Effective January 1, 2023, Philipp Ebbinghaus, chief officer of both Finance and IT and CFO of the U.S. subsidiary Sandler Nonwoven Corporation, will be a member of the company’s management board. His predecessor, board member Wolfgang Höflich will retire after 46 years with the company at the end of the year. Christian Heinrich Sandler (CEO since 2007),  Ulrich Hornfeck (board member since 2012) and Ebbinghaus will continue shaping the company as new management board.
 
Höflich spent almost his entire professional life at Sandler. He started in 1976 as an assistant to the site management and seven years later rose to the position of site manager with full power of attorney. “Wolfgang Höflich has helped shape 46 of the 143 years of our company history and our development into a state-of-the-art nonwovens manufacturer—an amazing legacy. Since 1995, he has been responsible for the Production Division, initially as head of production, and from 2010, as a member of the management board,” explains Christian Heinrich Sandler..  
 
Höflich’s responsibility for the production division has already been taken over by Stephan Hopster in July 2022. As of January 1, 2023, Hopster report directly to CEO Dr. Sandler.
 
Ebbinghaus will join the management board on January 1, 2023, as an executive who, as Dr. Sandler points out, has very successfully filled responsible positions within the company over the past 10 years. Ebbinghaus had been assigned challenging tasks by the management board since 2013. For example, he was tasked with setting up the new US location in Perry, GA, he was appointed CFO of the German headquarters and the U.S. subsidiary, and, since the middle of this year, he has also been Chief Information Officer.
 
After studying economics at the University of Hohenheim, Ebbinghaus worked as a controller at E. Breuninger GmbH & Co. in Stuttgart, Germany for three years before starting in the family business in 2013. “Philipp had to live with the fact that we kept a particularly close eye on how he was developing— after all, as my nephew, he is part of the owner family!
 
He can be proud of his successes so far, and he doesn’t shy away from difficult situations and challenges. I am particularly pleased that Philipp, regardless of his promotion, maintained respect for his colleagues, remained diligent and modest, and always regarded successes as team successes. He is characterised by strategic foresight and determination to achieve goals. He is not a yes-man, but also disagrees and fights for his ideas and teams. I think that’s good. It’s the only way to move forward!” says Dr. Sandler.