Airbus Names Siemens Executive As Head Of Its Defense And Space Division

Siemens executive Dirk Hoke is the next head of Airbus’ Defense and Space division.

Hoke will join Airbus group in January and will take over as the head from Bernhard Gerwert whois due to retire in mid-2016, Airbus said in a statement Tuesday.

Hoke, a former Renault research engineer, heads Siemens' Customer Services Division, according to the German industrial group's website.

Dirk Hoke holds a degree in mechanical engineering from CaroloWilhelmina Technical University in Braunschweig, Germany.

In 1994 he took on his first job as an engineer in research and development for Renault in Paris. In 1996 he joined Siemens Transportation Systems (TS) where he held various positions in train electrification in European and South America.

In 2002 Hoke became the general manager for the Trans-rapid Propulsion and Power Supply subdivision. Three years later he took over as president of the Siemens Transportation Systems Group in China.

In 2008 Hoke was named CEO of the Siemens Cluster Western & Central Africa, and soon thereafter the position of CEO of Siemens Morocco was added to his duties. From mid-2009 onward he was the CEO of the Siemens Cluster Africa.

In April 2011 Hoke joined the Siemens Industry Sector and took over direction of the Industry Solutions Division. Effective October 1, 2011, Dirk Hoke was appointed CEO of the Siemens Customer Services Division, headquartered in Erlangen, Germany.