Until now, Helmut Claas, as the founder of the Foundation, was Chairman of the Board of Trustees for over 20 years. After his death in January 2021, his daughter Cathrina Claas-Mühlhäuser will now take up his place. As a graduate in business administration, she is looking forward to supporting the Foundation’s projects and thus promoting the next generation and getting them excited about agriculture and technology. From projects for pupils to the promotion of students, for example with scholarships, to the support of universities, the CLAAS Foundation offers a wide range of activities that is only possible with the help of a network that has been established and cultivated over many years.
Thomas Böck, CEO of the CLAAS Group, replaces Hermann Lohbeck, whose term on the Board of Trustees had expired regularly. As a technology-oriented manager, he focuses on forward-looking innovations with high customer benefits in the CLAAS Group. Such innovations are not only created internally in the company’s own development centres, but often in cooperation with the research departments of universities or with students who bring new ideas to the table as part of their project work and final theses.
The CLAAS Foundation was established in 1999 under the patronage of Helmut Claas and has a foundation capital of around 10 million euros.