Johannes Teyssen

Johannes Teyssen
Teyssen in 2022
Johannes Teyssen
Born	9 10, 1959
Birthplace	Hildesheim, West Germany
Nationality	German
Occupation	Business executive
Known for	CEO of E.ON (2010–2021)
Spouse(s)	Married
Children	4

Johannes Teyssen (born 9 October 1959) is a German business executive, economist, and lawyer who served as the chief executive officer of E.ON, one of Europe's largest electric utility companies, from 2010 to 2021. During his tenure at the helm of the Düsseldorf-based energy conglomerate, Teyssen oversaw one of the most consequential corporate restructurings in German industrial history — the separation of E.ON into two publicly traded companies — as the firm repositioned itself away from conventional power generation toward renewable energy, energy networks, and customer solutions. Since departing E.ON, Teyssen has taken on a portfolio of prominent board and advisory roles across multiple industries and countries, including serving as a non-executive director of BP plc, chairman of the Swiss energy group Alpiq Holding, and senior advisor to the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR). In September 2025, Deutsche Lufthansa AG announced that Teyssen had been designated as the next chairman of its supervisory board, succeeding Karl-Ludwig Kley.

Early Life

Johannes Teyssen was born on 9 October 1959 in Hildesheim, a city in Lower Saxony, West Germany. Details regarding his parents, siblings, and upbringing are not extensively documented in public sources. He grew up in the post-war Federal Republic of Germany during a period of sustained economic growth and increasing European integration — developments that would later inform his career in energy policy and corporate governance on a continental scale.

Teyssen pursued higher education at the University of Göttingen, one of Germany's oldest and most prominent research universities, where he studied both economics and law. He earned doctoral credentials, and is customarily referred to with the title "Dr." in German business and media contexts. His dual academic background in law and economics provided a foundation for a career that would straddle regulatory affairs, corporate strategy, and large-scale industrial management within the German energy sector.

Education

Teyssen attended the University of Göttingen, where he completed studies in economics and law. He holds a doctorate, though the precise subject and year of his doctoral dissertation are not detailed in the available sources. The combination of legal and economic training proved characteristic of his generation of German corporate leaders, many of whom navigated the complex regulatory environment governing energy markets in Europe during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

Career

Early Career and Rise at E.ON

Prior to becoming CEO, Teyssen spent a significant portion of his professional career within the E.ON group and its predecessor companies. E.ON itself was formed in 2000 through the merger of two major German industrial conglomerates, VEBA and VIAG, creating one of the world's largest investor-owned energy service providers. Teyssen rose through the ranks of the organization, taking on increasingly senior operational and strategic roles.

He served as a member of the E.ON board of management before his appointment as chief executive officer. During this period, the European energy industry was undergoing substantial transformation driven by market liberalization, the expansion of renewable energy, and growing political pressure to reduce carbon emissions. Teyssen's legal and economic expertise positioned him to navigate these regulatory changes as they reshaped the competitive landscape for traditional utility companies across the continent.

CEO of E.ON (2010–2021)

Teyssen assumed the role of chief executive officer of E.ON in 2010, succeeding Wulf Bernotat. His appointment came at a time of considerable uncertainty for the German energy industry. The German government's Energiewende — its ambitious policy of transitioning away from nuclear power and fossil fuels toward renewable energy sources — posed existential strategic questions for the country's large utility companies, which had built their business models around centralized, large-scale power generation from nuclear and coal-fired plants.

In 2017, Teyssen's contract as CEO was extended, ensuring his leadership of the company through 2021.

The E.ON–Uniper Split

The defining strategic decision of Teyssen's tenure was the separation of E.ON into two independent publicly listed companies. Announced in late 2014 and executed in 2016, the restructuring involved spinning off E.ON's conventional power generation, global energy trading, and upstream oil and gas exploration businesses into a new entity called Uniper. The remaining E.ON would focus on renewable energy, energy networks (distribution grids), and customer solutions — areas that Teyssen and the board identified as offering stronger long-term growth prospects in a decarbonizing economy.

The split was one of the most far-reaching corporate restructurings in German industrial history. In a 2016 interview with the Financial Times, Teyssen described the process in characteristically frank terms, reflecting on the difficulty of dividing a large organization and the personal toll it took on employees and management alike. The Financial Times characterized the mood surrounding the separation as "rueful," noting that it represented a fundamental acknowledgment that the traditional utility business model was no longer viable in its previous form.

