Dental device company Ivoclar has announced that the appointment of Mirco Stiehle to the position of chief commercial officer (CCO) high growth markets, and Michael Bickel as the new chief financial officer (CFO) of the Ivoclar Group.
As of 1 January 2024, Stiehle will join the corporate management team and assume responsibility for the APAC sales organisations in addition to the Latin American (LATAM) region where he is the head of LATAM. Furthermore, Christian Brutzer will focus on the established markets, including North America, Europe & Middle East, in his new position as CCO mature markets.
“Going forward, we will divide our sales division into ‘mature markets’ and ‘high growth markets’ to foster closer integration among the sales areas and support them more effectively,” said Ivoclar Group CEO Markus Heinz, who has been at the helm since March.
Stiehle studied international management with a focus on marketing and finance in the USA and Germany. Subsequently, he worked for various companies in the medical device and dental industry in Germany, Japan and the USA, before joining Ivoclar in December 2019.
Michael Bickel will succeed Franz Berger as of 1 December 2023, who will ensure a smooth transfer of responsibilities during a joint transition period. With this appointment Berger will leave the Ivoclar Group after 12 years of CFO at the end of June 2024 to take on new challenges.
“I would like to thank Frank Berger for his significant contributions. Under his tenure as CFO, Ivoclar has not only completed strategically important acquisitions and the implementation of the integrated performance management but also established and expanded areas such as global tax management, treasury, compliance, risk management and data and cyber security,” said Heinz. “The joint transition period from Franz Berger to Michael Bickel ensures continuity for Ivoclar in ongoing projects, for example also in the challenging regulatory tax and reporting projects such as BEPS 2.0.”
Bickel is returning from Jardine Schindler Holding LTD in Hong Kong to Europe, where he previously gained experience at Ernst & Young and the Baloise Insurance Group after completing his studies in Economics in Berne, Switzerland. Since 2005, the Bickel has been with the Schindler Group, holding various leadership positions in finance, risk management and internal audit, supply chain, IT, and business service centres in the USA, China and Southeast Asia. In many of the positions he had, he assumed the responsibility of CFO.
Bickel and Stiehle will complete the existing corporate management team, consisting of Markus Heinz as CEO, Franz Berger as outgoing CFO, Christian Brutzer as CCO with new responsibility for mature markets, Patric Frank as chief marketing officer, Dr Thomas Hirt as chief technology officer and Alexandra H Machnik as chief digital officer.
