Siegfried Riegel: a life dedicated to Roto

Roto Frank AG commemorates Siegfried Riegel, its late chairman of the board of directors / Supervisory board pays tribute to the services of Siegfried Riegel on what would have been his 85th birthday

Siegfried Riegel: a life dedicated to Roto

Leinfelden-Echterdingen – When Siegfried Riegel, former chairman of the board of directors at Roto Frank AG, passed away on 28th February 2010 at the age of 77, the shock at his passing could be felt strongly in the company as well as throughout the German hardware industry as a whole. He worked for Roto for 47 years, firstly together with Wilhelm Frank and then as his successor in the role of first chairman of the board of directors.

Employees knew Siegfried Riegel as a manager who showed strong leadership but who never lost his sense of humour or the joy he found in life and people. Many people thought of him on 9th September 2017, when he would have celebrated his 85th birthday. “A day that we would have liked to celebrate with him and his family,” explains Dr Eckhard Keill, chairman of the board of directors at Roto Frank AG since 2006. Keill continues that he himself always remembered his predecessor with the utmost respect.

Dr Michael Stahl, chairman of the supervisory board at Roto Frank AG, confirms that Riegel’s influence in the company remains perceptible to this day. “Siegfried Riegel left us a great legacy when he stood down from the board of directors in 1997,” according to Stahl. “He provided the ideas and paved the way for the extraordinarily early internationalisation of Roto, and was furthermore a manager who always focused on customers and their interests in everything he did. In this respect, I am convinced that Siegfried Riegel would be very happy with the way in which Roto has continued to developed since then.”

Pioneer of SMEs
Company founder Wilhelm Frank personally recruited trained retail salesman Siegfried Riegel into his company in 1957, exactly 60 years ago. Riegel worked towards the targeted internationalisation of Roto at an early stage, firstly as an export expert and then as an export manager from 1964 onwards. He was therefore among the pioneers of German SMEs. Riegel recognised the extraordinarily great potential of business in Eastern Europe as early as the mid-1960s. His expansion strategy for this was systematic and persistent. The same later applied to the Asian market. “The life of Siegfried Riegel and the fate of Roto are inextricably linked. The company owes a great deal to Siegfried Riegel,” states Dr Stahl with conviction.

First chairman of the board of directors at Roto Frank AG
After the company became Roto Frank AG in 1989, Riegel was appointed as the first chairman of the board of directors. He occupied this role until he left the company in 1997 upon reaching retirement age. Following this, Riegel accompanied the Group for another seven years as a member of the supervisory board. In the window and door industry, he developed important functions over many years, for example in the Fachverband der Schloss- und Beschlagindustrie e.V., a trade association for the lock and hardware industry.