Management

The Rittal Board of Management

Our shared determination to succeed is our driving force.

With an enthusiastic workforce and a management team committed to progress, we develop innovative products and solutions on your behalf. Our goal is to boost your competitiveness and make you a winner in the industrial transformation.

Markus Asch
CEO Rittal International

Born 1971 in Ammerbuch. Studies of technical engineering at Hochschule Esslingen – University of Applied Science.

Since 1995 Mr. Asch has held various management positions at Alfred Kärcher SE & Co. KG, the family-owned company and world market leader for cleaning equipment, most recently as Deputy CEO and CTO. Focus: B2B, development of modular and scalable product and solution platforms and successfully aligned the sales organisation to develop new customer and market potentials.

Since February 2021 CEO of Rittal International Stiftung & Co. KG and Chairman of the Management Board of Rittal GmbH & Co.

Uwe Scharf
Chief Business Unit Officer

Born in 1964 in Wetzlar. Studied electrical engineering at Gießen-Friedberg Uniersity.

From 1988 to 2001, he held various leadership positions in product management and marketing in industry and IT, most recently as Head of Product Management for Automation Systems at ABB Automation Products.

Since 2001, Mr Scharf has held various senior strategic marketing and product management roles at Rittal. From 2017, he built up the Industry global business unit as Executive Vice President.

Since 2019 Managing Director at Rittal with responsibility for the product and solution segments.

Dr. Marc Sesterhenn
Chief Operations Officer

Born in 1973 in Cologne. Dr. Sesterhenn studied mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He also graduated from RWTH Aachen with a degree in industrial engineering and with a doctorate in engineering.

From 2003 to 2016, he held various management positions in the area of operations at MAN Truck & Bus SE, most recently as Chief Production Officer of MAN Truck & Bus Austria AG.

From 2016, he was Executive Vice President and a member of the management team at Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG.

Since October 2021 Managing Director Operations at Rittal with responsibility for the national and international production sites, since 2022 for the entire supply chain.

Dr. René Umlauft
Chief Market Officer

Born in 1964 in Berlin. Graduated with a doctorate in production technology/factory planning from Dresden Technical University.

Over the past 20 years he has held numerous management roles, including positions in the Power Generation division at Siemens and various roles at MAN SE.

From 2017 to 2019 he was Managing Partner at Römheld & Moelle Eisengießerei GmbH, and parallel to this, worked independently for many years providing consultancy services in strategy, sales and internationalisation.

Since 2019 Managing Director at Rittal with responsibility for Europe, North and South America, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, since 2022 for the international sales channels.

Philipp Guth
Chief Technology Officer

Born in 1977 in Bonn. Studied mechanical engineering at the University of Stuttgart.

In the past 10 years, Guth has held top management positions at Bosch Rexroth AG and Wittenstein AG, most recently as Project Manager Digitalization in the Central Division of Bosch Rexroth and CEO of the Automation & Electrification Solutions Business Unit until 2021.

Since October 2022 Managing Director at Rittal with responsibility for Research & Development.