Oldenburg: Cewe’s Board of Trustees justifies separation from CEO Frej

Oldenburg
Cewe’s Board of Trustees justifies separation from CEO Freej

Following the sudden dismissal of Cewe president Christian Freige, the image service provider’s influential board of trustees has openly criticized the outgoing CEO. She accused him of failing to advance women. Although Frigg is “completely acceptable for the good work,” the board of trustees “has concerns about Frigg’s accomplishments and behavior for a long time,” Neumüller Sew Color’s board of trustees said Friday in Oldenburg. Two-thirds of the members of the Board of Trustees are satisfied that Friege no longer has the unrestricted confidence necessary to extend the contract – for personal reasons as well as for reasons of content.

Rolf Hollander, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, is convinced that the fact that Frigg “did not recognize or implement the socially and internally important issue of women on the Board of Directors and in other management positions” was an unwarranted omission. Frej has not pushed the need to promote diversity in the company or the process of appointing a woman as Head of Human Resources and Organizational Development by the Board of Trustees, but rather seriously hindered it. Nor did he support a Cewe employee-led initiative to promote women within the company.

Hollander announced on March 17 that the contract with Frigg would not be extended beyond December 31, 2022 due to differing views on the company’s management. As a personally responsible partner, the Neumüller Cewe Color Foundation manages the listed business of Cewe Foundation & Co KGaA. In the complex management structure of Cewe Stiftung & Co KGaA, the personal details of the board of directors are a matter of the board of trustees. The decision to separate from Frej was not unanimous. This led to “a number of questions being asked internally and externally,” according to the current statement of the Board of Trustees.

dpa