Berthold Leibinger

Berthold Leibinger (* November 26, 1930 in Stuttgart, Germany) is a German engineer, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is founder of the non-profit foundation Berthold Leibinger Stiftung and Associate and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the German company Trumpf.

His Life

Born in Stuttgart, Berthold Leibinger graduated with Abitur in 1950. He started an apprenticeship as a mechanic at Trumpf and then studied mechanical engineering at the Technische Hochschule Stuttgart. After graduating with a Diplom he became a development engineer in 1958 at Cincinnati Milling Machines (today: Milacron) in Cincinnati (USA). In 1961 he returned to Germany and to Trumpf to manage the assembly department. In 1968 he developed the first contour nibbling machine tool with numerical control. The owner of the company, Christian Trumpf, having no children, named Leibinger as his successor. Leibinger successively took over shares of the company and served as President from 1978 to 2005. On November 18, 2005, he retired from management and became Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Trumpf Group.

Entrepreneurial and Engineering Achievements

Under the management of Berthold Leibinger Trumpf became the world’s largest manufacturer of machine tools, in particular due to the consequent combination of mechanics and electronics. Trumpf is also one of the largest manufacturers of industrial laser technology and machines for laser cutting.

Berthold Leibinger has been appointed to several important political and economical positions. From 1985 to 1990 he was President of the Chamber of Commerce of the Stuttgart Region and from 1989 to 1992 he served as President of the German Association of Machinery Manufacturers VDMA. He was a member of the supervisory boards of Deutsche Bankand BMW among other companies. From 1999 to 2003 he was Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the chemical company BASF. Berthold Leibinger was Counselor of the Federal State Government of Baden-Württemberg from 1994 to 2005.

Cultural and Social Dedication

Berthold Leibinger is a philanthropist with long lasting involvement in German culture. He is personally involved as Chairman of the Board of the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart and also for the Schiller-Nationalmuseum and the Deutsche Literaturarchiv in Marbach am Neckar. He is also Senator of the German Academy of Science and Engineering acatech.

In 1992 Berthold Leibinger founded the non-profit foundation Berthold Leibinger Stiftung. It is dedicated to cultural, scientific, religious and social issues. Since 2000 the foundation biennially awards the international innovation prize Berthold Leibinger Innovationspreis for applied laser technology. The Berthold Leibinger Zukunftspreis (engl.: future prize) has honored milestones in research of the application or generation of laser light since 2006.

Awards

Berthold Leibinger has received a number of decorations for his entrepreneurial and engineering achievements, among them the honorable titles "Dr.-Ing. e.h." and "Professor" of the Universität Stuttgart.

He received the Bundesverdienstkreuz "Cross of Merit, First class" in 2006 and the "Great Cross of Merit with star" in 2007.

Since 2006 he has worn the Werner-von-Siemens-Ring in recognition of his achievements as an inventor and patron of engineering sciences.

In 2006 he also received the Preis Deutscher Maschinenbau (engl.: Prize for German Machine Tool Engineering) and together with his wife and children the Deutsche Fairness-Preis.

In 2007 he received the Graf-von-Linden-Medaille of the Stuttgart Society for Geography and Ethnology ("Gesellschaft für Erd- und Völkerkunde zu Stuttgart") as well as the Maecenas-Ehrung of AsKI, the German Association of Independent Cultural Institutions ("Arbeitskreis selbständiger Kultur-Institute e. V.")

External links

* [http://www.leibinger-stiftung.de Berthold Leibinger Stiftung]
* [http://www.TRUMPF.de TRUMPF GmbH + Co KG]

References

* Translation from German Wikipedia entry