The Executive Board of K-UTEC consists of three members. Together with the Supervisory Board, the Executive Board plays a key role in the independent management of the company, which is focused on generating and creating value. It defines the long-term goals and strategies, as well as coordinates and controls the significant activities in the company.
Chairman of the Executive Board
The professional career of Dr. Heiner Marx began at the Institute for Applied Technical Mineralogy at Saarland University. In 1979 he obtained a doctorate in natural sciences for his doctoral thesis "Practical application of the system MgO-MgCl2-H2O in coal mining for the stabilisation of coal seams". Dr. Marx then set up his own technical mineralogy office in Saarland in 1981. In 1992, he privatized central fields of activity of the former potash research of the Kombinates Kali in the newly founded Ingenieurs- und Forschungsgesellschaft Kali-Umwelttechnik GmbH Sondershausen (K-UTEC), today K-UTEC.
As founder and majority shareholder, Dr. Marx has been managing K-UTEC AG for more than 30 years. Dr. Marx is married and has one son and two daughters.
Executive Director
Dr. Markus Pfänder studied process engineering and physics and earned his doctorate in natural sciences at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg. Dr. Pfänder began his professional career in 1999 as a process engineer at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). After several management positions at DLR and the Spanish technology and plant engineering group Abengoa, he moved to the Ferrostaal Group, where he was Managing Director of Ferrostaal Smart Energy Solutions.In 2012, Dr. Pfänder supplemented his practical experience as a manager with an Executive MBA in Management.
Since the beginning of 2017 he has been a member of the Executive Board of K-UTEC and is responsible for Process Engineering and Analytics. Dr. Pfänder is married and father of two sons and a daughter.
Executive Director
Dr. Sebastian Lüning studied geology/paleontology at the University of Göttingen (Germany) and earned his doctorate and habilitation at the University of Bremen (Germany). After postdoctoral positions in London and Manchester (both UK) and a visiting professorship at the University of Vienna (Austria), Lüning joined RWE Dea in Hamburg as a petroleum geologist in 2007. In 2012, Lüning took on management responsibilities in business development and technical project due diligence at the Portuguese energy company Galp in Lisbon.
Since mid-2022, he has been a member of the Executive Board of K-UTEC and is responsible for the Geophysics and Mining divisions. Dr. Lüning is married and father of a daughter and a son.
