Dr Reinhold Festge, managing partner of Haver & Boecker in Oelde, Germany, has been elected as president of the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) following a members' gathering in Stuttgart on 18 October 2013. He succeeds Dr Thomas Lindner of the Groz-Beckert KG in Albstadt, who has served asVDMA president since 2010.
Reinhold Festge was born in Oelde on 10 November 1945. After completing his medical school studies he majored in Business Administration and then became managing director of Haver + Beumer Latinoamericana in Brazil. From 1985-87 he served as managing director of HAVER Filling Systems in the USA. Since 1987 he has been the personally-liable managing partner of Haver & Boecker in Oelde.
Festge is a member of the restricted board and sits on the main board of the VDMA. From 1998 to 2004 he was chairman of the VDMA professional association for construction and building material machinery. He was chairman of the VDMA state federation of North Rhine Westphalia from 2005-11.