Wolfgang Wienand Explained

Wolfgang Wienand
Birth Date:22 February 1972
Birth Place:Cologne, West Germany
Sport:Fencing
Show-Medals:yes

Wolfgang Wienand (born 22 February 1972) is a German manager and former world-class fencer. He competed in the individual and team foil events at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics. Since 2019 he serves as Chief Executive Officer and President of Siegfried AG, a Swiss-based global chemical-pharmaceutical company.

Life and professional career

Wienand studied chemistry at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Bonn and received his PhD in 2002 in organic and bioorganic chemistry at the University of Cologne.[1] His studies have been supported by academic and PhD scholarships of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, Germany's national academic merit foundation, as well as the Kekulé PhD scholarship of the Fonds des VCI Verbandes der Chemischen Industrie, Germany’s national chemical-industrial association. He also holds an Executive Master´s Degree in International Finance from HEC École des hautes études commerciales de Paris (2017). Wienand started his professional career at the German specialty chemicals corporation Evonik Industries AG (previously Degussa AG). Since 2010 he has been a member of the executive board of Siegfried AG (SIX: SFZN), a Swiss-based chemical-pharmaceutical company with worldwide operations.[2] [3] In 2019 Wolfgang Wienand led the Siegfried group as Chief Executive Officer.[4] In 2024 he became CEO of Lonza.[5]

Sports career

As a foil fencer, Wienand was a long-standing member of the national fencing team of Germany and the German Olympic teams of Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000.[6] He won the World Youth Championships in 1989 in Lisbon, finished in 4th place at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and won the bronze medal at the 1999 World Fencing Championships in Seoul. He came 2nd in the individual competition at the European Fencing Championships 1998 in Plovdiv, where he also won the European championship with Germany's men's foil team, as well as winning the World Cup Series in 1997. Wienand was number one of the world ranking list and won seven World Cups and several German National Championships.[7]

Since 1991 his coach was the future German national coach for men's foil, Frank-Eberhard Höltje, previously national coach for the men's junior foil team of the GDR and participant as a sabre fencer to the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Previously Wienand was coached by Manfred Kaspar, former German national coach for epee and sports director of the German national fencing association. His home club is the Olympic Fencing Club Bonn.

Wienand was a leading figure in the German national team. He finished his career in sports after the 2000 Summer Olympics to complete his PhD and to start over with his professional career in the chemical-pharmaceutical industry.

Awards

Notes and References

  1. https://www.uni-due.de/akschmuck/alumni.shtml Research working group of Prof. Dr. Carsten Schmuck
  2. http://www.handelszeitung.ch/management/wolfgang-wienand News about Wolfgang Wienand at Siegfried
  3. http://www.chemanager-online.com/tags/dr-wolfgang-wienand News about Wolfgang Wienand at Siegfried
  4. https://www.chemanager-online.com/en/news-opinions/headlines/wolfgang-wienand-succeed-rudolf-hanko-ceo-siegfried News about Wolfgang Wienand at Siegfried
  5. https://www.lonza.com/news/2024-07-01-07-00 Lonza Welcomes New Group Chief Executive Officer Wolfgang Wienand
  6. https://web.archive.org/web/20200417222524/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/wi/wolfgang-wienand-1.html Olympic results of Wolfgang Wienand
  7. https://www.ksta.de/florettfechter-wolfgang-wienand-unangefochten-unter-den-weltbesten-13564472 Article about Wolfgang Wienand
  8. http://www.fechten.org/uploads/media/fechtsport_magazin_6_2013.pdf Reference in Fechtsport 2013