Karl Haeusgen has been elected as the new VDMA President for the next four years by the general assembly of the VDMA in Wiesbaden. He is the regular successor to Carl Martin Welcker (Alfred H. Schütte GmbH & Co. KG), who has held the office since 2016 and could not be re-elected. Haeusgen is chairman of the supervisory board and co-owner of HAWE Hydraulik SE, based in Aschheim in the district of Munich.

Karl Haeusgen, born in 1966, is married and has three children. After studying business administration in St. Gallen, Switzerland, he worked as assistant to the board of directors in the materials management department at MAHO AG, Pfronten and at Barmag Far East Ltd., Hong Kong, a subsidiary of the then German textile machine manufacturer Barmag AG. Haeusgen then held various positions at HAWE, responsible for sales, marketing, corporate development, quality and organization. From 1996 to 2019 he was a member of the management or spokesman for the management board of HAWE Hydraulik SE. Karl Haeusgen is the grandson of Karl Heilmeier, one of the two HAWE company founders.

Karl Haeusgen has been involved in the VDMA for many years, he is a member of the narrow board and the main board of the VDMA, from 2008 to 2014 Haeusgen was chairman of the board of the VDMA Bavaria. He has been Vice President of the VDMA since 2013.

The family entrepreneur Henrik Schunk (born in 1972) was once again elected to the office of Vice President. He has been VDMA Vice President since June 2018 and was already heavily involved in the association: from 2009 to 2012 as a member of the board of VDMA Robotics + Automation and since 2013 as a member of the VDMA main board. Schunk has been a managing partner since 2002 and CEO of the automation specialist Schunk GmbH & Co. KG, based in Lauffen am Neckar, since 2010.

Bertram Kawlath (born 1970), managing partner of the Schubert & Salzer group of companies, was newly elected as Vice President. Kawlath is a member of the main board of the VDMA as well as a member of the board and vice chairman of the VDMA in Bavaria. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the VDMA Impulse Foundation. The Schubert & Salzer group of companies, headquartered in Ingolstadt, produces in Germany; its core business areas are the development and sale of measurement and control technology solutions for flowing and gaseous media, the production of precision steel castings for customers in mechanical and vehicle construction, as well as development and sales of ERP systems for medium-sized companies.