Gerhard Winklhofer celebrates his 90th birthday!

Gerhard Winklhofer, the former Managing Director and owner of precision chain manufacturer iwis and current Honorary Chairman of the Advisory Board, will celebrate his 90th birthday in Munich on May 29, 2024.

He was born in 1934 as the grandson of iwis founder Johann Baptist Winklhofer. After graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering from the Technical University of Munich in 1960, he joined the family business in 1963. In 1965 he was appointed Managing Director and in 1975 took over the overall management of the company in the third generation. Under his leadership, iwis expanded rapidly, opening a second plant in Strakonice, Czech Republic, in 1993 and a third plant in Landsberg am Lech in 2000.
After retiring from management in 2000, Gerhard Winklhofer took over as Chairman of the Advisory Board of Joh. Winklhofer Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG (today: iwis SE & Co. KG), of which he has been Honorary Chairman since 2006. In 2004, he founded the non-profit educational organization GWB Gerhard Winklhofer Bildungswerk e.V.

During his career, Gerhard Winklhofer has held numerous honorary positions, mandates and tasks far beyond iwis. For his extraordinary achievements, he was awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Bavarian Order of Merit. In 2011, he was inducted into the Handelsblatt's “Hall of Fame of Family Entrepreneurs”.
Gerhard Winklhofer expresses his gratitude to the previous generations who have lived the values that are still of great importance at iwis today. Above all, however, he thanks the people at iwis who have made an extraordinary commitment to the company.

He wishes the people at iwis worldwide, our customers and business partners and all our stakeholders continued success.