The Hilti Board of Directors
The Board of Directors consists of the Chairman and seven members and serves as guardian of the Group’s strategic direction and culture. It is also responsible for senior management appointments and oversees the company’s operational business. The sole shareholder, the Martin Hilti Family Trust, delegates up to three members to the Board, but never assumes the majority nor the Chairman position. The majority of the Board members are independent directors external to the company. Being a long-term Board member himself, Michael Hilti remains Honorary Chairman.
MICHAEL HILTI
Honorary Chairman of the Board
Honorary Chairman of the Board
MICHAEL HILTI
Michael Hilti (born 1946) was elected Honorary Chairman of the Board of Directors at the 2018 Annual General Meeting. He has been a member of the Board of Directors since 1990. The son of company founder Professor Martin Hilti, he joined the company in 1975 and was appointed to the Executive Board one year later. He served as Deputy CEO as of 1978. In 1990 he was named CEO, a position he held until the end of 1993. He also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors from 1994 to 2006. Michael Hilti is also Trustee of the Martin Hilti Family Trust, Chairman of the Hilti Art Foundation, Chairman of the Hilti Family Foundation Liechtenstein, and a member of the Board of the Hilti Foundation. He has held numerous directorships and was also named a Princely Commerce Councilor by Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein. Michael Hilti has also been awarded the title Honorary Senator by both the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) and the University of Liechtenstein.
DR. CHRISTOPH LOOS
Chairman of the Board of Directors Liechtenstein
Chairman of the Board of Directors Liechtenstein
DR. CHRISTOPH LOOS
Christoph Loos (born 1968; elected until the 2025 Annual General Meeting) assumed Chairman responsibilities in January 2023. Upon graduating from University of St. Gallen (HSG) in 1994, he worked for Boston Consulting Group, in both Munich and Shanghai, for six years before joining Hilti in 2001. Following positions in Corporate Development, Strategic Marketing and Sales, and after serving as General Manager of Hilti’s German market organization, he was appointed to the Executive Board in 2007, where he was initially responsible for all corporate functions. After four years, he assumed responsibility for the emerging market regions and the global Energy & Industry Business Area before eventually serving nine years as Group CEO, from 2014 to 2022. Since 2022, Christoph Loos has also been Chairman of FUCHS SE (Germany).
MICHÈLE FREY-HILTI
Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein
MICHÈLE FREY-HILTI
Michèle Frey-Hilti (elected until the 2025 Annual General Meeting) joined the Board of Directors in 2022. She studied at the European Business School London and graduated in 2011 with a BA in International Events Management. She is the granddaughter of the company founder, Professor Martin Hilti, and joined the Hilti Group in 2012. Her first position in the company was Customer Service Representative and she later served as a Product Manager. From 2016 to 2019, she was Managing Director of the Hilti Foundation, and subsequently held the position of Managing Director of the Hilti Family Foundation Liechtenstein until 2022. From 2015 to 2022, she headed the communications department of the Martin Hilti Family Trust. Michèle Frey-Hilti is Chairwoman of the Board of the Hilti Family Foundation Liechtenstein, member of the Board of the Hilti Foundation as well as the Hilti Art Foundation and Vice Chair of the Lebenswertes Liechtenstein Foundation.
MATTHIAS GILLNER
Switzerland
Switzerland
MATTHIAS GILLNER
Matthias Gillner (born 1967; elected until the 2025 Annual General Meeting) joined the Board of Directors in January 2023. A chemical engineer by training, he started his Hilti career in April 2000 after working for Boston Consulting Group in Munich for seven years and obtaining an MBA at INSEAD, Fontainebleau. Following roles in Corporate Development, Human Resources and various business unit assignments, he was appointed to Hilti’s Executive Board in 2011, and was initially responsible for Electric Tools & Accessories and Corporate Research. In 2014, he transitioned within the Executive Board, leading the emerging market regions and the global Energy & Industry Business Area before taking charge of Finance, Tax, Human Resources, IT, Corporate Development and the global Energy & Industry Business Area between 2017 and 2022. Since 2023, he has also been a Trustee of the Martin Hilti Family Trust and Chairman of the Hilti Foundation. Matthias Gillner is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Tecan Group (Switzerland).
