Thales appoints Christoph Ruffner as CEO for Thales Germany

Thales (Euronext Paris: HO), a global leader in the Defence & Security, Aeronautics & Space and Digital Identity & Security sectors, has appointed Christoph Ruffner as CEO & Country Director for Thales Germany from January 1st, 2024. He succeeds Oliver Dörre, who has left the company on 31st December 2023. In his new role, Christoph Ruffner will report to Philippe Duhamel, Thales Executive Vice President, Defence Mission Systems.

Christoph Ruffner joins from Hensoldt, where he was recently Head of the Spectrum Dominance & Airborne Solutions Division. In this function, he was a member of the Executive Committee of Hensoldt AG. Ruffner previously held various management positions in the Airbus Group, which included sales, development, transformation and staff activities as well as the management of an Airbus subsidiary.

Bernhard Gerwert, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Thales Germany said:

Christoph Ruffner is a highly experienced manager who has already successfully mastered major challenges at Hensoldt with his many years of experience in the defence segment and his proximity to customers. We are delighted that Thales has been able to recruit him for this strategic position.

Based in Germany for over 140 years, Thales Germany is one of the largest national organizations in the Thales Group, which has around 2,000 employees at a total of nine locations with its own production and development facilities. As a recognized part of the German high-tech industry, Thales Germany offers its customers at home and abroad state-of-the-art, highly secure and available reconnaissance, radar, communication, information systems as well as services for secure land, air and sea traffic. In addition, Thales Germany has a comprehensive portfolio of IT solutions for cybersecurity. The company also manufactures and develops satellite components at its Ulm site.