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Leadership in joint responsibility

Executive Board

HOCHTIEF’s Executive Board is composed of Juan Santamaría Cases as Chairman of the Executive Board, Ángel Muriel Bernal and Martina Steffen as members of the Executive Board and Peter Sassenfeld as Chief Financial Officer. Responsibility within the Executive Board is assigned as follows.

Members of the Executive Board

  • Juan Santamaría Cases
    Chairman of the Executive Board

    Born in 1978, Juan Santamaría Cases was unanimously elected as HOCHTIEF's new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) by the Supervisory Board of HOCHTIEF Aktiengesellschaft in July 2022. As of July 20, he succeeded Marcelino Fernández Verdes, who had led the company since November 2012. Juan Santamaría Cases has been a member of the Group for more than 20 years.

    He began his career at ACS in 2002 after graduating as a Civil Engineer from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Between 2002 and 2006, he held different positions at Iridium and Dragados as Engineer and Project Director. Following the function of CEO at ACS Infrastructure in the U.S. and Canada from 2006 to 2013, he was President and CEO at Iridium between 2013 and 2015. From August 2015 to January 2017, he worked as Executive Manager for CPB in Australia and, in 2017, he was appointed CEO of the Industrial and Services Company UGL. From September 2017 to February 2020, he was Managing Director of CPB Contractors and Leighton, with operations in Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

    Most recently, he served as CEO of CIMIC from February 2020 until May 2022 and as Executive Chairman of CIMIC since November 2020.

    He was appointed CEO at ACS Group in May 2022.



    Photo Juan Santamaría Cases, Chairman of the Executive Board jpg (302.2 KB))
    CV Juan Santamaría Cases (German) pdf (70.6 KB))
    CV Juan Santamaría Cases (English) pdf (69.7 KB))
  • Ángel Muriel Bernal
    Member of the Executive Board

    Born in 1967, Ángel Muriel Bernal has been a member of the Executive Board of HOCHTIEF Aktiengesellschaft in Essen since April 2023. On the Board, he holds the post of Chief Operating Officer (COO).

    Mr. Muriel has a PhD in Applied Economy from the Malaga University.

    Since May 2017, Angel Muriel is Deputy General Manager to the CEO at the ACS Corporation Headquarters in Madrid, Spain.

    He was the Team Manager of the takeover bid, of ABERTIS, and is a Member of the ABERTIS Holdco Board of Directors. In addition to this, he participated in the sale of 50% of Thiess to Elliott and the CIMIC minority buy-out in Australia.

    In April 2014, Mr. Muriel joined the CIMIC Group Limited, in Sydney, Australia, as Chief Development Officer and Managing Director of Pacific Partnerships. He was also a Member of the Board of Directors of various companies of the CIMIC Group, including VENTIA. In addition to these roles, from June 2015 to May 2017, Angel Muriel was CIMIC Group’s Chief Financial Officer.

    In 2012 he was appointed Head of Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions at HOCHTIEF, in Essen, Germany, being responsible of the Airport Division, Real Estate and Services sales.

    Prior to that, in November 2011, Mr. Muriel was appointed CFO of Iridium Concesiones de Infraestructuras, S.A., in Madrid, Spain, the concession-arm of ACS Group, and from 2006 until 2011 he worked in North America, where he was the CFO of ACS Infrastructure Development Inc., the ACS Group’s PPP operations, in North America.

    From 2002 to 2006 Mr. Muriel was the CFO of Iridium in Chile, working on projects including Santiago Airport, 4 Toll Roads, Waste treatment and a Container Port.

    Mr. Muriel joined the ACS Group in 1995 working on Corporate level and participating in different projects of Infrastructure and telecom.



    Photo Ángel Muriel Bernal, Member of the Executive Board jpg (310.3 KB))
    CV Ángel Muriel Bernal (German) pdf (174.6 KB))
    CV Ángel Muriel Bernal (English) pdf (173.9 KB))
  • Peter Sassenfeld
    Chief Financial Officer

    Born in 1966, Peter Sassenfeld has been a member of the Executive Board of HOCHTIEF Aktiengesellschaft in Essen since November 2011. As Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the company, he is responsible for the corporate departments Mergers & Acquisitions, Controlling, Finance, Capital Markets Strategy/Investor Relations, Accounting and Tax, and Insurance.

    Mr. Sassenfeld studied business administration at Saarland University. After his studies, he first performed various management functions at Mannesmann in Germany and abroad. Later he managed the worldwide mergers and acquisitions activities at the Bayer Group in Leverkusen. From October 2005, Mr. Sassenfeld worked for the KraussMaffei Group in Munich and from February 2007 as CFO of KraussMaffei AG. In May 2010, he took over as CFO of Ferrostaal AG in Essen.



    Photo Peter Sassenfeld, Member of the Executive Board, CFO jpg (220.4 KB))
    CV Peter Sassenfeld (German) pdf (66.2 KB))
    CV Peter Sassenfeld (English) pdf (65.4 KB))
  • Martina Steffen
    Member of the Executive Board

    Born in 1970, Martina Steffen has been a Member of the Executive Board and Labor Director of HOCHTIEF Aktiengesellschaft in Essen since September 2021. She is responsible for Human Resources at the Group and as Chief Sustainability Officer for ESG matters.

    Since 1989, Martina Steffen has worked in different positions for HOCHTIEF. Since August 2009, she has managed the Corporate Department Human Resources for HOCHTIEF Aktiengesellschaft and in May 2021 she also took on the task of Chief Sustainability Officer for the HOCHTIEF Group. Before that, she worked in various functions in IT and Human Resources at the HOCHTIEF Group. Martina Steffen is a qualified data processing expert and has a degree in Economics and IT (Administration and Economic Academy - VWA).



    Photo Martina Steffen, Member of the Executive Board jpg (386.0 KB))
    CV Martina Steffen (German) pdf (184.8 KB))
    CV Martina Steffen (English) pdf (183.5 KB))

Mode of Operation of Executive Board

The Executive Board draws up bylaws. The Executive Board conducts the business of the company by common responsibility shared among all its members. The Board determines entrepreneurial goals, the fundamental strategic direction, corporate policy and Group organization. The Executive Board makes all decisions in the form of resolutions.

The Executive Board provides the Supervisory Board with regular written and verbal reports containing full and timely information on the financial position and development of both the Company and the Group, significant transactions and the current results of operations, including information on the risk position and risk management. The Executive Board also submits to the Supervisory Board planning for Group investments, finance and personnel for the coming business year, as well as medium-term planning.

Outside of its meetings, the Supervisory Board is kept fully abreast by the Executive Board of particularly significant or urgent projects and events. The Chairman of the Supervisory Board also maintains regular contact with the Executive Board outside of meetings and keeps himself informed of the current status of the business and key transactions. Any business or initiatives that require the consent of the Supervisory Board are submitted to that body in a timely fashion.