Jürgen Maier


Jürgen Wolfgang Maier or Juergen Wolfgang Maier is a British-Austrian businessman, and the former Chief Executive of Siemens UK and is a leading UK industrialist and business commentator.

Early life

He was born in Germany, though holds Austrian and British citizenship. He lived in Karlsruhe. He came to the UK in 1974, to Leeds, where he went to school at Allerton Grange School, from 1978.
He studied Production Engineering at Trent Polytechnic in Nottingham from 1982 to 1986.

Career

Maier is the chairman of the Digital Catapult and co-chair of UK's Made Smarter programme. He also champions prosperity generation in northern regions and in that capacity is a board member of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership and the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership. He is a member of the Industrial Strategy Council which provides impartial and expert advice to government.
Maier has occupied senior posts with Siemens, including Managing Director of UK and Ireland industry sector and Manufacturing Director of the Drives Factory in Congleton, Cheshire. He became a member of the Siemens UK Executive Management Board in October 2008, and was appointed Chief Executive on 1 July 2014. He retired early on December 2019 at the age of only 55.

Honours

He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and the Royal Academy of Engineering, and is a visiting Professor at the University of Manchester; he has also received Honorary Doctorates from the University of Salford, the University of Lincoln, Nottingham Trent University, the University of Sheffield, Cranfield University and Manchester Metropolitan University.
He was a non-executive board member of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills of the UK government from 2014-2016 and has since led the Made Smarter industrial strategy initiative which aims to create a strong 4th Industrial Revolution in the UK.
In 2019, Insider Magazine named Maier as the most influential business person in North West England. Juergen Maier was ranked number 5 in Glassdoor's Top CEOs for 2019.
He was awarded the CBE in the 2019 New Year Honours.