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Jürgen Wolfgang Maier CBE FRS or Juergen Wolfgang Maier (born in January 1964) is a British-Austrian businessman who is the chair of Great British Energy. He has been an advisor to the UK government, and from 2014 to 2019 was chief executive of Siemens UK.

Early life and education

Maier was born in Germany, but holds Austrian and British citizenship. He lived in Karlsruhe. He came to the UK in 1974, to Leeds, where he went to school at Allerton Grange School, from 1978.^[1] He studied Production Engineering at Trent Polytechnic in Nottingham (now Nottingham Trent University) from 1982 to 1986.

Career

Maier is the Chair of the Digital Catapult and co-founder of vocL, a platform empowering responsible business voices.^[2] He also supports development in northern regions and in that capacity is vice-Chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership^[3]^[2] and life time President for the North West Business Leadership Team.^[4]

Maier has occupied senior posts with Siemens, including managing director of UK and Ireland industry sector and Manufacturing Director of the Drives Factory in Congleton, Cheshire. He became a member of the Siemens UK Executive Management Board in October 2008, and was appointed Chief Executive on 1 July 2014. He retired in December 2019 at the age of 55.^[2]

Honours

Maier is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and the Royal Academy of Engineering,^[5] and is a visiting professor at the University of Manchester;^[6] he has also received Honorary Doctorates from the University of Salford,^[7] the University of Lincoln,^[8] Nottingham Trent University,^[9] the University of Sheffield,^[10] Cranfield University^[11] and Manchester Metropolitan University^[12] and, most recently, from Lancaster University.^[13]

He was a non-executive board member of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) of the UK government from 2014 to 2016^[14] and led the 'Made Smarter' industrial strategy review and initiative which aimed to create a strong 4th Industrial Revolution in the UK.^[15] He was a member of the Industrial Strategy Council^[16] which provides impartial and expert advice to government.

In 2019, Insider Magazine named Maier as the most influential business person in North West England.^[17] He was ranked number 5 in Glassdoor's Top CEOs for 2019.^{[citation needed]}

In July 2024 he was appointed as the chairman of Great British Energy, a government-owned body which promotes investment in renewable energy production.^[18]