Dr. h.c. Horst Teltschik

Photo: BMW

Dr. Teltschik has been a member of the Board of BMW AG since 1 January 1993; he is responsible for the Business and Political Affairs Department, which was created when he was appointed. After his departure from the BMW Board, the Public Affairs section and the political contacts offices in Berlin / Bonn, Brussels, Washington and London will report to the Chairman of the Board at BMW, and will be answerable to the Director of BMW's Corporate Communications, Richard Gaul (53). Gaul's areas of responsibility will continue to cover communication strategies, product and engineering communication, economic and corporate affairs and PR programmes. This new structure reflects BMW's intent to take into account the increasing significance of these areas. 

Horst Teltschik's political career - which included posts as Chief of Division in the Chancellor's Office and Head of the Department for Foreign and Internal Relations - reached its high point with the opening up of the East. In the phase of détente between East and West, he was one of the people driving this development forward, gaining support through his open, expert, confidence-building dialogue.  

Professor Joachim Milberg, Chairman of the Board at BMW AG, paid tribute to his colleague's work by saying, "Horst Teltschik knows more than anyone else how to create a fruitful dialogue between commerce and politics. We have learned much about the world of politics from him, and he has been able to pass on many of our ideas and concerns to politicians." As regards Dr. Teltschik's hard work in opening up new markets for the BMW Group, Milberg also added, "It is an accepted fact that it is very largely thanks to Dr. Teltschik's intuition that we are in such a healthy position today throughout Asia, especially China, but also in Eastern Europe. I am thinking particularly of the factory in Kaliningrad, which we would never have been able to develop in this form and, above all, in such a short time without Dr. Teltschik's connections." 

The titles that Dr. Teltschik has been awarded throughout his life are a clear reflection of the esteem and reputation that he enjoys all over the world: amongst others, he has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by Sogang University in Seoul and the University of Budapest, he is the Honorary General Consul of India for Bavaria and Thuringia, a member of the German-Japanese Dialogue Forum and a member of the German-Indian Consultancy Group. 

Horst Teltschik will now devote himself to providing the company with his consultancy services and to being head of the Herbert Quandt Foundation, which he has been running since 1993 alongside his Board duties. The goal adopted by the Foundation is to encourage global political dialogue through suitable programmes and events.  

(June 7, 2000)