Andreas Raps will succeed Frank Heislitz as CEO of Freudenberg Performance Materials, effective January 1, 2024. Meanwhile, Marco Altherr will take over from Thomas Herr as CFO. The management board of Freudenberg Performance Materials will therefore consist of: Raps, Altherr and John McNabb, CTO. McNabb has been CTO since 2018. Dr. Frank Heislitz and Thomas Herr will become members of the Freudenberg Group Board of Management on January 1, 2024.
 
“Freudenberg Performance Materials is a leading global manufacturer of innovative technical textiles. I’m honored and excited to further drive key elements of success, such as customer centricity, digitalization and sustainability,” Raps says. Dr. Mohsen Sohi, CEO of the Freudenberg Group, added: “With Dr. Andreas Raps and Marco Altherr, two internationally experienced managers are joining the Freudenberg Performance Materials Board of Management. Both have a wealth of expertise and have made outstanding contributions to the development of the Freudenberg Group. Together with John McNabb, they form a strong leadership team.”
 
Raps has been a member of the Freudenberg SE Executive Council since 2020 and CEO of EagleBurgmann, a joint venture between the Japanese EKK Group and the Freudenberg Group, since 2016. He previously held several executive management positions at Freudenberg Sealing Technologies from 2004, most recently as CEO of the global Special Sealing Division with 17 manufacturing sites worldwide. Before joining the Freudenberg Group, Raps worked for various management consulting companies in Boston, USA, Munich, Germany, and Zurich, Switzerland. He holds an MBA from the University of Passau. Alongside his job as a consultant, he obtained a PhD with a thesis on strategy implementation in Business Administration. 
 
Altherr has been CFO of Vibracoustic SE, a Freudenberg Group company, since 2020. He held various senior management positions at Freudenberg & Co. KG, the technology group’s holding company, from 2015 to 2020, most recently as Head of Corporate Controlling and Accounting. Prior to joining Freudenberg, he served in several management roles at Manroland AG, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, Boehringer Ingelheim and Arthur Andersen. He holds a degree in business administration specializing in controlling and financing from Lahr University.