Executive Board of KfW: Melanie Kehr takes on additional responsibility for domestic promotional business

• Katharina Herrmann has resigned from the Board of Management for personal reasons and will leave KfW on 30 April 2025
• The Board of Supervisory Directors has confirmed the change at today’s meeting

Katharina Herrmann (56), Member of the Executive Board responsible for KfW’s domestic promotional business, will leave the Executive Board at her own request and by mutual agreement at the end of April.

In addition to her role as Executive Board Member for IT and Operations at KfW, Melanie Kehr (50) will take over responsibility for domestic business on 1 May 2025 until a successor has been appointed for these departments.

Katharina Herrmann’s resignation of the mandate as of 30 April 2025 and the associated amendment to the schedule of responsibilities of the KfW Executive Board as of 1 May 2025 were the subject of the meeting of the KfW Board of Supervisory Directors and its committees today.

Katharina Herrmann has stated private reasons for her decision. She explains why this is the right moment to resign from the mandate:

"In light of the changes to the German Federal Government, this is a good moment to hand over the baton. My colleague Melanie Kehr will take over a very effective domestic promotional business. I wish her every success and all the best for the further development of domestic promotion, especially SME financing."

KfW CEO Stefan Wintels thanked Herrmann for

“the excellent cooperation, her commitment and the successful restructuring of domestic promotional business”.

Wintels continues:

"With Melanie Kehr, we are pursuing continuity and new beginnings at the same time. It is essential that our activities are even more focused on Germany’s competitiveness in the years ahead."

Melanie Kehr emphasised:

“In view of the significant tasks that our country is facing, I am very much looking forward to the additional responsibility, especially now, and would like to express my heartfelt thanks for the trust you have placed in me.”

Melanie Kehr was first appointed to the Executive Board of KfW Group on 1 March 2019 and has initiated KfW’s agile transformation starting from an IT approach in recent years.

Katharina Herrmann first joined KfW as General Manager on 8 April 2022 and in April 2023, she assumed responsibility for domestic promotional business on the Executive Board.

A photo is available for download in the KfW Photo Archive: KfW Photo Archive.

Curriculum Vitae and press photos of Katharina Herrmann: Katharina Herrmann’s CV | KfW.

Curriculum Vitae and press photos of Melanie Kehr: Melanie Kehr’s CV | KfW.