Roland Harings to become new Aurubis CEO starting July 1

In its extraordinary meeting today, the Supervisory Board of Aurubis AG unanimously appointed Mr. Roland Harings (55) as the new CEO of the Aurubis Group. Mr. Harings will assume his new position on July 1, 2019 and will initially be appointed for the customary term of three years.

Roland Harings will directly succeed Jürgen Schachler (64), who, as announced in December of last year, will leave the Group when his contract expires on June 30, 2019.

Mr. Harings has been CEO of MKM Mansfelder Kupfer und Messing GmbH since 2014. MKM is a leading European manufacturer of semi-finished products made of copper and copper alloys and employs a staff of about 1,200 people. The company’s production is located in Hettstedt (Saxony-Anhalt) and is represented with sales offices around the world. In 2018, MKM processed more than 280,000 t of copper and generated revenues of approximately € 1.3 billion. Harings played a strong role in the upcoming merger of MKM and KME.

Prior to this, the engineer with a degree from RWTH Aachen headed the European automotive supply business of Novelis Inc. while also serving as Vice President of Novelis Inc., Atlanta (USA), the global leader in manufacturing rolled aluminum products, where he oversaw the expansion of the automotive division in China and the USA.

“With Harings, Aurubis has gained an exceptionally successful manager with over 25 years of international experience in the raw materials industry – aluminum, copper, and brass,” Aurubis AG Supervisory Board Chairman Prof. Dr. Fritz Vahrenholt expressed, pleased with the appointment of the new CEO. He explained:

Because of his knowledge of the metals industry, with its challenges and opportunities for the future, and his compelling personality, Harings has the right profile to purposefully continue Aurubis’ strategic development into a multi-metal company and to successfully implement it on an operational level. On behalf of the entire Supervisory Board, I would already like to wish Roland Harings every success and all the best for his new role.

Roland Harings commented, “I look forward to this new, high-responsibility position at this exciting time of realignment for Aurubis, which holds a great deal of potential. I’m very familiar with the company, not only from a customer perspective, and I hope to make a committed contribution – together with my future Executive Board colleagues – to successfully positioning Aurubis for the demands of the years to come.”