Robert Erni, former chief financial officer at Panalpina, is joining Dachser in the same role as a successor to Burkhard Eling who will become the German forwarding group’s chief executive in January next year.
Erni will begin his onboarding phase at Dachser as Deputy Director in September, 2020.
The 54-year-old was previously CFO at listed logistics provider Panalpina, where he headed the merger with Danish logistics group DSV.
During his time at Panalpina, Erni managed various acquisition projects in addition to two substantial SAP rollouts and the organizational changes these required, thus supporting the company’s global growth strategy.
Erni began his career at logistics company Kühne+Nagel, where he held posts in Hong Kong, India, Argentina, and the US before returning to his home country of Switzerland, where he was in charge of global controlling at company headquarters.
“Robert Erni is an extremely experienced CFO who has spent over 30 years working in the logistics sector,” explained Eling, adding: “We are delighted to have him on our new Executive Board and look forward to working with him to address future challenges in a way that creates value and growth.”
Dachser CEO Bernhard Simon, who will head the company’s Supervisory Board as of 2021, said: “Being CFO of a family-owned company like Dachser is about much more than mastering the figures: our CFO maintains close relations with our shareholders, shapes the strategy process, and in so doing also plays a major role in the operational business.
“In Robert Erni, we have found a CFO who can fully meet these requirements from January 1, 2021 onward.”
