VDR managing director retires after 20 years

Hans-Ingo Biehl

Long-time managing director of German buyer association VDR Hans-Ingo Biehl is retiring after more than 20 years in the top job.

Biehl will step down from the role on 1 October and, as previously announced, will officially hand over the baton to his successor Jens Schleichmann, who has been part of the VDR team since the beginning of July.

“I am pleased that Jens Schleichmann is a competent and committed successor taking on this role and that we were able to ensure an orderly transition for the benefit of the members and partners of our association,” Biehl said, adding that he will “remain connected” to the VDR during his retirement.

Prior to joining the association in 2002, Biehl, a trained travel agent, worked with Lufthansa City Center and carriers including British Airways, SAS, Sabena and Swissair. 

Biehl has been credited with developing VDR into an industry association that advocates for the needs of travel managers and also for implementing VDR’s annual business travel analysis, which has been collecting data on the German business travel industry for more than 20 years. 

VDR President Christoph Carnier thanked Biehl for “always having his finger on the pulse”. 

“Through cooperation with associations from other countries and intensive lobbying, he was able to further strengthen the association’s reputation at home and abroad. He took up the topic of sustainability many years ago and thereby set the course for holistic, sustainable business mobility,” Carnier added.