Peter Baumann, marketing director for lubricants company LIQUI MOLY, will retire on Jan. 1, 2025, after 39 years with the company and numerous milestones.
His successor is Marco Esser, who was previously deputy marketing director.
Hired as a management assistant in 1986, Baumann took on the development of the marketing department for the medium-sized Swabian company, which today sells its products in close to 150 countries. He was greatly encouraged by then-managing director Ernst Prost and became marketing director in 1993.
With an enormous presence as a sponsor and supporter of global elite sport—including Formula 1 with Sauber Motorsport in 1993, in the Bundesliga for the first time in 2000 with the TSV 1860 Munich, and for more than 10 years in MotoGP—Baumann was a leading man for LIQUI MOLY behind the scenes, the company noted in a press release announcing his retirement.
“Being active in Formula 1 for seven years now was another decisive step in our development to become a global ‘Love Brand,’” Baumann said. “We are very close to our sales vision of 1 billion euros in annual sales. I think such stories have helped a lot. That makes me very proud.”
With the free time he said he plans to “take care of my family and myself.”
Meanwhile, Esser is looking forward to his new responsibilities.
“Following Mr. Baumann in this role is a great honor on the one hand, and a huge challenge on the other. We have had a very good, long and intensive period of coordination, for which I am very grateful. And I’m especially grateful for the trust of Mr. Baumann and the staff. I will do everything I can to adequately succeed him. At the same time, however, I now take my hat off to his term of office and wish him all the very best for his retirement. There will always be a place for him with us in the LIQUI MOLY family worldwide, which of course he knows.”
