Chamber - German-Irish Business Review 2014
Councillors‘ Profiles President Frank Mee, Allianz Worldwide Care Ltd Frank Mee is Finance Director of Allianz Worldwide Care, the Allianz Group’s international health insurance subsidiary, which is based in Dublin. Born in Roscommon in 1954, Frank Mee completed a BComm degree in UCG in 1975 and subsequently qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte, with which he worked for 11 years. He joined the company now known as Allianz Ireland in 1986 and served on the Board of Management of that company for many years until 1999. He was instrumental in the decision by Allianz Group to base its new international health insurance operation in Dublin in 1999. He is one of the founding Directors of that business with Ron Buchan and Claude Daboul and has filled the role of Finance Director since its establishment in 1999. He was also involved in the founding of Allianz Re Dublin Limited and has served on that company’s Board since 1999. He is a keen golfer. Vice-President Dr. oec. Wolfgang Häfele, MITIE Group plc. Dr. oec. Wolfgang Häfele is Honorary Consul of Ireland in Stuttgart/BadenWürttemberg, Chairman of the Advisory Board of Elevion Group (an electrical engineering company) and Managing Director with responsibility for Central Europe of MITIE Group plc.
In 1990 he joined the German-Dutch Chamber in The Hague as Head of Marketing, a position he held until 1995 when he moved to the Chamber in Brussels to take up the post of Deputy Director with responsibility for commercial management. While in Brussels he was the originator and driving force behind the company APRI, set up to advise Chambers of Commerce on how to lobby for and manage EU funded programs. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the German-Irish Chamber of Industry and Commerce in 1999. He holds a number of non-executive directorships.
(a London based facility service company with a turnover of €2.6 billion and 75,000 employees). He previously was Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Metabo AG (professional tools) and Senior Vice President of Imtech Suir Engineering Ltd., Waterford. Dr. Häfele also served as longstanding Chief Executive Officer of the M+W Zander Group. M+W Zander is a globally acting company in the areas of Facility Engineering and Facility Management with a turnover of over €2.2 billion and 8,100 employees in 2007. Dr. Häfele was reelected in 2014 as a member of the Regional Parliament of the Region of Stuttgart and he is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft (economic development board) of the Stuttgart Region. Dr. Häfele studied economics at the University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim from 1981-1986 and obtained a doctorate (Dr. oec.) in 1988 with a thesis on labour law. He resides in Stuttgart with his wife Silvia and his daughter Katharina. Amongst his many interests, Dr. Häfele is a keen athlete and marathon runner.
Councillor Iwer Baecker, Bayer Ireland Ltd. Iwer Baecker is the Managing Director of the Bayer business in Ireland. Before he joined the Irish company he worked for the Bayer Healthcare European Business Development department as well as Bayer Innovation, the Innovation and Venture Capital unit of Bayer AG. In 2003 he founded a medical device and biotech company which he ultimately sold into Bayer AG in 2005 before joining the company himself in 2006. He started his professional career at Commerzbank and worked as a consultant with Cap Gemini and Ernst & Young. Iwer studied at the University of Regensburg and holds a degree in Finance, International Management and Innovation. He lives in
CEO Ralf Lissek, GermanIrish Chamber of Industry and Commerce Born in Wuppertal in 1962, Ralf Lissek completed a two and a half year traineeship in Business Administration before beginning his studies in Germany and at Aston University in the UK, where he specialised in Marketing.
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Dublin and in his spare time enjoys sailing, diving and snowboarding. Councillor Philip Daly, LK Shields Philip Daly is a Partner at LK Shields. His practice is primarily in the areas of Corporate and Commercial Law. Philip has acted in mergers and acquisitions transactions across all industry sectors as well as advising on private equity funding rounds and corporate restructurings. Given his significant experience and focus on the energy sector, he is the lead partner in the firm’s successful Energy and Natural Resources Unit. Philip has had a long standing association with the German-Irish Chamber of Industry and Commerce and provides legal advice to a number of German companies located in Ireland. Councillor Eddie Goodwin, Enterprise Ireland Eddie Goodwin has over 12 years experience working in Germany with the Irish Government Agencies: Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland. In his current role Eddie manages the Enterprise Ireland office for Germany, Switzerland and Austria out of Dusseldorf and leads a team of sector experts to consult for and work with Irish companies to internationalise into the German speaking region. Prior to this for 4 years Eddie managed the Enterprise Ireland Boston Office and managed the EI