Vision becomes reality: Executive Board and management call democratic election to choose new CEO; Hermann Arnold retains active role

St. Gallen / Freiburg, June 5, 2013 – The Executive Board and management at Haufe Group member company Haufe-umantis AG in St. Gallen have called on their employees to elect a successor to founder and chief executive Hermann Arnold. Marc Stoffel, head of sales and marketing, won an overwhelming vote of confidence and was elected as new chief executive. Mr. Stoffel took up his post as of June 1 and now heads the specialist in Talent Management solutions as it embarks on its next growth phase. Hermann Arnold will play an active role as chair of the Executive Board and remains in charge of product development. The object of the reshuffle is to add fresh, positive momentum to the development of Haufe-umantis.

In adopting this innovative method of selecting a new chief executive, Haufe-umantis AG is putting its own beliefs into practice: It is employees that run businesses. The talent management software specialist has a policy of placing trust in its employees and believes in involving them in decisions. The previous chief executive and co-founder of the company Hermann Arnold stepped down from his post and held a democratic vote to select a successor. With the support of the Executive Board, Marc Stoffel was proposed and elected to the position of chief executive by an overwhelming majority.

“I would like to thank my colleagues for their confidence in me and I am delighted to accept their decision,” said Marc Stoffel. “We all firmly believe that a company can only be successful provided that every employee is working towards goals that are right for him or her as well as important for the company. This results in a unique culture, motivated employees and a company that puts its vision into practice – in day to day management and in its talent management solutions.”

Marc Stoffel has made his mark on the consulting and development activities of Haufe-umantis AG and forged the transformation from a developer of one-off products to a standard product supplier. As head of sales and marketing over the past three years he acquired important new customers, successfully integrated these business areas into the Haufe Group and initiated numerous strategically important steps to position the company in the international market. Marc Stoffel’s election as the new chief executive is confirmation that he is the right man to successfully head the company and gain the confidence of the workforce.

With this change in personnel, the management aims to put the company on an optimum footing for its next growth phase. In the space of twelve years Haufe-umantis has progressed from a Swiss university start-up to become a world-leading supplier of talent management software. Since the beginning of 2012 the company has been a member of the Haufe Group, and the Executive Board has been enlarged with the addition of two Haufe Group representatives. Customers, partners and employees all benefit from a strong brand, technology and financial position as well as a shared vision: Both the company and the Group see their employees as the main source of their success. This European, culturally aware approach is being jointly refined and consistently lived.

Gartner ranks Haufe-umantis among the top suppliers: As the only German-speaking supplier in the “Magic Quadrant for Talent Management Suites”, the company is described as “visionary”. Haufe-umantis develops solutions based a central basic understanding that employees should be integrated into decision-making to enable them to fully contribute to the success of their company. This puts clear blue water between Haufe-umantis and its competitors.