EnBW's Chairman of the Board of Directors, Dr Wolfgang Schuerle, breaks the news: EnBW's board of directors appoints three new members to the EnBW executive committee

Stuttgart, Germany (ots)

Dr Bernd Balzereit, Dr Bernhard Beck and Professor Dr.-Ing. Thomas Hartkopf

are called in to manage Germany's third-largest energy-supply company

On Wednesday, the board of directors of EnBW Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG appointed Dr Bernd Balzereit, Dr Bernhard Beck and Professor Dr.-Ing. Thomas Hartkopf as members of EnBW's executive committee. The announcement was made by Dr Wolfgang Schuerle (district administrator), who is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Germany's third-largest energy-supply company and Chairman of the joint body of the Oberschwaebische Elektrizitaetswerke (OEW), following a meeting of EnBW's board of directors in Stuttgart.

Dr Bernd Balzereit (55), who has been an executive of the Berlin-based energy-supply company Bewag AG for many years, will take over the reins as EnBW's finance director. Dr Bernhard Beck (48), who has hitherto acted as spokesman for the management of the EnBW Energie-Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH, will succeed Hans-Juergen Arndt as EnBW's executive and labour relations manager when the latter steps down. Mr Arndt will soon reach the age limit for EnBW executives and his contract will be terminated. Professor Dr.-Ing. Thomas Hartkopf (54), who currently holds a chair at the Technical University of Darmstadt, will be EnBW's new technical executive.

EnBW's incoming executive committee, which will again number six persons, will decide on the exact placements for each department at a later date.

Dr Bernd Balzereit, who was born in 1946 in Schwaebisch Hall and attended school there, studied business administration at Mannheim University and, in 1979, took his doctor's degree at Paderborn University/Polytechnic. After graduating, Dr Balzereit worked as a careers' officer, university science assistant and lecturer. From 1980 to 1991, he undertook various managerial tasks with Nuernberger EWAG Energie- und Wasserversorgung AG as well as for VAG Verkehrs-AG and Staedtische Werke Nuernberg GmbH, which both form part of the former company. From 1986, Dr Balzereit was an executive for these concerns. From 1991 to 1993, he was executive of Energiewerke Ostthueringen AG and, since 1993, executive with the Berlin-based Bewag AG, where he was ultimately responsible for the finance and network department.

Dr Bernhard Beck was born in 1954 in Tuttlingen, where he also went to school. After completing his national service and studying law at Tuebingen University, Dr Beck completed his post-graduate judicial service in the higher court region of Stuttgart from 1979 to 1981. He later worked as a science assistant at Tuebingen University and as a lecturer in corporate and competition law at the professional academies in Villingen-Schwenningen and Heidenheim. After gaining a master's degree in law at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Dr Beck took his doctor's degree in one aspect of international antitrust law in 1985. From 1985 to 1995, he was employed in the legal department at Robert Bosch GmbH, where he concentrated on antitrust law and international cooperation. During this time, Dr Beck spent lengthy periods in the US, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, France, South Korea and China. In 1995, he took over as manager of the legal and insurance department at the then Badenwerk AG, one of EnBW's forerunners. During the following years, Dr Beck served as manager of personnel and social services, was spokesman for the management of EnBW's service company and, in 2001, spokesman for the management of EnBW Energie-Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH.

Professor Dr.-Ing. Thomas Hartkopf was born in 1948 in Solingen and attended school there. He studied electrical technology at the Technical University of Darmstadt, where he also gained his doctor's degree in 1978. In 1981, Professor Dr.-Ing. Hartkopf gained a chair at the Institute for High-Voltage and Plant Engineering at Karlsruhe University, which he held until 1997. In 1990, the Baden-Wuerttemberg Ministry of Science made him honorary professor at Karlsruhe University. From 1983 to 1994, he conducted several managerial tasks for Asea Brown Boveri AG (later ABB), including serving as manager of ABB-Hochenergiebatterie GmbH in Heidelberg and subsequently as Vice-President of ABB's worldwide installation material business. In 1996, Professor Dr.-Ing. Hartkopf was offered a chair in electrical power conversion at the Technical University of Darmstadt.