Bosch Rexroth Corp., Hoffman Estates, Ill., appointed Berend Bracht, former CEO of Bosch Rexroth China and former head of the company's U.S. industrial hydraulics operation, as president and CEO. Bracht took over the U.S. position earlier this month. He replaces Wolfgang Dangel, who has led the U.S. subsidiary of the German-based company since April 2003. Dangel is leaving to accept a leadership position with the Schaeffler Group.
Manfred Grundke, chairman of the executive board for parent company Bosch Rexroth AG, says that Bracht will continue the forward momentum Bosch Rexroth has built in the U.S. “Berend's managerial skill and advanced technical leadership responsibilities on three continents during the past 15 years have given him a truly global perspective. He will continue Bosch Rexroth's close relationships with distributors and will develop new initiatives to enhance and promote the company's technology leadership.”
Grundke says that Berend will build upon Dangel's progress in establishing strong relationships with distributors through online ordering, inventory management, and information sharing. “Berend's experience and educational background will allow him to build upon and extend those efforts with greater collaboration in applications engineering and advanced drive and control technology.”
Bracht started his career with the company in 1991 as a hydraulics sales engineer in Munich. In 1993, he went on to the industrial hydraulics organization in Bethlehem, Pa., initially working as an application engineer. Bracht became the production manager for valves and manifolds in 1997 and then vice president and general manager of the standard products operation in 1999. With the merger of Bosch and Rexroth in 2001, he was appointed vice president and general manager for the overall U.S. industrial hydraulics group. He led Bosch Rexroth China from 2004 until last October.
Bracht received a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from the Technical University in Munich.