Executive Management Board

gategroup’s leadership team provides strategic direction and steer our organization to deliver value for our employees, customers and shareholders. They care and lead by example to inspire our people and ensure growth and consolidation of our business.

Christoph Schmitz

Chief Executive Officer, Member of the Board

Christoph Schmitz was appointed Chief Executive Officer of gategroup effective November 1, 2021 and is a Member of the Executive Management Board.

Prior to his appointment, he served as gategroup’s Chief Financial Officer since January 2015. Before joining gategroup, he was CFO at Wild Flavors, an international supplier of ingredients to the food and beverage industry, where he successfully implemented a private equity-supported buy, build and exit strategy. Prior to this Mr. Schmitz held various C-level roles at several multinational companies in North America, Australia, Germany and India. Mr. Schmitz has over 20 years of experience in executive management roles, holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and an M.Sc.
in Business Management.

Urs Schwendinger

Chief Financial Officer

Urs Schwendinger was appointed Chief Financial Officer of gategroup in November 2021 and is a Member of the Executive Management Board.

Mr. Schwendinger brings over 18 years of airline catering experience with him. Before his appointment to Group CFO, he held a variety of senior financial roles within gategroup including Vice President Group Controlling and M&A as well as regional CFO roles in North America and prior to that in Asia Pacific & Middle East. Prior to joining gategroup he gained experience in the banking industry with UBS
as well as the telecom industry with Sunrise Communications in Switzerland. Mr. Schwendinger holds an MBA in Supply Chain Management from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) as well as a BSc in Business Administration.

Federico Germani

Chief Commercial Officer and President LATAM & APAC

Federico Germani joined gategroup in October 2017, and currently serves as Chief Commercial Officer & President LATAM and Asia Pacific.

Mr. Germani is a seasoned aviation industry expert with more than 14 years of experience in the LATAM Group where he held the position of Corporate Senior Vice President for Services and Innovation, and several corporate global leadership roles first based in the U.S. and later in Brazil. Before joining LATAM Group, Federico held leadership roles in McKinsey, Goldman Sachs and IBM. Mr. Germani holds an MBA in marketing and finance from the Kellogg School of Management and an MSc in Industrial Engineering from Instituto Tecnologico of Buenos Aires.

Herman Anbeek

President North America, Europe and Middle East

Herman Anbeek was appointed President, North America, Europe & Middle East in June 2015 and is a Member of the Executive Management Board.

Mr. Anbeek previously served as Group Senior Vice President and President
Emerging Markets in March 2012 and was promoted to President, Airline Solutions in September 2014. Before this, Mr. Anbeek held the position of Chief Commercial Officer from June 2007. In addition to experience in consulting and the retail sector, Mr. Anbeek has profound knowledge of the aviation and airline catering industries. Before joining gategroup, he held several roles at Lufthansa Group and KLM in the Netherlands and the Caribbean. Mr. Anbeek holds a Master of Science in Business Engineering from the University of Technology, Enschede, The Netherlands.

Alexis Frantz

President Southern Europe and Africa

Alexis Frantz was appointed gategroup’s President Southern Europe & Africa in January 2019 and is a Member of the Executive Management Board.

Appointed Chief Executive of Servair in January 2019, Mr. Frantz has extensive
experience in the airline industry. Prior to this role he was Corporate Secretary and member of the Executive Committee at Servair. He joined Servair from Air France in 2013 as Director of Strategy and held several leadership positions before being appointed Head of Organization and Communication for Ground
Operations. Mr. Frantz holds an MS from the École Polytechnique and an
MBA from the Kellogg School of Management in Chicago.

Angela Petzold Theiler

Chief Legal Officer

Angela Petzold Theiler has served as gategroup’s Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary since November 2021.

Ms. Petzold Theiler served in the Corporate and M&A department of Niederer Kraft & Frey AG, one of Switzerland’s top law firms. Before joining gategroup, she ran the legal departments of the Americas and, thereafter, the EMEA region and served as corporate secretary for Barry Callebaut, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products. Ms. Petzold Theiler is qualified to practice law in Switzerland and holds two Masters of Laws degrees, from the University of Zurich (lic.iur.) and Northwestern University School of Law, Chicago (LLM).

Dr. Jeanette Hron

Chief People Officer

Dr. Hron joined gategroup in October 2022 as Chief People Officer,
a position she previously held for Europe & Middle East at Compass Group.

She brings to her work in the catering industry two decades of executive
leadership experience in several other sectors at market-leading companies
such as Munich RE, Novartis / Sandoz and Danone. Dr. Hron serves as an
ambassador for diversity, equity and inclusion within the company and
champions gategroup’s values of excellence, responsibility, passion and
respect. Following completion of her studies in Psychology in Switzerland,
she earned a PhD in Organizational Psychology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich. Career moves have given Dr. Hron the opportunity to live and work in Germany, France and Switzerland.