Claudia Freitag to become CFO of BENTELER Steel/Tube

Salzburg / Paderborn, April 3, 2025. Claudia Freitag, currently Vice President of Finance and Controlling at BENTELER Steel/Tube, will assume the role of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the division as of July 1, 2025. In addition to Finance, Controlling & Processes, she will also be responsible for Compliance and Strategy / Communication and Innovation in future. 

Tobias Braun, who has held the dual role of CFO of the BENTELER Group and of BENTELER Steel/Tube since September 2022, will focus solely on his position on the Group Executive Board as of July 1. 

Ralf Göttel, CEO of the BENTELER Group, commented: “I’m delighted that we have found an excellent candidate in Claudia Freitag for the CFO position at BENTELER Steel/Tube. This is a perfect example of successful internal succession planning: Over the past years, Claudia Freitag has steadily taken on more responsibility within the division. She will continue to work closely with our Group CFO Tobias Braun in her new role while also bringing fresh momentum to BENTELER Steel/Tube.” 

He added: “At the same time, I would like to sincerely thank Tobias Braun for his outstanding commitment in his dual role. He has been instrumental in driving the successful transformation of BENTELER Steel/Tube in recent years. Claudia Freitag will continue to build on this without interruption.” 

As of July 1, 2025, the top management team of BENTELER Steel/Tube will consist of Claudia Freitag (Chief Financial Officer), Ralph Mathis (Chief Sales Officer) and Thomas Michels (Chief Operating Officer).

Claudia Freitag is married and has two children. She started her career at BENTELER in 2004 as a working student at the Paderborn plant. She subsequently held positions in plant and sales controlling, as head of central controlling and, most recently, as Vice President Finance and Controlling. BENTELER is in Claudia Freitag's blood: both her father and grandfather also worked at BENTELER Steel/Tube.

BENTELER Steel/Tube is one of the leading manufacturers of seamless and welded quality steel tubes and supplies customers in the automotive, energy and industrial markets. A strategic focus is on sustainability. Since 2023, the company has been offering CliMore^® brand tubes, which reduce CO₂ emissions by up to 85% compared to conventionally manufactured steel tube products through the use of recycled scrap and green electricity.