Dr. Diekmann, welcome as the new Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Blue Cap. How would you describe yourself if people don’t know you yet?

Dr. Christian Diekmann: First the facts: I am 58 years old and live in Hamburg with my young children and my wife. My grown-up son, who grew up with me, also lives there. To stay fit for my family and my work, I regularly do Krav Maga (a self-defense training for physical fitness and mental strength) - there's barely no time for more.
There are two different perspectives on me as a person, but they go hand in hand. As a person, Christian Diekmann, I have been shaped by my parents and my East Westphalian home in Bielefeld: straightforward, reliable and ambitious. In East Westphalia, you make a lot out of a little and you work hard for it. I also learned this from my father in our company, a small trading business. It was a good school and even though I later studied, did a doctorate and was trained at McKinsey - the simple commercial virtues are and remain important. In addition, my time as a competitive athlete taught me that you can only achieve success if you push yourself to your limits and are prepared to work hard for success.
What applies to me as a person also applies to me as a manager - and there's one more thing: As a manager, you have a role and therefore stakeholder expectations that you have to fulfill. I always bear this in mind because, after all, I'm not paid to "act out". That's why it's important for me to fulfill my role authentically.

Those were some exciting personal highlights, what characterizes you and your actions as a manager and leader?

Dr. Christian Diekmann: In all my roles as a manager, I have always acted as if I were an entrepreneur and have always implemented what my father taught me. And I supplemented this with the tools I learned during my studies and at a consultancy. What was most important to me was developing my employees and good teams. I am very proud that many of my former employees are now in management positions themselves. In terms of content, the strategic development of companies and the implementation of strategies through measurable projects was my core competence. I was also happy to take responsibility for operational and strategic issues myself as a member of the Management Board. For me personally, it was very exciting to be able to get to know so many different sectors. After consulting and private equity as CFO at comdirect Bank AG, then as CFO in the food industry and then in mechanical engineering at Max Automation SE as CEO.

And how does the Blue Cap benefit from this?

Dr. Christian Diekmann: As Chairman of the Supervisory Board, I will focus on my role, which includes "supervision" and "advice". The supervisory aspect is important. The size of Blue Cap AG must also be taken into account in the interests of the company; after all, we are not a billion-euro group. The part that I enjoy and that creates value is the "advice". In other words, supporting the Management Board members who bear operational responsibility to make Blue Cap AG bigger and more valuable. In particular, I can contribute my experience from Max Automation SE, which is also a listed medium-sized finance and investment company. It is a somewhat larger mirror image of Blue Cap, so to speak. In the years in which I was responsible as Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO, we developed this company in a very positive way. But there will certainly also be starting points from my previous operational roles and current advisory board roles that are suitable for Blue Cap AG. This is not just limited to the same industries, but I have often introduced cross-industry ideas that have borne fruit.

What is on your agenda as the new Chairman of the Supervisory Board?

Dr. Christian Diekmann: Blue Cap has an established "buy - transform - sell" strategy, which needs to be further brought to life in order to efficiently leverage the hidden growth potential.
My agenda is not a ready-made to-do list. It would be presumptuous to give advice on changes without good knowledge of the people involved, the existing processes and the strategies at Group and company level. First of all, I'll take a look at how things are going at Blue Cap AG and its subsidiaries. I have already had and arranged a few appointments for this. Then I will collect the ideas from the Management Board and the Supervisory Board and together we will define the program for the near future.
I firmly believe that Blue Cap AG occupies an attractive niche on the capital market and will acquire other great companies in addition to the existing ones, whose value enhancement potential we will then exploit together!