Jan Kurth is the new Managing Director of the Federation of the German Wood Industry (HDH) and the Association of the German Furniture Industry (VDM) in Bad Honnef. As announced by both associations at the end of March, Kurth was officially appointed to his position at the associations' general meeting in Frankfurt am Main on 27 April 2018, which he took up on 1 May.
Previously, the 50-year-old was Managing Director of the Federal Association of Wooden Packaging, Pallets, Export Packaging (HPE). He will be succeeded in this position by 40-year-old Markus Kirschner which in turn was replaced by the Federation of the German Wood Industry where he was a consultant in the field of technology and standardisation. HDH and VDM were managed by Volker Fasbender on an interim basis until the end of March.
The presidents of the two timber associations praise him as a „proven expert in our industry“, Johannes Schwörer and Axel Schramm, the new Managing Director. His task in the coming years will be to develop the necessary structural changes and adjustments to the association landscape „from within“.
