Bad Neustadt, December 20, 2023: After 32 years with Preh Group, long-time CFO Rui Marques Dias (66) is postponing his planned retirement at the end of the year and will take over the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO) on an interim basis for one year from January 1, 2024. The Chairman of the Preh Supervisory Board and majority shareholder of the Joyson Group, Jeff Wang, explained the decision with the challenging market environment in the automotive industry and Rui Marques Dias' wealth of experience, from which the Preh Group will now benefit for another year. 

In September, Rui Marques Dias had already handed over responsibility as CFO to his successor Dr. Guntram Nöth (50). However, he remained a member of the Executive Board and has since ensured a smooth handover of CFO responsibility.

Joyson founder Jeff Wang explained: "Preh has outperformed many of its competitors in a difficult industry environment. Nevertheless, the entire automotive industry is facing major challenges and the enormously experienced Rui Marques Dias is exactly the right person to take over the position of COO and relieve the management team around CEO Charlie Cai at this stage. The fact that Rui Marques Dias was willing to accept my request without hesitation once again shows that he is a Prehler with heart and soul. I would like to expressly thank him for this great flexibility and his particular loyalty to the company."

Rui Marques Dias joined Preh in Portugal 32 years ago and has held various management positions there. As Managing Director of Preh Portugal Lda. from 1999, he was responsible for finance/controlling, IT, human resources, logistics and production planning. In addition to his duties as Managing Director of the Portuguese Preh subsidiary, the electrical engineering graduate had supported various Preh Group sites in the development and expansion of finance and accounting in recent years, including at the Chinese Preh site in Ningbo. On October 1, 2016, Rui Marques Dias was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Preh GmbH in Bad Neustadt, from where he has played a key role in shaping the profitable growth of the Preh Group. Before joining Preh, Rui Marques Dias had gained international management experience at the energy and automation technology group Asea Brown Boveri (ABB), among others.