On May 27, 2021, CENIT announced that current CEO Kurt Bengel will leave the company at the end of the year. A successor has now been determined: On October 18, 2021, Peter Schneck will join CENIT AG as member of the Management Board and will assume the position of CEO on January 1, 2022.
Born in 1971, Peter Schneck studied law at Bonn University (Major: International Business Law) and completed an MBA at the University of Reading, UK. During his career, Peter Schneck gained broad management experience, often at the helm of large, internationally active corporations. For example, he acted as Managing Director of Scheidt & Bachmann, a leading global provider of IT solutions for parking management, and later as Managing Director of car park and transport company APCOA. Following his move to Trapeze Group, a leading software provider for transport engineering owned by Canadian-based Constellation corporation, Peter Schneck headed the company as CEO from 2014 to 2019. In 2019, he joined the Management Board of DATAGROUP SE, where prior to his move to CENIT he was responsible for mergers & acquisitions, investor relations and legal affairs.
“We are convinced that in Peter Schneck we have found an internationally experienced and highly qualified successor for the position of Chief Executive Officer of CENIT AG. Peter Schneck has an impressive track record, particularly in the fields of international sales organization, software business generation and value-adding company acquisitions”, says Rainer-Christian Koppitz, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of CENIT AG.
In close collaboration with CENIT’s current CEO Kurt Bengel, Peter Schneck will be onboarded in all task fields over the coming months and will introduce himself to all major clients, partners and suppliers – guaranteeing a smooth transition to his role as new company CEO as of January 1, 2022.
“I am pleased to be able to welcome Peter Schneck to the global management team of CENIT as my successor and as a competent colleague. I wish Mr. Schneck every success in his position as future CEO of CENIT and all the best in his personal life”, says CEO Kurt Bengel in welcoming the decision of the Supervisory Board.
Kurt Bengel will resign his position as CEO on December 31, 2021 and leave the company after more than 33 years with CENIT. A graduate engineer, Kurt Bengel joined CENIT on July 1, 1988 as the very first employee. He joined the Management Board on January 1, 2007 and has acted as CEO of CENIT AG since July 31, 2012.
In his 15 years at the helm of the company, Kurt Bengel focused his energies on boosting the strategic and operative strength and ongoing development of CENIT Group. Under his guidance, the company saw profitable and significant organic and inorganic growth, most recently as a result of the acquisition of French software provider KEONYS S.A.S. (2017), virtual product development specialist SynOpt GmbH (2019), and the launch of new CENIT business ventures such as the new presence in China (2021). In 2019, Kurt Bengel and the Management Team launched the “CENIT 2025” program as a pioneering strategy package for securing and further expanding CENIT’s market position.
“The Supervisory Board honors Kurt Bengel’s many years of service to CENIT’s success, his high level of expertise and his extraordinary personal commitment to this cause. We wish to express our deep gratitude for his dedication and wish him the very best in his future endeavors. Or, to be absolutely clear: Without Kurt Bengel, CENIT would not exist in its present-day size and orientation”, says Rainer-Christian Koppitz in the name of the company.
