As planned, Dr. Jürgen Kuske relinquished the commercial management of the German Optima companies at the end of September after more than 23 years with the company.
As Managing Director of the consulting company OPTIMA consulting GmbH, he will continue to be available to the Optima group of companies as a consultant and will represent Optima in the plenary assembly of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce until the end of 2022. Kuske had already handed over his duties to Jan Glass in May of this year. Kuske will hand over the management and his offices in the foreign subsidiaries in the next few months.
Accompanied growth at home and abroadIn particular, Kuske played a key role in driving forward and supporting the company's international expansion and the establishment of its foreign subsidiaries. As CFO, he was responsible for human resources, accounting, controlling, legal affairs, customs, travel services and materials management. Kuske started at Optima in 1996, when the company had two domestic and two foreign subsidiaries and employed around 400 people. Kuske pioneered and drove the development of a standardized cross-company finance and accounting system as well as controlling. As Managing Director of the Optima Packaging Group and the Op-tima foreign holdings, he implemented and managed the establishment and takeover of more than ten foreign subsidiaries and many domestic companies and holdings.
His responsibilities also included the continued management of the foreign subsidiaries. Kuske met the increasing growth of the entire Optima Group with a far-reaching new organizational structure in all areas. At the time of his departure, Optima employed 2,500 people at 19 branches in Germany and abroad. He said he was particularly enthusiastic about "getting to know new cultures and the opportunity to constantly learn something new."
"We would like to thank Jürgen Kuske for his outstanding work and wish him all the best for his retirement," says Hans Bühler, managing partner of the Optima Group of Companies. "Regrettably, we are currently unable to hold a ceremony in the appropriate, dignified setting due to Covid 19 restrictions. We will gladly make up for this as soon as it is possible again," says Bühler.
Kuske looks back on the past years with gratitude and wishes the Optima Group of Companies continued success. "It was only thanks to our motivated employees and good teamwork that the successes of the past years were possible. Now I am looking forward to the new phase of my life with time for hobbies and family," concludes Kuske.