Markus Kamieth

What I have learned in the last 30 years is that you never know where the next challenge will take you… by focusing on exciting and challenging tasks in great teams and moving on to the next challenge at the right time when things get too comfortable, it will surely be a great journey.

— Markus Krebber

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Overview

Dr Markus Krebber
Born	(1973-02-16) February 16, 1973 Kleve, Lower Rhine, Germany
Citizenship	Germany
Education	Economics and business administration
Alma mater	Gerhard Mercator University, Duisburg; Humboldt University of Berlin; Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Occupation(s)	Business executive, economist
Employer	RWE AG
Known for	Leading the transformation of RWE into a renewables-focused energy group
Title	Chief executive officer
Term	1 May 2021 – present
Predecessor	Rolf Martin Schmitz
Board member of	RWE AG; BDEW; Federation of German Industries (BDI) Presidential Committee
Spouse	Married
Children	5

👤 Markus Krebber (born 16 February 1973) is a German economist and business executive who has served as chief executive officer (CEO) of the energy company RWE AG since 1 May 2021. Trained as a banker and holding a doctorate in economics, he previously worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and held senior roles at Commerzbank before joining RWE in 2012, where he rose from chief financial officer and chief executive of the trading subsidiary RWE Supply & Trading to group chief financial officer and, ultimately, CEO. As finance chief he helped design a far-reaching restructuring and asset swap that shifted RWE away from a traditional coal- and nuclear-based utility towards renewable power generation, and as CEO he has championed the "Growing Green" strategy, a multibillion-euro investment programme to expand the group’s global portfolio of wind, solar, storage and hydrogen projects.

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Early life and education

🎓 Origins in the Lower Rhine. Krebber was born on 16 February 1973 in Kleve, a town in Germany's Lower Rhine region, and grew up in the surrounding area. After finishing secondary school (Abitur), he entered a banker training programme at a small Deutsche Bank branch in his home town of Emmerich am Rhein, where his early duties included sorting mail and preparing printed account statements before he progressed to advising local customers on savings and investments. This apprenticeship gave him a ground-level view of retail banking at a time when Europe was still dealing in Deutschmarks and Dutch guilders, before the introduction of the euro.

📚 University and doctoral studies. Seeking a broader theoretical foundation, he went on to study economics and business administration at Gerhard Mercator University in Duisburg, spending part of his studies as an exchange student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in the United States. He later completed a doctorate in economics at Humboldt University in Berlin in 2007, specialising in finance; this combination of practical banking experience and academic training in financial theory shaped his analytical approach to corporate decision-making.

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Consulting and banking career

🧮 Consulting at McKinsey. In 2000, shortly after finishing his studies, Krebber joined the consulting firm McKinsey & Company, where he worked for around five years on projects in the financial sector and other industries. He has described this period as his "basic training" in structured problem-solving, project management and working in multidisciplinary teams, experience that would later inform his approach as a finance executive and chief executive.

🏦 Integration work at Commerzbank. In 2005 Krebber moved from advising banks to working inside one when he joined Commerzbank, initially in senior finance functions. During the turbulent years surrounding the global financial crisis he played a key role in the integration of Dresdner Bank, which Commerzbank had acquired; by 2009 he had been appointed divisional board member and head of Group Integration, responsible for unifying the two banks' structures and systems, and later served as head of Group Finance, overseeing the group's financial steering until 2012. The experience strengthened his reputation as an executive who could manage complex integrations and capital-intensive balance sheets under pressure.

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Transition to the energy sector and rise at RWE

🔌 Move into the energy sector. In 2012, after more than a decade in banking and consulting, Krebber made a notable sector change when he joined the energy group RWE, moving from the financial sector into a company at the centre of Germany's energy transition. He later explained that, after the global financial crisis had tested the banking industry, he was drawn to what he saw as the next "huge task"—the transformation of the energy system—and deliberately chose to leave his comfort zone for a "completely different industry". He arrived at RWE as chief financial officer of RWE Supply & Trading, the group’s trading and wholesale arm, at a time when European utilities were grappling with volatile commodity markets and the rapid growth of renewable power.

⚙️ Rise within RWE. Krebber initially focused on stabilising and reshaping the trading business and, in 2015, was promoted to chief executive of RWE Supply & Trading, taking charge of the entire division. In October 2016 he joined the executive board of RWE AG as group chief financial officer, just as the company was restructuring its portfolio and spinning off parts of its renewables and grid operations; as finance chief he was instrumental in designing and negotiating a far-reaching asset swap with rival E.ON that saw RWE trade its retail and network activities for a large portfolio of wind and solar assets, repositioning the group as one of Europe’s leading renewable energy producers. The transformation marked a decisive break with RWE’s historic profile as a coal- and nuclear-heavy utility and laid the groundwork for the growth strategy that followed.

