German American Chamber Commerce New York Elects 2018 Board Members

11.05.2018

New York, NY May 10, 2018 – The German American Chamber of Commerce (GACC) today announced the election of six new directors to its board.

“We are honored to have such skilled and dedicated professionals joining our board,” said Caroll H. Neubauer, Chairman of the German American Chambers of Commerce. “The wealth of knowledge and years of corporate experience they possess will greatly benefit the GACC’s mission of fostering productive business relations between the US and Germany,” he added.

The six directors elected to the GACC board are the following:

Jan Heck – President of Miele USA, a position he has held since August of 2016, based in Princeton, NJ. His tenure at Miele began in 1999, when he joined Miele Limited as President of the Canadian subsidiary, where the company’s sales to date have increased by more than 400%. Mr. Heck started his career in Germany at Bizerba, a leader in weighing equipment technology and food processing machines. During his 14 years at Bizerba, he advanced to become Managing Director of Bizerba UK and, eventually, President of Bizerba Canada. He was a member of the Advisory Committee of the Centre of German & European Studies at York University and member of the steering committees of both the Canadian Festival in Toronto and Toronto International Bach Festival.

Peter Hoecklin – President and CEO of TRUMPF, is responsible for all subsidiaries and business operations in North America for TRUMPF, a market and technology leader in machine tools and lasers for industrial production. Previously, he served a Managing Director of TRUMPF (China) Co., from 2007-2014, and as Director of Purchasing at TRUMPF headquarters in Ditzingen, Germany. Prior to joining TRUMPF, Mr. Hoecklin held a variety of positions in consulting at McKinsey & Co. and with Emerson Electronic Co., in both the US and Europe

Tamur Goudarzi Pour - Vice President Airline Sales, The Americas for the Lufthansa Group is responsible for passenger airline organization in North/South America, which includes sales and marketing and managing commercial cooperation with the Lufthansa Group Passenger Airlines’ transatlantic joint venture partners, United Airlines and Air Canada, based in New York. He also functions as Patron for the Lufthansa Group Companies in North America. Mr. Goudarzi Pour began his career with Lufthansa in 1998, serving in roles such as: Senior Manager in Dubai, covering the Middle East; General Manager in Iran; Director in Budapest, responsible for Central & Eastern Europe; and Director of Network Planning in Munich. Prior to his Americas assignment, he returned to Dubai as Vice President for Sales & Service, Middle East, Africa and Southeast Europe.

Jaroslaw Gabor – CFO of Bertelsmann Education Group and as CEO of Bertelsmann, Inc., the North American Corporate Center of the international media, services and education group joined Bertelsmann in 2006 and has worked for several of the Group’s divisions since then. Among other things, he has assisted with many large transactions such as a number of BMG acquisitions, and the merger of Penguin and Random House to become the world’s largest trade book publisher. At Penguin Random House, he was jointly responsible for the integration of the two publishing groups. Before joining Bertelsmann, he held various positions at the energy company Eon and at Deloitte.

Marco Schnabl - CEO and co-Founder of automotiveMastermind (aM), leads sales, service and operations at aM’s NYC headquarters, where the company has more than 800 dealership clients of automotive manufacturers, including Acura, Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Honda, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, MINI and Toyota. aM is the leading provider of predictive analytics and marketing automation technology for the automotive industry. He co-founded aM with Johannes Gnauck in 2012. After more than a decade as top-performing Mercedes-Benz salesmen, Schnabl and Gnauck recognized the need for a more sophisticated technology that leveraged data and improved the automotive retail experience for buyers and sellers.

Susanne Witte Settineri - President of Carl Brandt, Inc., a subsidiary of Brandt Zwieback-Schokoladen GmbH + Co. KG. Carl Brandt, Inc. is a leading importer of specialty foods and a pivotal member of the Specialty Food Association, of which Ms. Settineri was a board member from 1992-1996. Carl Brandt, Inc. was instrumental in bringing authentic German whole grain breads to the United States, as well as introducing marzipan to the American consumer. Mestemacher Breads are now highly ranked amongst American specialty breads and Niederegger Marzipan has become a top-ranked confectionery product line. Prior to her almost thirty-year tenure at Carl Brandt, Inc., Ms. Settineri also held managerial positions at Underberg, a German digestive company, and John Wanamaker Department Stores.

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About the GACC:
The German American Chambers of Commerce (GACCs) with main offices in Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco and New York, as well as branches in Detroit, Houston and Philadelphia, collaborate under the network of the German Chamber Network (AHKs).

With approximately 2,500 members, an extensive international network and a broad spectrum of activities and services, the GACCs are the first choice for business ties between the US and Germany.

The GACCs also partner with the Representative of German Industry and Trade (RGIT), an organization that represents the interests of the German business community vis-à-vis the US administration and other international organizations in Washington, D.C.

AHKs are connected to the Chambers of Industry and Commerce (IHKs) in Germany. The umbrella organization of the IHKs is the German Association of Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), which advocates for 3.6 million businesses in Germany and supports the AHKs. The German Chamber Network (AHK) provides experience, connections and services in more than 130 locations in 90 countries.

Email: news@ahk-usa.com, Website: www.ahk-usa.com