Andreas Widl (59) graduated in Physics with a diploma from the Technical University of Munich, Germany. He started his career as Innovation Manager at Mannesmann Pilotentwicklung, think-tank of the former Mannesmann Corporation. Major results related to this 7-year engagement were the development of the first GPS-based road pricing system, 30 patents and a PhD in Physics. In 1999, Andreas Widl joined GE Capital as Business Development and Sales Director in the Reinsurance, M&A and Consumer Finance sector. In 2004, he continued his career as Executive VP of the Swiss Oerlikon Corporation to restructure its cash-burning semi-conductor divisions. In December 2005, he was appointed Oerlikon Asia President and Managing Director of Oerlikon Shanghai. In addition to his Asia responsibilities, he became acting CTO, coordinating Oerlikon’s global R&D activities. In October 2008, he was appointed CEO of Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum, Cologne, leading the company to record profitability within 3 years.

In June 2013, Andreas Widl became Member of the Executive Board of Samson AG, Frankfurt, responsible for Sales, Marketing and Strategy. He was appointed CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board in April 2015. In the past 10 years he executed a global growth strategy towards 900+ Mio Euro sales, transformed SAMSON into a process- and data-driven industrial enterprise and expanded its product portfolio from industrial valves to AI-based process intelligence. With Project MainChange, SAMSON currently undertakes the largest investment in its 117-year history, moving the Frankfurt HQ to Offenbach. MainChange is a CO2-optimized, green-field production and new work facility for 2000 employees, with a total investment volume of 400 Mio Euro. Apart from his SAMSON engagement, Andreas is engaged in 10+ start-up companies and promotes the German Mittelstand.