DR. DANIEL DAENIKER
Switzerland
Switzerland
DR. DANIEL DAENIKER
Daniel Daeniker (born 1963; elected until the 2024 Annual General Meeting) joined the Board of Directors in 2018. Since 2023, he has also been a Trustee of the Martin Hilti Family Trust. Daniel Daeniker is the Senior Partner of Homburger AG, a business law firm in Zurich, where he joined as a trainee in 1988 and was made partner in 2000. His practice focuses on mergers & acquisitions, corporate governance, equity capital markets and financial services regulation. He studied at the University of Zurich (Dr. iur. 1992) and at the University of Chicago (LL.M. 1996). Daniel Daeniker is a lecturer at the University of Zurich and the President of the support foundation of Avenir Suisse, Switzerland’s leading free-market think tank.
CARLA DE GEYSELEER
Belgium
Belgium
CARLA DE GEYSELEER
Carla De Geyseleer (born 1968; elected until the 2025 Annual General Meeting) joined the Board of Directors in 2019. She is the Group CFO of Schindler, Ebikon (Switzerland). She previously served as Chief Financial Officer for Volvo Car Group (Sweden), for SGS in Geneva (Switzerland), for mobile operator Vodafone’s subsidiary, Vodafone Libertel B.V., and for the logistics company DHL Express Benelux. Before that, she served in multiple regional and global roles in finance and business development at DHL. She started her career as an auditor at EY in Brussels (Belgium). She holds a board mandate at Polestar Automotive Holding Ltd (UK) and is a member of the Advisory Board of Geneva School of Economics and Management. Carla De Geyseleer also holds an Executive MBA from the Institute for Management Development in Lausanne (Switzerland).
MARCO MEYRAT
Switzerland
Switzerland
MARCO MEYRAT
Marco Meyrat (born 1963; elected until the 2026 Annual General Meeting) joined the Board of Directors in 2020. In January 2023 he was appointed Speaker of the Trustees of the Martin Hilti Family Trust. In the previous three years he served as a Trustee of the Martin Hilti Family Trust and as the Chairman of the Hilti Foundation. From 2005 to 2019, he was a member of the Hilti Group Executive Board, being responsible for global sales and marketing. After graduating from the University of St. Gallen (HSG), he began his career at Hilti in 1989 as a Product Manager in the Direct Fastening Business Unit at corporate headquarters in Liechtenstein prior to assuming different roles in marketing, sales and general management in France, Switzerland and Germany. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of Ardex GmbH, Witten (Germany), and a member of the Board of Directors of the Hälg Group, St. Gallen (Switzerland). Marco Meyrat also serves as Chairman of Venture Incubator AG, Zug (Switzerland), as a member of the Foundation Board of the Cantonal Hospital Grisons (Switzerland), and as Chairman of the Toni Hilti Family Trusteeship (Liechtenstein).
BARBARA MILIAN THORALFSSON
Norway
Norway
BARBARA MILIAN THORALFSSON
Barbara Milian Thoralfsson (born 1959; re-elected until the 2026 Annual General Meeting) was elected to the Board of Directors in September 2014. She has an MBA in marketing and finance from Columbia University in New York (USA) and a BA in psychology from Duke University in North Carolina (USA). She has held Chief Executive Officer positions in the telecom and consumer goods sectors and has extensive experience as a non-executive director of both public and privately held multinational companies in a wide variety of industries. Since 2006, she has been an entrepreneur in the industrial sector, building the largest plastic recycling company in Scandinavia. Barbara Milian Thoralfsson is a member of the Board and Chairwoman of the Audit Committee of SCA AB and Essity AB (Sweden). She is Chairwoman of Exclusive Networks SA in France.
DR. PETER TERWIESCH
Switzerland
Switzerland
DR. PETER TERWIESCH
Peter Terwiesch (born 1966; elected until the 2025 Annual General Meeting) joined the Board of Directors in 2022. He has been President of Process Automation and a member of the Group Executive Committee of ABB since January 2015. He joined ABB as a researcher in 1994, was head of the Central Europe region from 2011 to 2014 and Chief Technology Officer from 2005 to 2011. He served on the Board of Metall Zug AG (2010-2022) as well as the Technology Advisory Council of BP plc (2006-2012) and was nominated as a Fellow by IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control) in 2013. Peter Terwiesch studied electrical engineering in Karlsruhe (Germany) and Strasbourg (France), holds a PhD from ETH Zurich (Switzerland), and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School’s General Manager Program (US).