DLG appoints two new CEO’s

DLG (German Agricultural Society) appointed Dr. Lothar Hövelmann as CEO of DLG e.V. and Freya von Czettritz as CEO of DLG-Holding GmbH. With the new dual leadership, DLG is confident to be well positioned for the future.

Dr. Hövelmann succeeds Dr. Reinhard Grandke, who earlier this year announced his decision to leave the DLG in order to pursue new professional challenges and projects. With immediate effect, Freya von Czettritz will be responsible for DLG’s business activities in her role as CEO of DLG-Holding.

“With Dr. Lothar Hövelmann and Freya von Czettritz, we have gained an excellent dual leadership team that will not only ensure the continuity of DLG’s work alongside the DLG president and the Board of Directors but also shape the future,” said Hubertus Paetow, DLG’s President.

Dr. Lothar Hövelmann, in addition to his responsibilities as CEO of DLG e.V., will continue as managing director of DLG’s Competence Center Agriculture. In her new role, Freya v. Czettritz is responsible for the national and international trade fair and event business at DLG-Holding, as well as for the testing activities, which includes agricultural machinery, farm inputs and food.

Dr. Lothar Hövelmann began his career with an agricultural apprenticeship which was followed by a degree in agricultural sciences majoring in crop production with a thesis on the processing of recultivated soils at the University of Bonn. Following completion of an agricultural consulting project at STEAG, Dr. Hövelmann spent four years as head of the R&D projects on biowaste composting and sewage sludge utilization at an agricultural and environmental technology company. Joining the DLG in 1998 as project manager for crop production five years later he was appointed head of the Sustainable Agriculture Department. In 2008, he assumed the position of Managing Director of Competence Center Agriculture and in 2015 was appointed to DLG’s Board of Directors. In these positions, Dr. Hövelmann played a decisive role in developing the DLG into the most important professional organization for agriculture, agribusiness and the food value chain in Germany, as well as strengthening cooperation with international industry networks.

Freya von Czettritz has been involved in agricultural processes from an early age through her parents’ seed breeding business. With a degree in business administration, she joined the DLG in 2008 and has since combined her two areas of expertise, agriculture with trade fairs as business platforms. Since 2009, she has been responsible for Agritechnica, the world’s leading trade fair for agricultural machinery. She has since developed the trade fair into the leading international platform for innovative agricultural technology and modern crop production. Since 2016 she has headed DLG’s Division of Trade Fairs Plant Production and Field Operations with the international flagship brands Agritechnica, DLG Feldtage, DLG Waldtage, PotatoEurope and Agritechnica Asia. Thanks to her extensive international agricultural network and her experience in agribusiness, she will be driving the professionalization of the DLG forward and bridging agriculture and food internationally.