Jürgen Maier

Jürgen Maier came to Leeds from Germany in 1974 and later studied production engineering through a Siemens-sponsored programme. He joined the company as a graduate engineer and stayed for 33 years.

By 2014, he was CEO of Siemens UK.

But even before leaving the company, Maier’s attention was moving beyond the boundaries of one business. In 2017, he led the government-commissioned Made Smarter Review, asking what it would take for British manufacturing to make much greater use of digital technology. Its recommendations put industry-government collaboration at the centre of the answer.

When Maier left Siemens in 2019, that wider question became the work.

He went on to chair Digital Catapult, co-founded responsible-business platform vocL and continued making the case for an industrial strategy that connects technology, investment, skills and long-term public value.

Then, in July 2024, he was appointed Chair of Great British Energy.

The publicly owned company is being built from its headquarters in Aberdeen to invest in and develop clean energy, strengthen UK supply chains and ensure more of the economic value created by the energy transition stays in Britain. The Great British Energy Act received Royal Assent in May 2025, creating the UK’s first publicly owned national energy company able to develop, own and operate energy assets since the privatisation of the electricity industry in the early 1990s.

Maier spent three decades helping one industrial company grow and adapt.

His second act is about something bigger: helping Britain build the industrial system in which the next generation of companies can do the same.Jürgen Maier served as the former Chief Executive of Siemens UK. Over his 33 year career with Siemens, he held several senior roles in the UK and Germany. During Jürgen’s leadership, the company played a pivotal role in UK’s decarbonisation of the electricity system.
Jürgen takes a strong leadership role for UK’s industrial, infrastructure and manufacturing community. He served on the Board of the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills from 2014 to 2016 and his work has supported several previous government Industrial Strategy initiatives.
Jürgen believes that businesses should play an active role in society and community matters. To further this mission, he co-founded the social enterprise vocL.
In July 2024, Jürgen was appointed as Start Up Chair of Great British Energy to drive forward this new, operationally independent company