Gerd Chrzanowski appointed new head of the Schwarz Group

On December 1, 2021, Dieter Schwarz will hand over his mandate as general partner of the Schwarz Group to Gerd Chrzanowski. In doing so, the hitherto deputy of the general partner and Chair of the Board of the Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG will take office as planned following his successful becoming acquainted with the new field of responsibility.

Gerd Chrzanowski, too, will hand over the position as Chair of the Lidl Board to his successor Kenneth McGrath on December 1, 2021. The international commerce expert and manager with long-standing experience has been thoroughly prepared for his new role by Gerd Chrzanowski over the past weeks.

The recent appointing of additional chairpersons (COB) marks another step in the sustainable alignment of the Schwarz Group’s top management team. In addition to Kenneth McGrath, this top management team includes Carsten Theurer (COB Schwarz Dienstleistung), Frank Schumann (COB Kaufland), Thomas Kyriakis (COB PreZero), Jörg Aldenkott (COB Schwarz Produktion), Christian Müller (COB Schwarz IT) und Rolf Schumann (COB Schwarz Digital).

Gerd Chrzanowski (50) has been with the Schwarz Group for more than 20 years in various positions of responsibility. After joining the Schwarz Group in November 2000, and in virtue of the various appointments that he held in Sales, he significantly structured the organizational unit at Lidl Germany, becoming its Chief Central Functions Officer in 2008.

Between June 2016 and March 2019, he held the office of Chair of Board of Schwarz Zentrale Dienste KG, the central functions division. In March 2019, he was appointed Chair of the Board of the SB Dienstleistung KG and deputy general partner. His sphere of responsibility covered areas such as procurement, administration, recyclables management, IT, mobility and digitalization.

Since March 2020, he has been taking on his responsibilities as general partner. Since September 2020, Gerd Chrzanowski has headed Lidl, the largest retail division at the Schwarz Group, as Chair of the Board.