Airbus Defence and Space names new CEO

Hoke has spent the past 18 years working at Siemens

Airbus Defence and Space has selected Dirk Hoke to succeed Bernhard Gerwert as its chief executive in 2016.

Hoke, until recently chief executive of the Large Drives business unit at Siemens, will join Airbus Group on 1 January 2016 and take control of the company on 1 April.

Hoke, who has a mechanical engineering degree from the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany, began his professional career in the automotive industry at Renault in Paris in 1994.

In 1996 he joined Siemens where he occupied various management posts international assignments in Argentina, Austria, China, Morocco, the US, as well as leading Siemens’ entire Africa activities based out of Casablanca and Johannesburg.

Much of his professional focus at Siemens has been on transportation systems, including building the Maglev Train in Shanghai and making Siemens the largest foreign railway supplier in China.

Tom Enders, Airbus Group chief executive, said: “I am pleased that we found an excellent successor to Bernhard in Dirk Hoke; a man with a very remarkable track record of building and growing businesses throughout four continents; a man with strong experience in high-tech industries, engineering and project management, value-added services and digitalisation.

“In short, a manager well equipped for a world and business environment that is ever more accelerating in various dimensions.”