Executive Management Board (EMB)

Prior to his appointment, Christoph Schmitz had served as gategroup’s Chief Financial Officer since January 2015. Before joining gategroup, he was CFO at Wild Flavors, an international supplier of ingredients to the food and beverage industry, where he successfully implemented a private equity-supported buy, build, and exit strategy. Prior to this Mr. Schmitz held various C-level roles at several multinational companies in North America, Australia, Germany, and India. Mr. Schmitz has over 30 years of experience in executive management roles, holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and an M.Sc. in Business Management.

Herman Anbeek was appointed President, North America, Europe & Middle East in June 2015 and is a member of the Executive Management Board.

Mr. Anbeek previously served as Group Senior Vice President and President Emerging Markets in March 2012 and was promoted to President, Airline Solutions in September 2014. Before this, Mr. Anbeek held the position of Chief Commercial Officer from June 2007. In addition to experience in consulting and the retail sector, Mr. Anbeek has profound knowledge of the aviation and airline catering industries. Before joining gategroup, he held several roles at Lufthansa Group and KLM in the Netherlands and the Caribbean. Mr. Anbeek holds a Master of Science in Business Engineering from the University of Technology, Enschede, The Netherlands.

Sebastien Burnier joined gategroup as Chief Operating Officer on 1 January, 2024, and was subsequently appointed President, SEA on 1 January, 2025.

Prior to joining gategroup, he served at the WFS-SATS Group where he was Head of Operations and Transformation, responsible for spearheading new operational excellence initiatives across the business to drive a culture of teamwork, engagement and empowerment that encouraged employees to contribute their best ideas and work collaboratively towards common goals. Over the past 20 years Mr. Burnier has held senior leadership roles in Quality & Supply Chain and General Management. He holds a master’s degree in engineering from the National Conservatoire of Arts et Métiers of Paris and is certified in Production and Inventory Management by the Association for Supply Chain Management.

Federico Germani joined gategroup in October 2017, and currently serves as Chief Commercial Officer & President LATAM and APME.

Mr. Germani is a seasoned aviation industry expert with more than 14 years of experience in LATAM Airlines where he held the position of Corporate Senior Vice President for Services and Innovation, and several corporate global leadership roles, first based in the U.S. and later in Brazil. Before joining LATAM Airlines, Mr. Germani held leadership roles in McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, and IBM. Mr. Germani holds an MBA in marketing and finance from the Kellogg School of Management and an MSc in Industrial Engineering from Instituto Tecnologico of Buenos Aires.

Dr. Hron joined gategroup in October 2022 as Chief People Officer, a position she previously held for Europe & Middle East at Compass Group.

She brings to her work in the catering industry two decades of executive leadership experience in several other sectors at market-leading companies such as Munich RE, Novartis / Sandoz, and Danone. Dr. Hron serves as an ambassador for diversity, equity and inclusion within the company and champions gategroup’s values of excellence, responsibility, passion and respect. Following completion of her studies in Psychology in Switzerland,she earned a PhD in Organizational Psychology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich. Career moves have given Dr. Hron the opportunity to live and work in Germany, France, and Switzerland.

Jens Kuhlen joined gategroup in April 2015, and currently serves as President North America and member of the Executive Management Board.

During his tenure at gategroup Mr. Kuhlen has served as Vice President of Group Controlling and Chief Financial Officer for North America. He was appointed President of North America in 2022, focusing on organizational alignment, enhancing communication and teamwork, and integrating the two countries into one cohesive region.

Before joining gategroup, Mr. Kuhlen gained significant experience in business partnering in Senior Finance roles, interim management, and advisory work in restructuring efforts and corporate banking. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Mannheim, Germany. A native German speaker, he is also fluent in English and has basic proficiency in Spanish.

Angela Petzold Theiler has served as gategroup’s Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary since November 2021.

Ms. Petzold Theiler served in the Corporate and M&A department of Niederer Kraft & Frey AG, one of Switzerland’s top law firms. Before joining gategroup, she ran the legal departments of the Americas and, thereafter, the EMEA region and served as corporate secretary for Barry Callebaut, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products. Ms. Petzold Theiler is qualified to practice law in Switzerland and holds two Masters of Laws degrees, from the University of Zurich (lic.iur.) and Northwestern University School of Law, Chicago (LLM).

Chris Plüss joined gategroup as President Food Solutions on 1 July, 2023, after serving ARYZTA, a leading international bakery company, for 9 years in various C-Level positions.

For Aryzta he successfully managed and developed the APAC region, Germany, France, Switzerland as well as countries in Central & Eastern Europe. Prior to this, Mr. Plüss held various general management and commercial leadership roles at leading multinational companies as Unilever, Haco and Fressnapf/Maxizoo with responsibilities in Europe, Asia and North America. Mr. Plüss has a track record of over 20 years in executive management roles and more than 25 years in the international food industry, holds an MBA in Marketing and Controlling from the University of Berne and a diploma from the Harvard Business School Executive Program.

Urs Schwendinger was appointed Chief Financial Officer of gategroup in November 2021 and is a Member of the Executive Management Board.

Mr. Schwendinger brings over 18 years of airline catering experience with him. Before his appointment to Group CFO, he held a variety of senior financial roles within gategroup including Vice President Group Controlling and M&A as well as regional CFO roles in North America and prior to that in Asia Pacific & Middle East. Prior to joining gategroup he gained experience in the banking industry with UBSas well as the telecom industry with Sunrise Communications in Switzerland. Mr. Schwendinger holds an MBA in Supply Chain Management from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) as well as a BSc in Business Administration.