Ivoclar is currently celebrating its 100^th anniversary. The family-run dental company, which has 56 subsidiaries and branch offices around the world, has been shaping the dental industry since its founding in 1923. As the company embarks on a future of continued growth and success, it is reorganising its management team and driving expansion in its growth markets. 

“Going forward, we will divide our sales division into mature markets and high-growth markets to foster closer integration among the sales areas and support them more effectively,” explained CEO Markus Heinz, who has been at the helm of the Ivoclar Group since March. 

From 1 January, Stiehle, who is head of Ivoclar’s Latin American business, will join the corporate management team, and his new position as CCO for high-growth markets will include assuming responsibility for sales in the Asia Pacific region. Stiehle will continue to oversee Ivoclar’s business in Latin America. In his new position as CCO for mature markets, Christian Brutzer will focus on the established markets, including those in North America, Europe and the Middle East. 

Stiehle studied international management with a focus on marketing and finance in the US and Germany. He subsequently worked for various companies in the medical device and dental industries in Germany, Japan and the US before joining Ivoclar in December 2019. 

New chief financial officer

Bickel is returning to Europe for his new role as CFO after having worked for the Jardine Schindler Group in Hong Kong. He joined the group in 2005, holding various leadership positions in areas such as finance and risk management in the US, China and South East Asia. In many of these positions, Bickel assumed the responsibility of CFO. Before 2005, he held roles at Ernst &  Young and the Baloise Insurance Group and completed studies in economics in Berne in Switzerland. 

After 12  years in the role, Berger, Ivoclar’s incumbent CEO, will leave the group at the end of June 2024 to take on new challenges. Heinz commented: “I would like to thank Franz Berger for his significant contributions. Under his tenure as CFO, Ivoclar not only completed strategically important acquisitions and the implementation of the integrated performance management but also established and expanded areas such as global tax management, treasury, compliance, risk management and data and cybersecurity.” He added: “The joint transition period from Franz Berger to Michael Bickel as CFO ensures continuity for Ivoclar in ongoing projects, for example in the challenging regulatory tax and reporting projects such as BEPS 2.0.”

Expansion of the existing management team

The addition of Bickel and Stiehle will strengthen Ivoclar’s existing corporate management team, which consists of Heinz as CEO, Berger as outgoing CFO, Brutzer as CCO for mature markets, Patric Frank as chief marketing officer, Dr Thomas Hirt as chief technology officer and Alexandra H. Machnik, who joined the company in August, as chief digital officer.

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