A brief profile of Siemens new CEO

He is Klaus Kleinfeld, 47, 1.90m tall, a charismatic 'work hard, play hard' character, New York marathon-runner, tennis player, strategic thinker, master-communicator and consensus-builder - properties, which his business partners in the Middle East will certainly appreciate. He is the 11th company head in Siemens' 158-year history.

Herr Kleinfeld began his career with Siemens in 1987 in the Corporate Sales and Marketing group, moving a year later to Siemens Corporate Sales and Marketing and Strategy.

He gained special international recognition as head of Siemens Corporation, New York, from 2002 to 2004, when he oversaw a turn-round of the company's US operations after several loss-making years, achieving a $810m profit in 2002 and a $561m gain in 2003.

Klaus Kleinfeld had been long regarded as the 'crown prince' of Heinrich von Pierer, who successfully managed Siemens for 12 years. The two had travelled the world together for months, meeting key contacts, part of a well-planned handover during which there was no indication of discord whatsoever, despite the fact that von Pierer, 63, is a statesman-like, pensive figure in contrast to the outgoing, boyish Kleinfeld, who speaks English mixed with American slang and pop culture references.

Fortunately for him, Klaus Kleinfeld inherits a company in better shape than the one Herr von Pierer took over. Operating profits in the year to end-September 2004 rose 16% to EUR5bn ($6.5bn) on revenues of EUR75.2bn.

However, Herr Kleinfeld must rapidly address problems at the high-profile Siemens mobile phone business, which forms part of the company's communication division, accounting for one quarter of group sales.

The unit lost EUR141m in the quarter to the end of September, and results of the last quarter of 2004 are unlikely to show an improvement. Siemens has so far only said it would 'fix, close, sell or partner' the unit.

The corporation dynamos are currently the control engineering, industry automation, power generation, medical technology and electrical propulsion businesses.

Before taking over the top position of Siemens, Klaus Kleinfeld had special responsibility for Siemens' regional companies in Russia, Africa and the Middle East. It can be safely assumed that he is fully aware of the particular opportunities in the Gulf region.