36th Annual General Meeting

Board member Klaus Fricke reported on the association’s activities and achievements during the past fiscal year. A particular highlight was the 22nd Award Night, which took place in June 2024 at the Design Hotel Kameha Grand in Bonn, located directly on the Rhine, and attracted more than 150 guests. Bernard Rzepka emphasized that the Young Professionals Award was presented for the first time as part of the Award Night. He expressed his sincere thanks to Ursula Mellema, Heinrich Lingnau, and Dr. Thomas Wolff for their support. They had worked through numerous pages of master’s theses to ultimately select the three best entries.

The financial report showed a positive result for the 2023/2024 fiscal year. The auditors confirmed proper bookkeeping, and the discharge of the board was granted unanimously. The budget for the current 2024/2025 fiscal year was presented and unanimously approved. Klaus Eue was elected as the new auditor.

The updated websites of SPE Central Europe and the SPE AutomotiveAward, as well as the positive development of the LinkedIn account, were presented. The showcase page for the Automotive Award in particular is enjoying growing popularity and currently has approximately 670 followers.

Another important agenda item was the vote on the association’s new statutes. Two paragraphs regarding liability issues were added.

Future projects were also discussed. At the end of November, the event series “SPE visiting students,” which already launched at IKT Stuttgart, will continue at IKV Aachen.

Special honors were bestowed upon Dr. Johnke and Klaus Eue. Dr.-Ing. Klaus-Dieter Johnke was retroactively presented with the certificate for honorary presidency. Klaus Eue was honored for his many years of service as treasurer and was appointed an honorary member.

The meeting concluded with a joint visit to the Autostadt.