“For me it is important to first understand and then change,” says Wilfried von Rath. In 2025, he took over the position of labor director and human resources director of Thyssenkrupp and Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe (proper spelling thyssenkrupp). The long-standing CHRO Oliver Burkhard left his post at the end of January 2025, and von Rath followed in April – in the middle of a transformation phase.
“The challenge for me was less about taking on a position that my predecessor had shaped for twelve years, but rather the situation in which Thyssenkrupp finds itself,” remembers the qualified psychologist and MBA. “We are developing from an integrated industrial group into a lean financial holding company with independent segments. This means that structures, responsibilities and decision-making processes are changing, of course also in the HR area.”
