The Supervisory Board of Stadtwerke Gießen has decided: Matthias Funk will be the new Chief Technical Officer of Stadtwerke Gießen.
At its meeting on 11 December 2014, the Supervisory Board of Stadtwerke Gießen (SWG) appointed Matthias Funk as the new Chief Technical Officer. The 53-year-old succeeds Reinhard Paul and will take up his post on 1 June 2015. In Matthias Funk, the Supervisory Board opted for an experienced SWG executive who has extraordinary potential for innovation but also stands for continuity. As an authorised signatory and head of the heat supply department, he has played a major role in the expansion of climate-friendly electricity and heat production in Giessen and the region. Together with the current Technical Director, Reinhard Paul, he began building a heating network in Giessen back in the 1980s. In doing so, the two visionaries laid the foundation for the local energy transition. After all, efficient systems such as the many combined heat and power plants (CHP) that now run on biogas would be inconceivable without a functioning heating network. The dedicated engineer and his team have also driven forward the two biogas plants in Großen-Buseck and Heuchelheim, which are among the most efficient in Germany.
The innovative strategy is already proving to be a success: SWG currently generates 40 per cent of the electricity it supplies to private customers itself and in a highly efficient manner. With its CHP units, Stadtwerke Gießen saves 60 per cent of C02 emissions - compared to the separate production of electricity and heat.
Astrid Eibelshäuser, Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board, is delighted with the decision: "It is particularly important to the SWG Supervisory Board that Stadtwerke continues on its chosen path and consistently pursues its existing corporate strategy. In this way, we can ensure that Stadtwerke Gießen will be able to continue to fulfil its tasks in terms of the energy transition here on site in the future. And Mr Funk is a guarantor of this. He has played a key role in ensuring that SWG has established itself as an innovative energy supply company in recent years. This has impressed us greatly, and we have full confidence in him and his abilities as a manager."
The expert from the region
Matthias Funk acquired the expertise required for his work at the Giessen-Friedberg University of Applied Sciences - now the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen (THM). He completed his studies in energy and heating technology with a degree in engineering. Before joining SWG, the thoroughbred technician gained his first experience as a project engineer at Kessler and Luch.
Matthias Funk comes from Linden and lives with his wife and three children in Wettenberg-Wißmar.