So long, Peter ... but not goodbye
Peter Steinbeck, my longtime friend, colleague and boss, retired recently after a hugely successful 33 year career at W&H. Many, if not most of the readers of CONVERSIONS, knew Peter personally and saw him as THE face of Windmoeller & Hoelscher Germany.
When CEO Dr. Juergen Vutz retired in 2021, I referred to it as the “Vutz Era”. If one considers Peter, his father and his grandfather, there have been Steinbecks in leadership roles for over 100 years, since 1922. The Steinbeck Era!
At our Gala event celebrating W&H’s 150 year anniversary in 2019, Peter welcomed the 1,500 VIP guests from around the world and stated quite simply, modestly (and accurately) “I am probably the only person at W&H who has actually met and gotten to know each and every one of you”. Peter’s personal skills and incredible retention of details about a customer and their company, served him very well, as W&H’s global sales more than tripled during his tenure as CSO and CEO.
Needless to say, I am his biggest fan!
I first met Peter in the summer of 1984, long before I had ever heard of W&H. I had been in college with his sister, Birgit, and was visiting their family while working in Bielefeld, Germany, approximately an hour away from Lengerich. I found him to be extremely affable, curious and easy going, clearly very smart and slightly mischievous.
We met occasionally over the next few years at social events when I was living in Germany, but it wasn’t until his father, Walter (then CEO of W&H), contacted me in 1988, that I had any inkling that we might work together. At that time, Peter had finished his engineering degree and MBA and was working at Digital Equipment. I started working at W&H in 1988, one year before Peter joined!
In 1990, Peter came here to W&H Corporation in the US. His father wanted him to learn and understand not only the US/Canadian market, but also the US style of doing business. Peter and his new wife, Kris, moved to Rhode Island for two years. Jim Feeney (President of W&H Corp.) gave him a title that denoted his importance, while not describing what his duties were… “Director of Special Projects”.
During that time, Peter’s affinity for the US grew as he developed close personal relationships with many of our customers. He, like many of us, fully subscribed to Jim Feeney’s credo, that at the end of the day, customers still want to deal with people that they like, trust and believe in. Do the right thing and you will always be successful! This was a business tenet that Peter NEVER forgot.
The Board of the W&H Group (l to r) Martin Schulteis (CFO), Dr. Sascha Witt (CSO), Peter Steinbeck, and Dr. Falco Paepenmueller (CEO).
When Walter Steinbeck retired in 1998, Dr. Juergen Vutz took over as CEO and Peter took over as CSO, putting him back in front of customers, a place that he loved and where he thrived. Traveling the world, preaching the gospel of W&H, his minions (me included), became the enthusiastic salespeople who were not merely selling machines, but selling the brand of W&H. Customers became fans, joint venture partners, all marching to the same beat…success! When Juergen Vutz retired in 2021, Peter was named CEO.
In all the years that that Peter was my boss, he never told me what to do, he always asked how he could help achieve our goals. That did not mean that he wasn’t critical, with his incredible memory, he forgot nothing about a customer, a project or a loss. It was all personal to him, and he took it personally. Peter and Juergen Vutz led W&H through a period of unparalleled growth. Our excellence in machine building, combined with a relentless and creative R&D department and a hungry and enthusiastic salesforce, led one customer to remark that we should change the company’s slogan Passion for Innovation, to Passion for Domination! I loved it!
From a personal standpoint, I value Peter as a friend even more than I did as a boss. Peter and Kris came to my wedding, and later, during some horrifically tragic moments in my life, he was there the next day … not jetting in to be the hero, but wanting to stand next to me as my friend. That meant more to me than anything else … still does. Peter had the enviable capability to recognize and analyze situations and nuances, regardless of language. There were very few “lost in translation” moments over the decades, which led to a great appreciation from our customers, who would often say “Peter gets what we are about”. Along with a true lack of Ego, this led to a CSO attitude that emphasized Teamwork and understanding the customers, NEVER bad traits.
After so many years in Leadership, Peter felt confident retiring with the knowledge that he had helped to assemble a fantastic team who espoused his beliefs in integrity, honor, persistence and creativity. I have the utmost confidence in new CEO (but longtime W&H director and CTO) Dr Falco Paepenmueller, CSO Dr. Sascha Witt and CFO Martin Schultheis. Big shoes to fill, but they are up to the task.
Enjoy your retirement Peter, you have left the company in capable hands!