Peter Löscher

Peter Löscher was born on 17 September 1957 in Villach, Austria. He became an important business leader and served as the CEO of Siemens from 2007 until 2013. Löscher was special because he was the only person from outside the company to become CEO in Siemens' long 170-year history.

Before he joined Siemens, Löscher worked for a big pharmaceutical company called Merck & Co.. There, he was the president for Global Human Health, helping to lead important health projects. His work helped shape the leadership of large companies and showed how someone new can bring fresh ideas to a big business.

Early life and education

Peter Löscher finished his schooling at a school called Gymnasium in Villach, Austria, in 1978. He then earned a master's degree from the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. Later, he took some business classes at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and also joined a special management program at Harvard Business School. In 2007, he was given an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from Michigan State University.

Career

From 1988 until 2000, Peter Löscher worked for a German pharmaceutical company in Spain, Japan, Great Britain, and the United States. After the company merged, he stayed until 2002. He then joined another company that was later bought by General Electric. In 2006, he joined the executive board of a US pharmaceutical company.

In 2007, Löscher became the first CEO of Siemens AG to come from outside the company. He started in this role in May 2007 and officially took over on July 1, 2007. During his time as CEO, Siemens sold parts of its lighting business and a share in a mobile network equipment partnership with Nokia. In 2012, he helped plan to save a large amount of money over the next two years.

Löscher accompanied the German Chancellor on trips, including a visit to China in 2012. However, after some problems, such as delays with train deliveries and wind turbine projects, he was replaced as CEO in July 2013.

After leaving Siemens, Löscher was not allowed to work for certain competing companies until September 2015. In 2014, he began working for a Russian billionaire’s company, but left in 2016 due to disagreements. He was also considered for a position with Russian Railways but was not chosen. In Munich, he shares an office with several other business leaders.

Other activities

Peter Löscher has been involved in many important business and nonprofit groups. He is currently a board member at CaixaBank since 2023, and has been on advisory boards and supervisory boards for companies like Salesforce, Philips, and Telefónica Germany since around 2020.

He has also worked with many other organizations over the years, serving on boards and committees for groups such as Doha Venture Capital, Telefónica, TBG AG, Sulzer, OMV, Deutsche Bank, Munich Re, and Smiths Group. In nonprofit work, he was part of the International Advisory Council at Bocconi University and led groups like the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business and the Siemens Stiftung.

Personal life

Peter Löscher can speak German, English, French, Spanish, and Japanese. He is married to a woman from Spain, and they have three children together. When he was in high school and college, he was the captain of the volleyball team.