Organisation and History

Hans Britzger was born in December 1964 in Waal and has been a family shareholder of Hirschvogel Holding GmbH since July 1997.

After completing his academic and technical education, he joined the Hirschvogel company in 1987. Driven by curiosity, enthusiasm, courage, and a strong sense of initiative, he consistently embraced new challenges. Following his work as a design engineer, he introduced SAP R/3 as an SAP specialist in the field of product development. He then assumed independent responsibility for supporting several OEMs, focusing on the forging design of components and the corresponding production concepts. In 2009, he took over leadership of the “Hot Forging” product development department.

Hans Britzger currently holds a senior position in global technology development at Hirschvogel Holding GmbH. He is married and lives with his wife and daughters in Denklingen.

Since February 2021, Hans Britzger has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Frank Hirschvogel Foundation, succeeding Christian Hirschvogel, who stepped down as a shareholder of Hirschvogel Holding GmbH at the end of 2020.

Michael Gee was born in 1971 in Hamburg and grew up in the Stuttgart area.

After completing his Abitur in Esslingen am Neckar, he studied civil engineering at the University of Stuttgart, graduating in 1999 with a degree in engineering.

From 1999 to 2004, he earned his doctorate (Dr.-Ing.) at the Institute of Structural Mechanics at the University of Stuttgart, focusing on efficient solution strategies in nonlinear shell mechanics. From 2004 to 2006, he spent time abroad at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, USA, where he worked primarily on parallel algorithms and algebraic multigrid methods for solving very large numerical problems.

In 2006, Michael Gee joined the Chair of Numerical Mechanics at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) as a postdoctoral researcher and group leader. In 2011, he was appointed to the professorship for Mechanics on High-Performance Computers. From 2016 to 2019, he served as Dean of Studies at the Munich School of Engineering, where he co-founded the Master's program in Materials Science & Engineering.

In his research, Professor Gee and his group focus on numerical methods and models for solving coupled multi-field problems, highly scalable solvers for massively parallel supercomputers, and various applied topics in biomechanics – including personalized computer models of the cardiovascular system. He is the author of more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles spanning the fields of medical engineering and numerical mathematics.

At TUM, Michael Gee teaches courses such as “Engineering Mechanics,” “Parallel Computing,” and “Nonlinear Continuum Mechanics,” as well as other subjects in various Bachelor's and Master's programs in engineering. From 2013 to 2018, he received the Best Teaching Award of the Munich School of Engineering five times.

Sonja Rayher is the managing director of the family-owned company Rayher Paletten GmbH. Since February 2024, she has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Frank Hirschvogel Foundation.

Gerhard Ziegler worked for over forty years as a public auditor and tax advisor, including as Managing Partner of the nationally active auditing and tax consultancy firm Bansbach GmbH. Since February 2024, he has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Frank Hirschvogel Foundation.

In addition, Gerhard Ziegler is actively involved in voluntary work, including supporting equestrian sports in Baden-Württemberg, and serves as Honorary Consul of the Kingdom of Denmark.