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Chief executive of RWE

🌱 Growing Green strategy. On 1 May 2021 Krebber succeeded Rolf Martin Schmitz as CEO of RWE AG, taking over a company that had been reshaped by the E.ON transaction and was poised to expand in low-carbon generation. Shortly after assuming the role he presented the "Growing Green" strategy, under which RWE plans to invest around €50 billion in green technologies between 2021 and 2030 in order to build a renewable and storage portfolio of approximately 50 gigawatts, spanning onshore and offshore wind, large-scale solar, batteries and hydrogen-ready flexible generation. He has framed the strategy as a response to both climate policy and energy-security needs, arguing that the energy transition must unfold dynamically rather than through incremental steps.

🌍 International expansion. Under Krebber’s leadership RWE has expanded aggressively outside its traditional markets, most notably in the United States, where in 2022 the group agreed to acquire the renewable energy business of Consolidated Edison for about $6.8 billion, nearly doubling its U.S. green portfolio and making RWE one of the largest renewable operators in the country. The transaction was partly financed through an investment by Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, which took a significant minority stake in RWE, and formed part of a wider push to build scale in offshore wind, solar and storage projects across Europe, North America and selected other regions. In parallel, Krebber reorganised the group’s internal structure around core business segments such as offshore wind, onshore wind and solar, hydrogen, and flexible generation, while setting targets to exit coal-fired power generation in Germany by 2030 and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040.

💹 Market performance. The strategic pivot and favourable power-price environment have contributed to strong earnings growth at RWE; however, the company’s share price performance under Krebber has been more muted, with the stock trading for much of 2021–2023 in the low €30s—roughly similar to its level when he became CEO—despite the enlarged renewables portfolio. By mid-2025 RWE’s market capitalisation remained sizeable, at around €23 billion, but some investors questioned why the company was not valued more like pure-play clean-energy peers, a divergence that set the stage for subsequent shareholder campaigns.

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Compensation, shareholdings and external roles

💰 Executive remuneration. As chief executive of a DAX-40 company, Krebber receives a compensation package in line with German blue-chip standards. In 2023 his total remuneration from RWE amounted to about €6.4 million, including base salary, a short-term bonus and long-term share-based incentives, an increase of roughly 3 percent on the previous year in light of the company’s performance and the terms of his contract. Analysts have noted that this places him in the middle range of major German corporate leaders, below the highest-paid executives in sectors such as automotive and pharmaceuticals but broadly aligned with other energy and industrial peers.

📈 Personal shareholdings. Like other members of RWE’s management board, Krebber is required to build and maintain a personal stake in the company, and he holds shares acquired both through incentive plans and through purchases on the open market. In December 2024 he reported buying around 9,998 RWE shares at a price of €30.76 each, a transaction worth roughly €307,000, which was interpreted by market observers as a signal of confidence in the company’s prospects and valuation. While detailed information on his overall net worth is not publicly disclosed, his accumulated remuneration and equity stakes imply a substantial, though not founder-level, personal exposure to RWE’s fortunes.

🤝 Industry roles. Beyond his responsibilities at RWE, Krebber serves as vice president of the Bundesverband der Energie- und Wasserwirtschaft (BDEW), Germany’s federal association for the energy and water industries, and sits on the presidential committee of the Federation of German Industries (Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie, BDI). These positions, which are typically not remunerated like corporate directorships, give him a voice in broader debates on German and European energy and industrial policy, from grid expansion and permitting procedures to hydrogen infrastructure and the design of electricity markets, and reinforce his public profile as a key representative of the utility sector.

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Personal life and leadership style

👪 Family and private life. Krebber is married and has five children, a relatively large family by the standards of top German executives, and he has occasionally referred to the demands of combining a large household with a high-profile corporate role. Consistent with German corporate culture, he keeps his family largely out of the public eye, and media coverage tends to focus on his professional activities rather than his private life, though profiles often highlight his roots in the Lower Rhine region and his reputation for remaining down-to-earth despite overseeing a global company.

🧳 Personal habits and anecdotes. An oft-mentioned anecdote about Krebber concerns the worn Deutsche Bank sports bag he received in 1992 when he began his apprenticeship: more than three decades later he still uses it as a gym bag and has cited it, half-jokingly, as a practical example of sustainability and frugality. The story, which he shared on his LinkedIn profile along with a photo of the bag, underscores both his long connection to the financial world and his preference for durability over display, themes that observers sometimes link to his cautious approach to capital allocation and long-term business planning.

🧭 Leadership style. In interviews and public appearances, Krebber is typically portrayed as an analytical, even-tempered manager with a strong affinity for numbers and financial detail but also a collaborative, team-oriented approach. Colleagues and commentators have noted that he tends to listen closely to technical experts, whether on trading, engineering or regulatory matters, and is prepared to adjust course when new evidence emerges, while at the same time pushing his organisation to embrace change, innovation and the opportunities of the energy transition. Unlike some more media-driven chief executives, he maintains a relatively low public profile and often frames his role in terms of stewardship and mission rather than personal prominence.

