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Leadership in joint responsibility

Executive Board

HOCHTIEF’s Executive Board is composed of Marcelino Fernández Verdes as Chairman of the Executive Board, Nikolaus Graf von Matuschka and José Ignacio Legorburo as members of the Executive Board and Peter Sassenfeld as Chief Financial Officer. Responsibility within the Executive Board is assigned as follows.

Members of the Executive Board

  • Marcelino Fernández Verdes
    Chairman of the Executive Board

    Born in 1955, Marcelino Fernández Verdes has been a member of the Executive Board of HOCHTIEF Aktiengesellschaft in Essen since April 2012. In November 2012, he was appointed Chairman of the Executive Board of HOCHTIEF Aktiengesellschaft and assumed responsibility for the HOCHTIEF Asia Pacific division. From March 2014 to October 2016, he was Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of HOCHTIEF's Australian Group company CIMIC, and has been Executive Chairman at CIMIC since June 2014. In May 2017, he became member of the Board of Directors of HOCHTIEF’s majority shareholder, ACS, as CEO. He has also been Chairman of Abertis since December 2018.

    Marcelino Fernández Verdes studied construction engineering at the University of Barcelona and has held a variety of positions in the construction industry since 1984. In 1994 he became General Manager of OCP and in 1997 General Manager of ACS Proyectos, Obras y Construcciones, and then took over as Chairman and CEO in 2000. Following the merger between Grupo ACS and Grupo Dragados in 2003, Mr. Fernández Verdes took office as Chairman and CEO of Dragados S.A. He served as Chairman and CEO of Construction, Environment and Concessions at ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios S.A. from 2006. Fernández Verdes was appointed to the Executive Committee of the ACS Group in 2000, and to the Board of Directors of ACS Servicios y Concesiones, S.L. (Chairman and CEO) in 2006.



    Portrait jpg (268.5 KB) CV Marcelino Fernández Verdes (German) pdf (175.7 KB) CV Marcelino Fernández Verdes (English) pdf (70.6 KB)
  • Peter Sassenfeld
    Chief Financial Officer

    Born in 1966, Peter Sassenfeld has been a member of the Executive Board of HOCHTIEF Aktiengesellschaft in Essen since November 2011. As Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the company, he is responsible for the corporate departments Mergers & Acquisitions, Controlling, Finance, Capital Markets Strategy/Investor Relations, Accounting and Tax, and Insurance. Since July 2015, Mr. Sassenfeld has also been Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of HOCHTIEF Solutions AG.

    Mr. Sassenfeld studied business administration at Saarland University. After his studies, he first performed various management functions at Mannesmann in Germany and abroad. Later he managed the worldwide mergers and acquisitions activities at the Bayer Group in Leverkusen. From October 2005, Mr. Sassenfeld worked for the KraussMaffei Group in Munich and from February 2007 as CFO of KraussMaffei AG. In May 2010, he took over as CFO of Ferrostaal AG in Essen.



    Portrait jpg (232.4 KB) CV Peter Sassenfeld (German) pdf (68.6 KB) CV Peter Sassenfeld (English) pdf (68.1 KB)
  • Nikolaus Graf von Matuschka
    Member of the Executive Board

    Born in 1963, Nikolaus Graf von Matuschka has been a member of the Executive Board of HOCHTIEF Aktiengesellschaft in Essen since May 2014 and the company’s Labor Director since November 2015. He is responsible for the activities in the PPP, real estate, and facility management segments in the Europe division and is additionally in charge of Sustainability/Corporate Responsibility within the HOCHTIEF Group.

    Nikolaus Graf von Matuschka has held various management positions at HOCHTIEF since 1998, most recently as a member of the HOCHTIEF Solutions Executive Board starting in February 2013. In May, 2014 he was appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of HOCHTIEF Solutions. Previously, he was directly responsible for several segments and regions of HOCHTIEF’s European business. Graf von Matuschka has earned various qualifications in business administration, including two degrees from the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht.



    Portrait jpg (226.0 KB) CV Nikolaus Graf von Matuschka (German) pdf (69.6 KB) CV Nikolaus Graf von Matuschka (English) pdf (66.5 KB)
  • José Ignacio Legorburo
    Member of the Executive Board

    Born in 1965, José Ignacio Legorburo has been a member of the Executive Board of HOCHTIEF Aktiengesellschaft in Essen since May 2014. On the Board, he holds the post of Chief Operating Officer (COO). He is responsible for the Group companies Infrastructure and Engineering in the Europe division.

    In May 2014, Mr. Legorburo was appointed as a Member of the Executive Board and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of HOCHTIEF Solutions. He has over 25 years’ experience in the European construction sector. Most recently, he headed the ACS construction subsidiary Dragados as European Managing Director and expanded its business within Europe, with a particular focus on the UK. He was also responsible for other units at ACS, such as the building division of the construction company Vias. Previously, he worked as a civil engineer, project manager, and later Managing Director in the ACS Group from 1989. Mr. Legorburo studied civil engineering at the University of Madrid.



    Portrait jpg (234.7 KB) CV José Ignacio Legorburo (German) pdf (67.1 KB) CV José Ignacio Legorburo (English) pdf (66.5 KB)

Mode of Operation of Executive Board

The Executive Board draws up bylaws. The Executive Board conducts the business of the company by common responsibility shared among all its members. The Board determines entrepreneurial goals, the fundamental strategic direction, corporate policy and Group organization. The Executive Board makes all decisions in the form of resolutions.

The Executive Board provides the Supervisory Board with regular written and verbal reports containing full and timely information on the financial position and development of both the Company and the Group, significant transactions and the current results of operations, including information on the risk position and risk management. The Executive Board also submits to the Supervisory Board planning for Group investments, finance and personnel for the coming business year, as well as medium-term planning.

Outside of its meetings, the Supervisory Board is kept fully abreast by the Executive Board of particularly significant or urgent projects and events. The Chairman of the Supervisory Board also maintains regular contact with the Executive Board outside of meetings and keeps himself informed of the current status of the business and key transactions. Any business or initiatives that require the consent of the Supervisory Board are submitted to that body in a timely fashion.