PEOPLE WATCH
Wagner to head Airbus Commercial Aircraft
Lars Wagner, currently Chief Executive Officer( CEO) of MTU Aero Engines AG, based in Munich( Germany), will join the Airbus Executive Committee and succeed Christian Scherer as CEO of the Commercial Aircraft business, effective from 1 January 2026. Lars Wagner will join Airbus from the beginning of November 2025 to ensure a smooth transition with Christian Scherer. Christian remains CEO of the Commercial Aircraft business until 31 December 2025, topping a career spanning over 40 years in several executive roles with Airbus.
Lars Wagner, 50, has held the position of
CEO at MTU Aero Engines AG since January 2023. Before his appointment as CEO and since joining MTU in 2015, he assumed the roles of Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President in charge of OEM operations. He previously held various management positions at Airbus including in Bremen, Hamburg and Toulouse.
Lars Wagner holds a degree in mechanical and aeronautical engineering, as well as an MBA. n www. airbus. com
Lars Wagner.
Mate confirms newly appointed president
Mate Precision Technologies, a global specialist in metal cutting and metal forming products and solutions, has confirmed the retirement of its current president and the appointment of a new president. After 25 years at Mate Precision Technologies( the past 19 of them as president), Kevin Nicholson has announced his retirement. He will ensure a smooth transition to the new president, Joe Schneider, which went into effect in August 2025.
Joe Schneider.
“ During his tenure, Kevin made a tremendous impact on the company and culture, steering Mate through challenging business climates. Most notably, Kevin was instrumental in helping us to launch our press brake tooling and workholding product lines,” said Dean Sundquist, Mate’ s Chairman and CEO.“ We are immensely grateful and appreciative of his leadership.”
Mate will immediately begin the transition to Joe Schneider as the new president. Schneider has over 31 years of experience at the company.
“ Extremely market- and customer-focused, Joe brings a strong working knowledge of the company and the industries it serves. During this time, he developed a comprehensive background in marketing and product development, supporting numerous product introductions that elevated the brand. Passionate about growing the business and serving Mate’ s global customers, Schneider is committed to innovation, quality and service,” said Mate.
Joe Schneider started at Mate’ s German subsidiary, Mate GmbH, in 1994. He returned to the U. S. in 1996 and held progressively responsible roles in engineering and management, culminating in his appointment as Mate’ s Vice President of Marketing in 2006. He holds BSME and MBA degrees from the University of Minnesota.
“ We’ re excited about the future and look forward to a fresh perspective with Joe Schneider as the new president,” said Sundquist.
“ His many years of experience will help Mate continue to grow its existing product lines and pursue other opportunities in the metal cutting and metal forming industries,” he concluded. n
www
. mate. com
ISME honours Skills Competition winners
The ISME Skills Competition took place on 12 June 2025 at the Black Country & Marches Institute of Technology in the UK. ISME( The Institute of Sheet Metal Engineering) is a learned body with individual membership open to those employed in the sheet metal and associated industries.
The event brought together talented trainees from three leading UK companies whose apprentices currently attend Warwick College, showcasing their technical abilities and professional development.
“ The encouragement of the development of sheet metal working skills in young people through the annual Sheet Metal Skills
Competition is very important to the Institute. In December 2024, ISME Members agreed that ISME should join forces with the Metal Forming Machinery Makers Association( MMMA) in the UK,” said the Institute.
A commemorative lunch buffet, held in honour of the late Adrian Nicklin, ISME’ s former events officer, was followed by a prize-giving ceremony, during which the inaugural Adrian Nicklin Memorial Trophy was awarded to Rob Hudson of Whale Tankers, winner of the Open Class Written category. n
https:// isme. org. uk /
ISME Skills competition winners include( L-R) Ron Hudson, Whale Tankers; Jay Yeoman, Whale Tankers and Poppy Lee, WMG.
18 | ismr. net | ISMR October 2025