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Controversies and challenges

⚔️ Shareholder activism. As RWE has shifted its asset base and ramped up investment under Krebber, the company has been confronted by activist shareholders who argue that capital spending should be trimmed and more cash returned to investors. In early 2025 Elliott Management, the U.S. hedge fund led by Paul Singer, disclosed a stake of just under 5 percent in RWE and publicly urged the company to scale back parts of its investment programme and expand a planned share buy-back, contending that the stock was undervalued relative to its portfolio of assets. Elliott welcomed a decision by RWE to reduce planned capital expenditure for 2025–2030 by about €10 billion in response to macroeconomic and regulatory uncertainty, but pressed for further measures, including larger repurchases and a more explicit focus on shareholder value. Earlier, another investor, Enkraft Capital, had criticised RWE’s acquisition of Con Edison’s U.S. renewables business during the height of Europe’s energy crisis, questioning the timing and price of the deal; Krebber defended the transaction as essential to strengthening RWE’s long-term position in growth markets.

🌋 Coal phase-out and Lützerath. On the societal side, Krebber has faced intense scrutiny from climate activists over RWE’s continued use of lignite and the pace of the company’s coal phase-out. A focal point was the small village of Lützerath in North Rhine-Westphalia, which became a symbolic site of protest against lignite mining; under a political compromise reached with the German government, RWE agreed to bring forward its exit from coal-fired power generation in the region to 2030 in exchange for being allowed to mine the coal beneath Lützerath to secure short-term supply, and the village was cleared and demolished in early 2023 amid high-profile demonstrations. While environmental groups accused RWE of sacrificing a community to prolong coal use, the company, with Krebber as its public face, argued that it was implementing democratically agreed policy and that the earlier coal exit and massive renewables investments demonstrated its commitment to decarbonisation.

⚡ Energy crisis and policy debates. The turmoil in European energy markets following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 further tested Krebber’s leadership. Surging gas prices and fears of winter shortages led governments to ask utilities such as RWE to keep reserve coal plants available longer than planned, even as they prepared to retire them, and to consider windfall taxes on unexpectedly high generation profits. In this context Krebber publicly supported emergency measures to maintain security of supply but cautioned against ad-hoc political interventions that might deter investment, calling for faster permitting of both renewable projects and liquefied natural gas infrastructure and warning that the system had "no buffers" to absorb further shocks. He has repeatedly argued that climate protection and industrial competitiveness must advance together and that overly slow expansion of wind, solar and grids risks what he has termed "creeping de-industrialisation" in Germany if energy remains scarce or unaffordable.

🧩 Balancing stakeholder expectations. Krebber’s tenure has therefore been marked less by personal scandal than by the structural tensions inherent in transforming a historically coal-based utility into a renewables-led group while maintaining profitability and security of supply. On one side, climate activists and some politicians press RWE to accelerate its exit from fossil fuels and to take on more ambitious emissions reductions; on the other, parts of the capital market urge higher near-term returns and a more cautious approach to capital expenditure. Krebber has acknowledged that "the capital market does not speak with one voice" and that not all stakeholders can be satisfied simultaneously, but has consistently framed RWE’s strategy as an attempt to reconcile these competing demands through large-scale investment in renewables combined with a managed, time-limited use of legacy assets.

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Other activities and recognition

🚀 Outsider perspective. Unlike many utility executives who have spent their entire careers within the power sector, Krebber came to energy from banking and consulting, a background he has suggested allows him to view RWE’s challenges with a fresh perspective unburdened by some of the industry’s traditional assumptions. Commentators have argued that this outsider-turned-insider status has been an asset in pushing through restructurings and strategic pivots that might have been harder for leaders more closely tied to the company’s past business model.

📜 Contract renewal. The confidence placed in Krebber by RWE’s supervisory board was underlined in July 2025, when his contract as CEO was extended by five years, well before its previous expiry date, securing his tenure until the end of June 2031. The board’s chairman highlighted the company’s strategic progress and the value of continuity in navigating the remainder of the decade’s energy-transition challenges, indicating that RWE expects Krebber to remain a central figure in the European power sector for years to come.

🏅 Public profile and outreach. Beyond boardrooms and policy forums, Krebber appears regularly at business conferences, academic events and leadership dialogues, where he speaks about topics ranging from personal resilience and "energy reserves" to the practicalities of financing large-scale decarbonisation. Fluent in German and English, he maintains ties with universities and supports charitable initiatives, often via RWE’s corporate foundation, while retaining a relatively modest personal profile; reports note his continued attachment to his home region on the Lower Rhine and his interest in local football, as well as everyday habits such as carrying a worn notebook to meetings to record key points.

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