Rene Jaeggi – Keynote Speaker

Rene Jaeggi is a renowned international CEO, having turned around a failing Adidas and saved the German football team FC Kaiserslautern from bankruptcy.

Rene began his career in FMCG marketing working for R.J Reynolds and Duracell. In 1986 he became Vice-President of Marketing for Adidas. In 1987 he became CEO, and began a five-year restructuring programme. He reduced costs by moving production to low-cost countries, and by repositioning the Adidas brand.

Having left Adidas he became an active investor in a range of companies, such as Romika, the German shoe brand, and Head, helping to restore them to profitability.

From 1991 to 1996 he was Chairman of the Swiss football club FC Basel. During this time the club moved to a new stadium, became Swiss champions for the first time in 22 years and took part in the European Champions League for the first time.

He then moved to the German club FC Kaiserslautern, where he faced a much greater challenge. Although it enjoyed a long history, the club was heavily in debt, and the previous management faced corruption charges. He cut the salary bill, reduced the clubs debts and made FC Kaiserslautern’s stadium one of the World Cup venues in 2006. He left the club later that year.

Rene is now active in the bio-diesel sector, and is a director of several companies. As a judo enthusiast in his early years, he believes that the sport gave him “discipline, mobility, and the ability to fall and get up again, to withstand defeat and grow from it.”