Evonik is reorganizing its Communications Division

• Rüdiger Oppers appointed new Head of Communications
• Stefan Haver to become Head of Corporate Responsibility
• Hans-Jörg Heims will become Head of Corporate Press

Rüdiger Oppers (54), currently Authorized Representative of the Executive Board and Head of Public Affairs in the Corporate Affairs Division, will become Head of Communications at Evonik Industries AG effective December 1, 2014. As of the same date, Stefan Haver (45), currently Head of Communications & Board Office, will become head of the new Corporate Responsibility Division, which will report to the Chief Human Resources Officer. The Board Office headed by Erika Sticht (53) will be run as a separate division from December, 2014 and will report to the Chairman of the Executive Board.

In 2005 Stefan Haver built up the Internal Communications department at what subsequently became Evonik Industries AG.
In addition to this role, he was placed in charge of external corporate media in 2010. On April 1, 2013 he became Head of Communications & Board Office. "Stefan Haver has done an excellent job in positioning Evonik both internally and externally in recent years. I am very grateful to him for this. He will now be using his experience to build up the new Corporate Responsibility Division. This reflects the growing importance of this issue for us as a global corporation," comments Klaus Engel, Chairman of Evonik's Executive Board.
"Rüdiger Oppers previously worked for many years as the corporate spokesman for the WDR broadcasting station and chief editor of the NRZ newspaper. Most recently, he has headed our Representative Offices in Berlin and Brussels. That positions him extremely well to successfully raise Evonik's profile both internally and externally. I look forward to working with him here in Essen."

Hans-Jörg Heims (51), currently Head of Communications at VIVAWEST, has been appointed Head of Corporate Press in the Communications Division effective March 1, 2015. He will succeed Barbara Müller (59), who will be retiring from the company at that time, having worked for many years for Evonik and its predecessor companies.  
Heims will be transferring from VIVAWEST to Evonik on December 1, 2014 to prepare for his future role. Klaus Engel: "When Barbara Müller leaves we will lose an experienced manager who has very successfully supported the far-reaching changes in the Group on the communications side for nearly three decades and has played a key role in establishing Evonik's good public image. I would like to thank her sincerely for that. Her successor, Hans-Jörg Heims, is an experienced journalist who is familiar with both sides of the job."