Michael Rauch, the second non-family CEO, is leaving the software company Compugroup Medical after a short time at the top of management. Starting next month, Daniel Gotthardt, son of the founder and long-time company boss Frank Gotthardt, will be running the company. Compugroup announced that the board of directors appointed the son CEO with effect from September 1st.

Patriarch Frank Gotthardt gave up the CEO position at the end of 2020 at the age of 70. Still, he remained the central authority at the company, which specialises in information systems for doctors, pharmacies and hospitals. It operates as a partnership limited by shares (KGaA), and he remains as chairman of the board of directors and significant shareholder.

Dirk Wössner came as his successor from Deutsche Telekom, where he had managed the German business. After a year and a half, it was over for Wössner. The separation was justified by „different views regarding the long-term strategy“. Rauch was on board longer. He joined Compugroup as CFO in August 2019 and also became a spokesman for the managing directors after Wössner's departure. He was promoted to CEO in May 2023. He handed over the CFO function to Daniela Hommel in February 2024. Rauch's contract actually ran until July 2027.

Rauch, born in 1972, is leaving Compugroup Medical „by mutual agreement“ to pursue new professional challenges, according to the official statement. The people from Koblenz do not provide any information about the background of the abrupt separation. Still, for outsiders, there is a connection with the sales and profit warning from July 9th. The forecast revision was not entirely unexpected, but it was surprisingly severe. The price then fell to a ten-year low.

The ad hoc announcement cost shareholders 32% of the stock market value in just one day. Since then, the share price has been languishing at a low level. Rauch had previously had to withdraw its medium-term targets, which envisaged an adjusted margin before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of around 27% of sales in 2025. This step came at a time when analysts thought that achieving the goal was already quite unlikely.

Rauch worked for the consumer goods and adhesives manufacturer Henkel for a long time and was CFO of the perfumery chain Douglas before moving to Compugroup. Chairman of the Board of Directors Frank Gotthardt commented that Rauch has been „highly loyal“ to the service of the company and its shareholders, describing the collaboration as excellent.

Daniel Gotthardt, born in 1973, has been associated with Compugroup for a long time as a shareholder and on the supervisory and administrative board. Since the beginning of 2023, the medical professor, who holds 6.66% of the share capital, has worked as Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President. Gotthardt received his doctorate from the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, and Imperial College in London, and worked for 13 years at Heidelberg University Hospital, most recently as managing senior physician.

He has also founded companies. He set up the Gotthardt Healthgroup (GHG) in Heidelberg, was managing director of Mediteo GmbH (drug app) and was the only board member of GHG and XLHealth. In November 2022, Compugroup announced the acquisition of two GHG business units, expanding its portfolio of data-based solutions for the healthcare sector.