E.ON SE announces change in chairmanship of Supervisory Board

• • Karl-Ludwig Kley will not stand for re-election
  • Erich Clementi to succeed him

The Chairman of the Supervisory Board of E.ON SE, Karl-Ludwig Kley, has decided not to stand for re-election to the company’s supervisory body at the Annual General Meeting on 17 May 2023.

Kley’s successor as Chairman of the Supervisory Board – subject to his reelection at the Annual General Meeting and his subsequent election by the newly formed Supervisory Board – will be Erich Clementi, who, like Kley, has been a member of the Supervisory Board since 2016.

Commenting on his decision to initiate the change at the top of the Supervisory Board, Kley said: “Now is the right time to place the office in new hands. After several years of fundamental restructuring with a clear focus on sustainability, digitalisation and growth, the Group now is in an excellent strategic position. The new Board of Management team assembled under Leonhard Birnbaum in 2021 is stable and well positioned for the long term. E.ON has demonstrated the robustness of its strategy and positioning in the energy crisis of recent months.”

Karl-Ludwig Kley has played a key role in shaping E.ON’s current profile. His term as Chairman of the Supervisory Board saw the most important milestone in the company’s recent history: the takeover of innogy from RWE and the focus on distribution networks and customer solutions for the green energy transition. The prerequisite for this decisive step was the restoration of the company’s sound financial position, which was achieved, among other things, through the sale of the remaining Uniper shares to Fortum. The strategic realignment was also accompanied by a cultural change that has made E.ON more digital and diverse.

His designated successor, Erich Clementi, has already been closely involved in E.ON’s successful development in recent years. The 64-year-old worked in various positions at the technology group IBM until 2019, most recently as Senior Vice President Global Integrated Accounts and Chairman IBM Europe. In addition to his many years of management experience, he brings with him particular expertise in the field of digitalisation, which is central to E.ON and the future of the energy industry.

At this year’s Annual General Meeting in May, E.ON shareholders will not only decide on the re-election of the designated Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Clementi, to the supervisory body, but also on the complete future composition of the shareholder representatives. The AGM will mark the end of a temporary enlargement of the Supervisory Board to 20 members, which came into effect after the innogy takeover. The future E.ON Supervisory Board will only have 16 members. Further details and the election proposals will be published with the invitation to the Annual General Meeting at the beginning of April.