Da Silva (46) will pursue other interests non-related to the electrical and electronic engineering sector. Lamprecht said that da Silva, in his former position as CEO of Siemens Telecommunications (Pty) Ltd., spearheaded that company into a position of market leadership, particularly in the fixed and mobile telephony sector with strong business associations with Telkom, Vodacom and Cell C. Since da Silva took over the position of Siemens CEO from Klaus Döring in March 2005, he grew the order entry by 40% to nearly R10 billion.

Lamprecht said that Siemens has a global Management Development System in place with senior executives with exceptional quality to choose from. The company can therefore draw on available resources from around the world. However, in this case talent scouting was easy as the right candidate for succession is already with the company in South Africa.

Lamprecht announced that Sigi Proebstl, currently head of Group Strategy for southern Africa, member of the local Siemens EXCO and veteran of many successes would succeed Da Silva. With an economics degree and specialization in insurance mathematics, Proebstl (46) spent most of his career in Siemens associate lighting company, Osram. He was the MD for that company in Turkey, Korea and the UK. Proebstl also spent 5 years as the MD for Osram in South Africa. During that time the company moved from position 5 to number 1 with a market share of 50%.

In his statement Lamprecht confirmed that continuity and change has been the focus of the company and that Proebstl and his management team will build on the programs that have been put in place during da Silva’s term of office