Dr. Stephan Finke is new Managing Director of DAkkS

With effect from 1 September 2016, Dr. Stephan Finke is new Managing Director of the German accreditation body Deutsche Akkreditierungsstelle (DAkkS). He succeeds Norbert Barz, who in the autumn will be handing over the role to his successor and leaving the company on grounds of age at the end of 2016 after seven years in the position. Holding a doctorate in industrial engineering, Finke most recently served as Business Development Manager at ABB Switzerland.

"We are very pleased to have secured the services of Dr. Stephan Finke, an authority in the accreditation and conformity assessment sector and recognised expert in the fields of laboratory testing and product certification, for Germany's national accreditation body," says Dr. Norbert Schultes, chairman of the DAkkS shareholders' meeting and also Division Head at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy with responsibility for DAkkS." With many years as head of testing laboratories in the field of energy transfer, Dr. Finke brings extensive management experience, expertise in quality control and excellent networks of contacts in sectors important to the accreditation system. We are confident that with this succession, DAkkS can demonstrate and continue to develop its important role as a service provider for industry and consumers, as well as its position as one of the largest accreditation bodies in Europe," says Schultes with reference to the expectations of Finke.After completing his studies and doctorate at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Finke served as head of high-performance testing at FGH Engineering & Test GmbH, while also committing his expertise to the PEHLA association for electrical high-performance testing, where he has been a member of the Management Committee since 2012. In 2012, Finke moved to the power and automation technology group ABB Switzerland in Zurich, where until 2015 he headed the testing of high voltage products. For several years, he has also committed his energies to the national and international standardisation bodies DKE, CES and IEC in the field of electrical engineering.