Carsten Knobel

Carsten Knobel serves as Chief Executive Officer of Henkel AG & Co. KGaA since January 1, 2020, leading one of Germany's most influential DAX-listed consumer goods and industrial companies with over 50,000 employees and annual sales exceeding €20 billion. Born January 11, 1969, in Marburg, Germany, Knobel represents the modern transformational leader who combines deep financial expertise with strategic vision for sustainable growth in volatile global markets. With a comprehensive educational foundation in business administration and technical chemistry from Technische Universität Berlin, complemented by Executive Education at Harvard Business School, Knobel brings both technical excellence and strategic business acumen to Henkel's leadership. His extraordinary 30-year career journey at Henkel began in 1995 as an executive assistant in R&D and systematically progressed through key positions in finance, controlling, strategy, and operations, culminating in eight transformative years as CFO from 2012-2020. As CFO, Knobel distinguished himself by establishing Germany's first corporate green credit line worth €1.5 billion in 2018 and receiving the prestigious Corporate Finance Award in 2019. At age 43, he became one of the youngest management board members of DAX companies, demonstrating exceptional leadership capabilities during critical organizational transitions and market challenges. Since assuming the CEO role just before the COVID-19 pandemic, Knobel has demonstrated remarkable crisis leadership, navigating factory shutdowns, a billion-euro revenue loss from Russia operations exit, and soaring raw material costs while maintaining employment stability for all 50,000 global employees and consistent dividend payments to shareholders. His unwavering commitment to Henkel's Purposeful Growth agenda focuses on innovation, sustainability, and digitalization as core competitive advantages. Under Knobel's leadership, Henkel achieved exceptional financial performance in 2024 with 25% increase in earnings per share, significant margin improvement of 2.4 percentage points, and adjusted EBIT margin reaching 14.3%. His strategic vision emphasizes climate neutrality by 2030, comprehensive digital transformation, and sustainable value creation for customers, shareholders, and society, positioning Henkel as a pioneer in responsible business leadership for future generations.