The Belgian Birgit Conix (52) will succeed TUI Group’s CFO Horst Baier. The Group’s Supervisory Board has decided to appoint Birgit Conix as member of the Executive Board with effect from 15 July 2018. She will take over as CFO when Horst Baier (61) steps down this autumn.
Horst Baier joined TUI Group more than 22 years ago. Birgit Conix will be joining TUI from her current role as CFO of the Belgian media and telecommunications group Telenet, which she had assumed in October 2013. Prior to moving to Telenet, Conix had been Senior Finance Director Western Europe for the international brewing company Heineken since 2011. She had previously held various management and leadership positions at the global healthcare company Johnson & Johnson from 1996 to 2011. She worked in both the J&J Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices divisions at Europe, Middle East & Africa level, and was Vice President Finance at Janssen Germany, a J&J subsidiary, from 2004 to 2007. Prior to J&J, she worked at both Tenneco and Reed-Elsevier.
Birgit Conix has 25 years of experience in finance across many different industries. Having held assignments in Amsterdam, London, Queretaro/Mexico, Madrid, Frankfurt and Dusseldorf, Birgit Conix gained extensive experience in virtually all of TUI’s core markets in the course of her career.
She studied Business Economics at Tilburg University in the Netherlands and obtained a Master of Business Administration from Booth School of Business at University of Chicago.
TUI Group’s Supervisory Board has appointed Birgit Conix for a term of three years. She will assume her role as Executive Board member with effect from 15 July 2018 and will work closely with Horst Baier until she will succeed him as CFO. He will leave the Group’s Executive Board when his current contract expires in autumn 2018.
Professor Klaus Mangold, Chairman of TUI Group’s Supervisory Board: ”With Birgit Conix, we have recruited an international top manager as CFO for our Group. With her international background and comprehensive experience from various sectors and companies, she will be a great asset to TUI. I am sure that Birgit Conix will further expand TUI’s excellent reputation among investors and in the financial market in collaboration with the current Executive Board and TUI’s employees. I am looking forward to working with her. On behalf of the Supervisory Board, I would like to thank Mr Baier very warmly for his excellent performance and his commitment to TUI. In his more than ten years as Executive Board member, he has played a crucial role in transforming the former Preussag into the world leader in tourism. Mr Baier was a key figure with a strategic vision and the strength to see it through to operational implementation during the merger of TUI Travel PLC and TUI AG. Mr Baier has been instrumental in shaping TUI and as a leadership personality with skill and expertise he is a role model for many.”
TUI’s future Executive Board will comprise six managers of German, British and Belgian nationalities. When the new CFO takes over, two of six Executive Board members will be female.