ContiTech CEO Wente to step down in April

HANOVER, Germany—Heinz-Gerhard Wente will step down as CEO of ContiTech A.G. on April 30, allowing his contract to terminate at his own request, the firm said.

Continental A.G.—ContiTech's parent—has appointed Hans-Juergen Duensing to run the unit effective May 1.

Continental said Wente spent more than 40 years with the firm.

“We are happy to have gained a very experienced division head in Mr. Hans-Juergen Duensing. On behalf of my colleagues on the supervisory board, we wish him all the best and every success as he takes up this new position,” Wolfgang Reitzle, chairman of Continental's supervisory board, said in a statement.

“We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to Mr. Heinz-Gerhard Wente for the many years he has served this company and the valuable contribution he has untiringly made. Together with his team, he has succeeded in transforming our rubber and plastics specialist ContiTech from a purely Germany company into an internationally competitive automotive supplier and industrial partner which provides an above-average contribution to the corporation's earnings on a regular basis.”

Duensing has been with ContiTech for more than 20 years and has served as a member of its executive board since May 2014. He has run the Conveyor Belt Group business unit based in Northeim, Germany, since 2005. Continental said the group's sales grew to about $742 million under his leadership and employs about 4,000 people.

Prior to that, Duensing ran the Automotive Original Equipment segment of the ContiTech Power Transmission Group for about five years.

The firm said it plans to find a successor to Duensing in the Conveyor Belt Group before he leaves.

Continental CEO Elmar Degenhart said the firm is pursuing its strategic corporate goal to increase its share of sales made with industrial customers and end users toward 40 percent, up from about 28 percent now.