Mathias Brand - CEO, starting April 1, 2020

Mathias Brand is leading Kilchenmann AG into a promising future.

As announced, Mathias Brand took over the management of Kilchenmann AG from Ulrich Jost on April 1, 2020. Brand wants to further expand the advantageous market position he has built up in recent years and continue to lead the company forward in the course of digitalization.

It is anything but a matter of course that Mathias Brand was able to take over the management of Kilchenmann AG on time on April 1, 2020, as previously communicated and planned: On the one hand, the 47-year-old worked as Head of Infrastructure at the Swisscom subsidiary cablex before taking up his post. There, his responsibility for the railroad technology in the Ceneri Base Tunnel, a 300 MCHF project that is still ongoing, kept him extremely busy until the very end and will continue to do so until the end of 2020. On the other hand, the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis has presented Kilchenmann with a variety of challenges: In the new age of working from home, the experts at Switzerland's leading company for professional audio, video and collaboration solutions are naturally more in demand than ever. The outgoing Managing Director Ulrich Jost has therefore also been highly challenged in operational management until the very end. Now, however, the rolling handover of the business to Brand has been completed and the baton has been passed.

Digitalization for customers - but also internally
As CEO, Brand is looking forward to bringing new perspectives, structures and processes to the company as an outsider to complement Kilchenmann's proven DNA: "Kilchenmann is at the forefront of digitalization. Both externally in its day-to-day work with customers and internally in aligning processes with the changes in market cultivation." The focus of Kilchenmann's services is shifting from project-oriented to customer-oriented service provision as digitalization progresses. Brand is convinced that the service provision process is changing fundamentally: "In the past, the focus was on the individual project, which then had to be implemented in the best possible technical way. Today, our customers are primarily looking for partners who understand their diverse challenges and can provide customized solutions for all phases of their infrastructure lifecycles." This is a field in which Kilchenmann will be challenged in the future, but it also holds immense future potential for the Kehrsatz-based company.

Expansion abroad is well prepared
Outgoing CEO Jost, who has led Kilchenmann AG since 2010, will only retain his role as a member of the Board of Directors. However, he has withdrawn completely from the day-to-day business. Although the handover of the business may seem unfavorable in the current environment, it seems ideal to him due to the long-term planning: "On the one hand, we have found the best possible successor in Mathias Brand, who will now be a dedicated entrepreneur. He brings a wealth of corporate and key account experience to the Kilchenmann SME. Secondly, Kilchenmann is ideally equipped for the future: The company has consistently achieved new sales records in recent years." With its own subsidiary in Germany and access to international partner networks, Kilchenmann has also laid the foundations for success on a global level.