Karl-Ludwig Kley (born 11 June 1951 in Munich) is a German business executive.
Education
Kley studied law at the
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) from 1974 to 1979. He completed his practical training as a lawyer in Hamburg and Johannesburg from 1979 to 1982. He earned a doctorate in law at LMU in 1986.
Career
Kley worked for
Bayer from 1982 to 1998, most recently as head of corporate finance and investor relations. He was
chief financial officer and a member of the executive board of
Lufthansa 1998–2006.
In 2006, Kley joined the
Merck Group as a member of the executive board. He became chief executive officer (CEO) and chairman of the executive board of Merck KGaA in April 2007.[1][2] Under his leadership, Merck strengthened its two non-pharmaceutical divisions, which make laboratory supplies and specialty chemicals, and completed a $17 billion deal to buy US laboratory supplies company
Sigma-Aldrich.[3] In his capacity at Merck, Kley was part of
ChancellorAngela Merkel’s delegation on a state visit to
Japan in 2015. Kley retired from The Merck Group in April 2016.[2]
In 2017,
Lufthansa named Kley as new chairman of its supervisory board, replacing Wolfgang Mayrhuber, who had resigned six months before the end of his term.[4]
Other activities (selection)
Corporate boards
E.ON, Chairman of the Supervisory Board (since 2016)[5]
Lufthansa, Chairman of the Supervisory Board (since 2016), Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2013)[6]