Long-term succession plan for the Management Board of HERMLE AG
Kai Bacher to become new Sales Director on 1 January 2026
Franz-Xaver Bernhard to retire at the end of 2025
Gosheim, 30 January 2025 – The Supervisory Board of Maschinenfabrik Berthold HERMLE AG has appointed Kai Bacher (42) as a member of the Management Board with effect from 1 January 2026. He will succeed Franz-Xaver Bernhard (65), who will retire from the Board on 31 December 2025 when his contract expires. Accordingly, HERMLE, as part of its long-term succession plan, is ensuring an orderly and timely transition as well as continuity within the three-member Management Board, whose other members are Günther Beck (Finances, Information Processing) and Benedikt Hermle (Production, Service, Human Resources).
Kai Bacher joined HERMLE in 2003, initially as part of a dual study course in Mechanical Engineering, and subsequently in various Design and Product Development roles. He was then employed for several years as an Assistant to the Management and as Head of Product Management, where he worked closely with Franz-Xaver Bernhard. On 1 January 2025, he became the Chief Representative Sales. From the start of 2026, he will assume responsibility on the Management Board for Sales, Research & Development, Product Management and Customs & Foreign Trade. This week, he put pen to paper on an initial three-year contract.
Qualified mechanical technician Franz-Xaver Bernhard’s 40-year career at HERMLE began in 1983 as a deputy installation manager. Following various management roles in Technical Sales, Application Engineering, Sales and Research & Development, he was appointed to the Management Board of Maschinenfabrik Berthold HERMLE AG in 2001. After handing over the reins of Sales to Kai Bacher, he will remain responsible for Research & Development until the end of 2025.
“On behalf of the entire Supervisory Board, I express my gratitude and thanks to Franz-Xaver Bernhard for his extraordinary service and dedication, which have played a key role in shaping HERMLE AG over the past decades. We wish him the very best for his well-deserved retirement. At the same time, we are delighted to have found a highly competent successor in Kai Bacher, who has been employed at HERMLE for many years, enabling the Supervisory Board to gain a positive impression of his successful work,” says Dietmar Hermle, Chair of the Supervisory Board.
