Gerd Niehage

Gerd Niehage

of CTIO in Transition,
Switzerland

Linked In

Seasoned C-level digital leader, entrepreneur and visionary change agent, fact driven consultant and partner of the business with over 30 years of experiences in driving digital transformation and innovation across various industries, including telecommunications, healthcare, automotive, public administration and IT services. Translator of business objectives into a digital strategy to achieve higher profitability through cost management, to innovate for growth with new digital products or business models, and to adapt to rapidly changing market conditions or crises, such as company distress, supply chain issues or global diversification.

As a Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer at board, corporate and regional levels in large public and private companies, including family-businesses and start-ups, Gerd Niehage has demonstrated exceptional leadership in managing large teams in a range of 500 to 4,000 employees and substantial budgets up to €650m in complex matrix and agile organizations.
Previous participations
2024 in Morocco as CTIO (CTO & CIO) and member of the group executive board, Swisscom | 2023 in Portugal | 2021 in Germany as Head of IT Asia Pacific (Regional CIO), ZF Group | 2015 in Switzerland | 2019 in USA as CIO of B. Braun Group | 2018 in Israel

Employees

Details

Dr Gerd Niehage is Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Officer (CTIO) at major Swiss telecommunications provider Swisscom. He has over three decades of experience in executive management, IT and consultancy in global, intercultural and diverse environments. His speciality areas are automotive, retail, healthcare, process industry, medical devices and public administration.

In his previous role as VP Data/AI, Integration, Process Automation, IT Innovation and EAM at engineering firm ZF Group, he supported the company's transformation from low tech / high labour intensive manufacturing to high tech / low labour intensive plants in Asia Pacific, particularly China. This contributed to ZF Group to become an important industry player enabling the software defined car and with next generation mobility concepts.

Photo credit: Swisscom

Mar 2023 - present: CTIO (CTO & CIO) and member of the group executive board, Swisscom

2021 - 2023: Head of IT Asia Pacific (Regional CIO), ZF Group

2021 - 2023: Vice President Data/AI, Integration, Process Automation, IT Innovation & Enterprise Architecture Management, ZF Group

2017 - 2021: Chief Information Officer (CIO), B. Braun Group

2013 - 2016: Chief Information Officer (CIO), HELLA Group

2008 - 2016: Head of IT Asia/Pacific, HELLA Shanghai/China

2003 - 2007: Project Manager, Information- & Logistics-Management, HELLA

2001-2002 Senior Consultant, INFORA, Management Consultancy, Cologne

  • 2019-2022: Doctor of Business Administration (Dr./DBA), Middlesex University London
  • 2017 - 2019: Executive MBA, Mannheim Business School, MBA
  • 2017-2019: Executive MBA, Tongji University, Shanghai, MBA
  • 1999 - 2002: Information-/Communication Management, Wilhelm-Büchner-University of Applied Science, Dipl-Inform. (FH)
  • 2020: CIO of the Year - Large enterprises (third place)

Gerd Niehage IT Strategy