Helmut Werner was born in Cologne on September 2, 1936. Having graduated in business economics, he joined the firm then known as Englebert & Co. GmbH, based in Aachen, in 1961. In the following years, he held various positions in the field of finance and marketing, before becoming the European General Product Manager, located in Liege, Belgium. In 1977, his responsibilities were extended to all product groups of Uniroyal Europe and, after Continental took over the European tyre activities of the American rubber company, Werner became a member of the Board of Management of Continental Gummi-Werke AG in 1979. He was made Chairman of the company's Board of Management on January 1, 1982.In November 1987, Helmut Werner was appointed to the Board of Management of Daimler-Benz AG, where he was handed over responsibility for the Commercial Vehicle division. While Deputy President of Mercedes-Benz AG, he was also responsible for finance and controlling as well as for central purchasing of Mercedes-Benz AG.
Since May 1, 1992, Werner has been responsible for central and strategic tasks on the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz AG, initially in conjunction with Prof. Niefer and on the latter's retirement with sole responsibility.
On May 27, 1993, Helmut Werner took over as President and Chief Executive Officer of Mercedes-Benz.
Amongst his other responsibilities Helmut Werner is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Expo Gesellschaft which is entrusted with planning and organizing the World Fair in Hanover in the year 2000. He is also on the Supervisory Boards of BASF AG, IBM Deutschland GmbH, the Gerling Konzern Versicherungs-Beteiligungs AG and a member of the Board of the Detroit Diesel Corp, as well as being a member of the Advisory Board of the Deutsche Bank, Stuttgart, and on the Curatory Panel of the Forschungsinstitut für Kraftfahrwesen und Fahrzeugmotoren (Research Institute for Automobiles and Vehicle Engines) in Stuttgart.
©1995 Daimler-Benz