Gernot Porcher is the new Senior Director of Construction, Interior Design and Engineering

Posted in News, People on 25 April, 2018

Deutsche Hospitality’s Construction, Interior Design and Engineering Department will be under new leadership from June 2018 when Gernot Porcher takes over as Senior Director. Mr. Porcher will succeed Sigurd Kern, who is retiring after more than three decades with the company.

Mr. Porcher, who holds degrees in architectural engineering and property management, can look back at around 20 years of experience in the fields of project management (mainly involving major construction ventures), risk management and real estate management. His future areas of responsibility at Deutsche Hospitality will encompass construction and technical engineering measures together with interior design at the company and within the scope of planned expansion. Mr. Porcher has headed up key projects for Deutsche Börse AG, Lufthansa AG and Fraport AG in the past and has already acted as lead manager for Steigenberger Hotels AG on many occasions. These responsibilities have included taking charge of a comprehensive programme of renovation works between 2005 and 2008. Mr. Porcher will be taking over from Sigurd Kern, who is retiring after 34 years of service although he will still be available to the company in a consultancy capacity.

Sigurd Kern has worked for the company since 1984. During the intervening period, he has planned, renovated and modernised numerous hotels in Germany and at locations abroad. Sustainability, energy and waste management are topics which have accompanied him since the very outset of his career, and these issues have continued to form a focal point of his work right down to the present day. One of his final projects was an extensive programme of redevelopment works at the Steigenberger Hotel Bad Homburg. This project has proved to be a fitting finale to all Mr. Kern’s endeavours by winning multiple awards and helping the hotel to reposition itself in a highly effective way.

“We would like to thank Sigurd Kern for his many years of service and for the tremendous commitment he has shown,” stated Matthias Heck, CFO and Director of Human Resources at Steigenberger Hotels AG. “He will leave a lasting impression. At the same time, we are delighted to have found a suitable successor in the person of Gernot Porcher. Mr. Porcher is already very familiar with Deutsche Hospitality because of our successful cooperation in the past.”