Dr. Frank Mastiaux is the first top manager from among the four largest energy suppliers in Germany to be awarded the title “Energy Manager of the Year”. The winner of this award is chosen by an independent committee of representatives from the energy industry, science and the media.

“When the former state government of Baden-Württemberg turned EnBW into a state-owned enterprise once again, the decision was met with disapproval. Many people found that the purchase price of the shares was excessively high and that the group of companies engaging in all sorts of business activities was positioned badly in terms of strategy.”

However, Frank Mastiaux has succeeded in transforming EnBW into an efficient company. Despite the difficult starting position, he has been mastering the challenges of the liberalised energy market with flying colours at EnBW. The company is, in particular, consistently adapting to the requirements of climate change and the energy transition. This is a great accomplishment that requires leadership, team spirit, a strategic vision and the will and desire to consistently pursue this vision. Thus, it is a logical consequence that Frank Mastiaux has been awarded the title “Energy Manager of the Year 2020”, concludes member of the award committee Prof. Christian Held, partner of Becker Büttner Held.

“Frank Mastiaux set the course for a “sustainable business model” at an early stage and stayed on it. He has balanced and endured the resulting challenges posed by the conflict between entrepreneurial and strategic requirements in an exemplary manner,” says member of the award committee Christof Spangenberg, managing director of K.Group.

“Among the four largest energy suppliers, EnBW with its nuclear and coal-fired power plants, was perceived as one of the “enemies” by representatives of the decentralised, renewable energy industry. These times are over for EnBW: Frank Mastiaux has consistently steered the company towards renewable energy sources and smart services,” says member of the award committee Helmut Sendner, editor of the journal Energie & Management, who initiated the “Energy Manager of the Year” award in 2001.

And how does the winner of the award, Frank Mastiaux, see it? “I am very pleased to receive this award, which particularly recognises the fundamental restructuring of EnBW in recent years. Therefore, this award is also and above all earned by the more than 23,000 employees of EnBW who have made the achievements possible.”

In the financial year 2019, 32 percent of the installed electricity generation capacity originated from renewable sources, the target share of renewable energy for 2020 is 40 percent, and the company strives to be CO2 neutral in 2035.

With a staff of 23,300, EnBW generated a turnover of €18.76 billion and an operating result of approx. €2.4 billion in 2019; €483 million of this sum were accounted for by the renewable energy business. In the current financial year 2020, the company is expecting yet another improvement in the annual result and, according to current forecasts, it is especially the result of the renewable energy segment that is likely to significantly increase again to over €800 million. The company will thus meet and even exceed its long-term restructuring targets for 2020, which were set back in 2013.

Frank Mastiaux was born in Essen in 1964, studied chemistry and received his doctorate in this subject from the University of Duisburg. He began his professional career at Veba Öl AG in 1993, followed by management positions at Aral and BP where he was last in charge of BP’s global liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) business as CEO.

In 2007, Frank Mastiaux joined E.ON Climate & Renewables GmbH, where he was entrusted with the development of the renewable energy business as CEO. The next step in his career took him to the top of E.ON International Energy. Since October 2012, Frank Mastiaux has been chairman of the board of management of EnBW AG.

Past Winners of the Award
2019 – Dr. Marie-Luise Wolff, chairwoman of the management board of Entega AG
2018 – Dr. Patrick Graichen, director of Agora Energiewende
2017 – Boris Schucht, CEO of 50Hertz Transmission GmbH
2016 – Dr. Dieter Steinkamp, chairman of the executive board of RheinEnergie AG
2015 – Dr. Georg Müller, chairman of the executive board of MVV Energie AG, Mannheim
2014 – Michael Lucke, managing director of Allgäuer Überlandwerk GmbH
2013 – Heiko von Tschischwitz, then chairman of the management board of LichtBlick SE
2012 – Johannes van Bergen, then chairman of the management board of the municipal utility company Stadtwerke Schwäbisch-Hall GmbH
2011 – Bernd Wilmert, then managing director of the municipal utility company Stadtwerke Bochum GmbH
2010 – Dr. Constantin H. Alsheimer, chairman of the executive board of Mainova AG
2010 – Herbert Dombrowsky, then chairman of the management board of N-Ergie AG
2010 – Michael G. Feist, then chairman of the executive board of the municipal utility company Stadtwerke Hannover AG
2010 – Dr. Thorsten Radensleben, chairman of the executive board of badenova AG
2009 – Dr. Kurt Mühlhäuser, then chairman of the management board of the municipal utility company Stadtwerke München GmbH
2008 – Sven Becker, spokesperson of the management board of Trianel GmbH
2007 – Dr. Hans-Bernd Menzel, then chairman of the executive board of EEX AG
2006 – Dr. Werner Brinker, then chairman of the executive board of EWE AG
2005 – Dr. Klaus Rauscher, then chairman of the executive board of Vattenfall Europe AG
2004 – Helmut Haumann, then chairman of the executive board of RheinEnergie AG
2003 – Dr. Dieter Attig, then chairman of the executive board of Stawag AG
2002 – Dr. Dieter Nagel, then chairman of the executive board of Thüga AG
2001 – Roland Hartung, then spokesperson of the executive board of MVV Energie AG

The Award Committee
Kerstin Andreae, chairwoman of the general executive management board of the Federal Association of the German Energy and Water Industries (BDEW)
Michael Bauchmüller – correspondent for the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung
Michael Ebling – president of the German Association of Local Utilities (VKU)
Prof. Dr. Manfred Fischedick – vice-president of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy
Dr. Patrick Graichen – director of Agora Energiewende
Michael Hegel – financial expert
Prof. Christian Held – partner at Becker Büttner Held BBH
Prof. Dr. Claudia Kemfert – head of the energy department at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW)
Prof. Dr. Sabine Löbbe – Reutlingen University
Prof. Dr. Barbara Praetorius – professor at the University of Applied Sciences (Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft) Berlin.
Helmut Sendner – editor of the journal Energie & Management
Dr. Christof Spangenberg – managing director of K.Group GmbH
Christina Sternitzke – managing director of EW Medien und Kongresse

The Award
The award was initiated by the journal Energie & Management and is co-sponsored by the law firm Becker Büttner Held and the business consultancy company K.Group. It has been presented for the twentieth time in 2020.

For further information, please see www.energiemanager-des-jahres.de; if you have any questions, please contact:
Helmut Sendner, phone: +49 (0) 81 52 / 10 86, email: h.sendner@emvg.de