein-Maas, the support of the future cooperation with the Raiffeisen product headquarters Rhine-Main eG in the department of gardening needs, committee work for the department of flowers & plants and individual support for members from the same department. Furthermore, he will be focussing on the formulation of new supply regulations and schedule of fees.
To achieve an even stronger bond between customers and producers and better coordinate the interests of the members, match them with sales and optimize them in the future, starting from July 1st, two chief representatives are newly appointed at Landgard. Dirk Bader (50) is going to be appointed by the board to become chief representative for flowers and plants. Labinot Elshani (36) is appointed in the department of fruits and vegetables.
Both representatives keep their functions and mandates as directors in their former sales companies and the Landgard producer organization. In the future, they will answer directly to the executive board. "With the appointment of Dirk Bader and Labinot Elshani, both 'home grown' in Landgard, we are reaching for the goal to better coordinate sales and procurement activities according to our members' needs in the future. We want to support the board in their operational management of the association and turn Landgard into a personified interface between producers/members, procurement and sales. This is according to our new alignment and establishment of our new successful structures that enable Landgard to become more professional. Both will work closely with our units of flowers & plants (Landgard Cash & Carry, specialized trade, Discount, food retailing, DIY, Salomo, Bloomways) and in the unit of fruit and vegetables (producer organisation, Godeland, Landgard Chemnitz Dresden, Landgard Kehl, Landgard marketing West, Magli & Noël, Walter Pott, Landgard Bio)," says Rehberg.
In the course of making the organization of Landgard more professional, Carsten Bönig (45) is appointed as another CEO of the Landgard Service GmbH. Bönig has been in charge of company controlling since 2016. In this context he also coordinated the security of liquidity and earnings. Carsten Böning previously worked for Karstadt, in different positions. Since 2012 he was the division manager for controlling and deputy director. In his new function, he will be in charge of the company controlling and, together with Hans Riediger, be the commercial general manager of the company's central units. "It is our goal to centralize all relevant, commercial departments in all of the company, guide it and make decisions for it, that is why we hired Böning," Rehberg explains. He will be in charge of coordinating and adjusting service and central units and support the board. The persons responsible in the different service sectors will from now on report to the respective chairmen, according to the current distribution-of-business plan. Carsten Böning will work closely with the strong operational administrative units in Herongen, Lüllingen, Roisdorf and Kehl.
Accompanying, Michael Maas (41) will, in the course of the transfer after the age-related resignation of Hans Riediger at the end of 2017, as well as further professionalization of the organization effective July 1st, become an additional division manager for finance and accounting at Landgard Service GmbH. Maas has a broad knowledge and experience in finance and accounting. After his studies of economic sciences, he was head of accounting for the holding company of a financial service provider group. Since April 1st, 2013, he is division manager of accounting in many companies of the Landgard group, and in charge of consolidated annual result, factoring, finance planning as well as liquidity management.
Realignment of the producer management
To modernize the strategic and operational structure in terms of producer management, and to secure the goal-image of cooperative marketing 4.0, there will be a realignment of producer management. Especially in the interface of producer management it is important to define the requirements for members and customers and coordinate them expedient. As a marketing association, Landgard considers a modern producer management the right solution for long-term added value for customers and members. In the coming months, the company will have to develop the new strategic and operational duties, structures and necessary staff decisions.