Board of Management

An experienced team

The Chief Executive Officer, Kai Hankeln, is in charge of the holding (Asklepios Kliniken GmbH & Co, KGaA). Kai Hankeln is responsible for the clinics in the Regions North and East, Joachim Gemmel for the clinics in Hamburg, and Marco Walker for the clinics in the Regions Central and South Germany. The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Asklepios Kliniken GmbH & Co. KGaA is Hafid Rifi, and Chief Medical Officer is PD Dr. med. Sara Sheikhzadeh. Joachim Gemmel is Spokesman of Hamburger Asklepios Kliniken (AKHH).

Kai Hankeln (CEO)

Responsibilities

• Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
• Operative Managing Director for the regions of Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia
• Psychiatry Division
• Group areas: Strategy & business development, lobbying, M&A, auditing, purchasing & logistics, Clinic financing & revenue management, information technology, HR, corporate communications & marketing, architecture & construction, Home & Care

CV

Kai Hankeln began his professional career by completing an apprenticeship as an administrative clerk before moving on to study business administration and applied health sciences part-time. The state certified graduate of business administration worked for the German Employees' Health Insurance (DAK) for six years from 1991, before being appointed to the management of a rehab clinic in 1997. As CEO, he was in charge of the Bad Bramstedt Rheumatology Clinic from 1999 to 2007. Kai Hankeln was Director of the largest Asklepios Klinik in Hamburg Nord from 2007 until 2012, when he was appointed member of the Group Management and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Asklepios Kliniken GmbH for the clinics in the Region North-East. He was named Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Asklepios Kliniken Group on 1 May 2016. Kai Hankeln acts in this position in dual leadership with Dr Thomas Wolfram, who was appointed CEO at the same time. Operative responsibility for the Region North-East continues to rest with Kai Hankeln in his function as CEO.

Hafid Rifi (CFO)

Responsibilities

• Chief Financial Officer

• Group areas: Servicing bodies, Corporate Finance & Treasury, investor relations, corporate law, construction law, M&A Legal, data protection, accounting, taxes & controlling, business services, medical law, insurances & compliance, risk management, facility service companies

CV

Hafid Rifi has worked as Head of Accounting, Taxes and Controlling at Asklepios since 1 September 2009. He was appointed Managing Director of Asklepios Klinken Hamburg GmbH in December 2015, and was named Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and member of Group Management at Asklepios Kliniken GmbH on 1 March 2016. Hafid Rifi is a qualified economist, tax consultant and auditor. Before joining Asklepios, Hafid Rifi worked as an auditor for eleven years, providing consulting and auditing services to listed companies in the healthcare sector as well as municipal clinics chains and university clinics, among other positions.

Marco Walker (COO)

Responsibilities

• Chief Operating Officer

• Operative management for the regions: Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland

• Group areas: Health IT, Health TV, EAP, Plattform

CV

Marco Walker has been a member of Group Management at Asklepios Kliniken GmbH since 1 July 2016. As Chief Operating Officer (COO), Marco Walker is responsible for the Group's clinics in the Regions Centre and South, which include just over 30 facilities in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland.

A native of Stuttgart, Marco Walker studied economics at the University of Mannheim, before starting his career as a trainee at Asklepios in 2002.  He went on to succeed in a variety of positions within the Group. They included Assistant to Group Management, Head of Administration at Donauklinik (Neu Ulm/Illertissen) and at Asklepios Klinik Bad Tölz. Afterwards he spent five years in charge of Asklepios Westklinikum Hamburg, before his appointment as Chief Executive Officer of Asklepios Klinikum Harburg in March 2013, where he remained until his move to Group Management

PD Dr. med. Sheikhzadeh (CMO)

Responsibilities

• Chief Medical Officer

• Group areas: Centers of Excellence, Hospital Hygiene, Medical School Hamburg & Stettin, Medicine & Science, Strategic Quality Management, Research.

Joachim Gemmel (COO)

Responsibilities

• Chief Operating Officer (COO)

• Spokesman of Asklepios Kliniken Hamburg GmbH (AKHH)
  Operative management Hamburg, Bad Schwartau, Sylt and service companies

CV

Joachim Gemmel studied economics and organizational sciences at the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich and has been working in the hospital sector since 2003. Before joining Asklepios, he was a member of the Management Board of DAMP Holding AG and Managing Director of the Hanse-Klinikum Wismar and Stralsund. Since July 2012, Joachim Gemmel has been Managing Director of Asklepios Klinik Nord, the largest hospital in the Asklepios Group, with offices in Heidberg, Ochsenzoll and Psychiatry Wandsbek in Hamburg. Furthermore, he has been Spokesman for the Management at Asklepios Kliniken Hamburg GmbH since July 2016. On 1 January 2019, he was appointed to the Management Board of Asklepios Kliniken GmbH & Co. KGaA, where he is responsible for Asklepios Kliniken Hamburg GmbH.