Group CTO, Gurit

Biography

Ernst has spent most of his career dealing with Industrial Innovation and Technology Management. He studied Mechanical Engineering at ETH Zurich, Switzerland and Virginia Tech in Blacksburg VA, USA, where he also received his PhD. In addition, he holds a master´s degree in Business Management. He has been working in the metals and mining industry for 16 years (alusuisse, Alcan, RioTinto), during which he has held various technology management positions. He spent significant time in Switzerland, Japan, Canada, France and China. In 2011 he relocated from Shanghai to Winterthur, Switzerland, to take over corporate-wide responsibilities as Chief Technology Officer and member of the Executive Committee of Sulzer. 2015/16, Ernst was CEO of EIT RawMaterials in Berlin, Germany. In this function he was responsible to build up and manage the largest global consortium in the area of raw materials, with the aim to develop raw materials into a major strength for Europe. From 2016 to 2020, Ernst was Group Executive Vice President for Business Development and Technology at Grundfos, a worldwide acting pump manufacturer with its Headquarters in Denmark. Today, he is CTO for Gurit, the market leader for composite material solutions for wind energy, aerospace, marine and other industries.