Chairmen of the Board of Trustees
Dr.-Ing. Leonhard Vilser
Chairman of the Board of Trustees since 2011
Dr.-Ing. Leonhard Vilser has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Steinbeis Foundation since 2001, served as Vice Chairman from 2006 to 2011, and has been its Chairman since December 9, 2011.
Leonhard Vilser studied mechanical engineering and received his doctorate from the University of Stuttgart. From 1979, he held various management positions within the Eberspächer Group, including membership on the Advisory Board and, from 1998 to 2012, Managing Director.
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Dr.-Ing. E. h. Max Syrbe (1929-2011)
Chairman of the Board of Trustees 1991-2011
Professor Dr. rer. nat. Dr.-Ing. E. h. Max Syrbe was born in Leipzig in 1929 and studied physics in Frankfurt am Main. After receiving his doctorate in Applied Physics/Control Engineering in 1953, he worked for BBC in Mannheim for 14 years, initially as a development and project engineer, and later as director and head of the electronics division. In 1968, he assumed leadership of the Institute for Vibration Research (ISF), which was renamed the Fraunhofer Institute IITB in Karlsruhe in 1970.
In 1966, Syrbe was appointed to the Senate of the Fraunhofer Society, becoming its president in 1983. He held this office until 1993. The concept for the fundamental principles of the Fraunhofer Society's further development is attributed to his initiative. Syrbe championed performance-based contract research for industry and the public sector as the foundation for Fraunhofer as the leading organization for applied research in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1975, the Faculty of Computer Science at the University of Karlsruhe appointed Syrbe an honorary professor. From 1983, Syrbe was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Steinbeis Foundation, and from 1991 until his death in 2011, he chaired the Board.
Syrbe's professional work focused on automation and human-machine technology, particularly human-machine systems, as well as research policy and research management. Syrbe was a recipient of the Fraunhofer Sculpture, the highest award of the Fraunhofer Society. He held an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Duisburg-Essen and was an honorary senator of the University of Freiburg. He was also a recipient of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Bavarian Order of Merit.
In 2009, the jury of the Löhn Prize honored Max Syrbe's outstanding personal commitment to knowledge and technology transfer as a long-standing member of the Board of Trustees and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Steinbeis Foundation with the Steinbeis Foundation Transfer Prize – Löhn Prize as a special prize.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hans Joachim Förster (1916-2012)
Chairman of the Board of Trustees 1982-1991
Professor Dr.-Ing. Hans Joachim Förster chaired the Steinbeis Board of Trustees from 1982 to 1991 and tirelessly supported the foundation in its early years.
Hans Joachim Förster was born on May 19, 1916, in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland). He graduated from high school in 1935 and was subsequently drafted into the Luftwaffe (German Air Force). In 1938, he began studying mechanical engineering at the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences. He was again drafted into the Luftwaffe but was able to continue his studies and graduated with honors in 1941.
As early as 1942, he was employed by Daimler-Benz AG in Stuttgart. After returning from captivity as a prisoner of war, Förster worked in Daimler's development department and assumed responsibility for the development of automatic transmissions and power steering systems – a field to which he would dedicate his professional life. In 1967, Förster took over the management of the measurement center, and in 1969, he assumed responsibility for all research. In 1983, he retired, having by then served as director.
Alongside his successful career in industry, Förster consistently pursued his academic interests. In 1952, he earned his doctorate from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology with a dissertation on "Föttinger Transmissions in Power Branching Systems," and in 1965, he qualified as a university lecturer there with his research on "Conversion Range and Stages in Vehicle Transmissions." From 1965 onward, he lectured on power transmission and in 1970 was appointed adjunct professor by the same university. Förster's wide-ranging interests were also reflected in his numerous lectures and publications. He was a member of numerous committees.