75th birthday of Dr. h. c. August Oetker on 17 March 2019

11-Mar-2019 - Germany

On 17 March 2019, Dr. h. c. August Oetker, Chairman of the Advisory Board and stockholder of Dr. August Oetker KG, will be 75 years old. As General Partner, he led the Oetker Group together with his col-leagues in the Group Management for over 30 years – from 1981 to the end of 2009 – and served as Chairman of the Executive Board of Dr. Oetker GmbH. As a representative of the fourth generation of en-trepreneurs, August Oetker has had a lasting influence on the growth of the entire Oetker Group. His successes at the top include the suc-cessful structuring of the food business and its strategic concentra-tion on core product ranges as well as the continuous internationali-zation of business activities. "Fewer product ranges – more countries" was the motto of this successful course. For August Oetker, success-ful entrepreneurship and social responsibility are closely linked. Sus-tainability, courage and value-oriented action have always character-ized his attitude – both as an entrepreneur and as a person.

After graduating from high school in 1963, August Oetker trained as a shipping merchant in Hamburg. In 1966 he took up his studies in business administration in Hamburg and Münster, graduating as a diplom businessman in 1972. In the same year he took over tasks in the Oetker Group, but in 1975 decided to work outside the Oetker Group in London and New York.

In 1979, August Oetker returned to Germany and became Managing partner of the Dibona Markenvertrieb KG in Ettlingen, a company of the Oetker Group. At the age of 37, he became a General Partner of Dr. August Oetker KG, the holding company of the

Oetker Group, in 1981. From 1989, August Oetker was particularly responsible for the food business in Germany and since 1996, as Chairman of the Executive Board of Dr. Oetker International GmbH, for the entire branded food business. August Oetker attached partic-ular importance to the internationalization of the Dr. Oetker busi-nesses, which made particular progress after the opening of the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe. Within a good decade – from 1991 to 2003 – Dr. Oetker rose under his leadership to become the European mar-ket leader for bakery products and baking mixes, dessert products and pizza. Dr. Oetker now owns more than 40 regional companies worldwide.

With entrepreneurial intuition, foresight and a view to maintaining an employee-oriented corporate culture, August Oetker continued to shape the entire strategic development of the Oetker Group with its various business divisions.

In 1995, the magazine Capital and the environmental foundation WWF awarded August Oetker the title of Eco Manager of the Year. In 2000, the University of Witten/Herdecke awarded August Oetker an honorary doctorate for his commitment to education policy. In 2014, the German food magazine “Lebensmittel Zeitung” awarded him the "Golden Sugar Loaf" for his exemplary achievements in the food industry.

Since 2010, August Oetker, has been managing the Group's fortunes as Chairman of the Advisory Board of Dr. August Oetker KG. In ac-cordance with the testamentary wishes of his father Rudolf-

August Oetker, he will continue to perform this function beyond the usual age limit of 70 until his 75th birthday and will resign as Chair-man of the Advisory Board at the end of March 2019. People value him for his life's work in both economic and social spheres and for his distinctive subtlety and worldview. With his virtues, August

Oetker sets standards that go far beyond business life and inspire many people.

One topic that has always been close to his heart is sustainability. He anchored this in the company years ago. His credo as a family en-trepreneur is: "It is particularly important to me to encourage people to act sustainably. In keeping with his family tradition, August Oetker also feels obliged to support the community in important tasks, both regional and supra-regional. August Oetker impressively demon-strates that values and growth are not mutually exclusive. He recently summed up as follows: "We have always been guided by the principle of the respectable businessman, who ideally combines business sense and public spirit.”

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