The decision was met with mixed reactions from analysts and investors. Proponents argued that the split would allow each company to pursue a focused strategy without the conflicting demands of legacy fossil fuel assets and growing renewable energy portfolios. Critics questioned whether the separation adequately addressed E.ON's substantial liabilities, including provisions for nuclear decommissioning. Subsequent events demonstrated the significance of the split: Uniper later became a focal point of the European energy crisis triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, ultimately requiring a bailout and nationalization by the German government — developments that occurred after Teyssen's departure from E.ON.

Strategic Reorientation and the innogy Acquisition

Following the Uniper separation, Teyssen pursued further strategic reshaping of E.ON. A major milestone was the complex asset swap and acquisition involving innogy, the renewables and networks subsidiary that had been spun off from rival German utility RWE. Under an agreement reached in 2018, E.ON acquired innogy, while transferring its own renewable energy generation assets to RWE. The transaction, valued in the tens of billions of euros, fundamentally redrew the map of the German energy industry. E.ON emerged as a focused energy networks and customer solutions company — Europe's largest operator of energy distribution networks — while RWE became a leading renewable energy producer.

This strategic pivot under Teyssen's leadership transformed E.ON from a diversified energy conglomerate into a more narrowly focused infrastructure and services company, a shift that reflected broader trends in the European utility sector toward asset-light, customer-facing business models.

Nuclear Decommissioning and Regulatory Affairs

Throughout Teyssen's tenure, E.ON was centrally involved in negotiations with the German government over the financing of nuclear power plant decommissioning and radioactive waste disposal. Germany's decision to phase out nuclear energy following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011 imposed significant financial obligations on the country's utility companies. Teyssen participated in negotiations that ultimately led to a settlement in which the major utilities contributed to a public fund for managing nuclear waste, while the state assumed long-term liability for interim and final storage.

European Industry Leadership

Beyond his role at E.ON, Teyssen served as president of Eurelectric, the Brussels-based association representing the European electricity industry. In this capacity, he represented the interests of the European power sector in policy discussions at the EU level, including debates over emissions trading, market design, and the integration of renewable energy into the grid.

Honorary Consulate of Norway

Teyssen served as Honorary Consul of Norway in Essen, a role reflecting E.ON's extensive business ties with the Nordic energy sector. The Norwegian Honorary Consulate in Essen ceased operations in 2020.

Post-E.ON Career

BP plc

In January 2021, Teyssen joined the board of BP plc as a non-executive director. His appointment was seen as bringing deep expertise in European energy markets, the energy transition, and utility-scale infrastructure to the British oil and gas major as it pursued its own strategic pivot toward lower-carbon energy. According to BP's corporate disclosures, Teyssen serves on several board committees and brings his experience in navigating regulatory and political environments across Europe.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR)

Since October 2021, Teyssen has served as a senior advisor to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), the American private equity and investment firm, focusing on the firm's European infrastructure and impact investment interests. KKR has been an active investor in European energy infrastructure, and Teyssen's experience in the sector has been cited as an asset for the firm's advisory capabilities in this area.

Alpiq Holding

In 2022, Teyssen was elected chairman of the board of directors of Alpiq Holding, a Swiss energy company with significant hydropower and energy trading operations. The role placed Teyssen at the head of a company operating in one of Europe's most distinctive energy markets, where hydropower plays a dominant role and cross-border energy trading is central to the business.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG

In September 2025, Deutsche Lufthansa AG announced that it would propose Teyssen as the next chairman of its supervisory board at the airline's upcoming annual general meeting, succeeding the incumbent chairman Karl-Ludwig Kley. The Lufthansa Group described Teyssen as the "designated successor" to Kley and stated that his nomination would be put before shareholders for election.

The appointment was reported by multiple news outlets. Bloomberg News noted that Kley had overseen "Europe's largest" airline group during a turbulent period and that the selection of Teyssen represented a move to bring fresh leadership to the supervisory board. Aviation Week reported that Lufthansa's board of directors had nominated the "energy exec" for the role. Yahoo Finance described Teyssen as the "long-time CEO of German electric utility" E.ON. Swiss outlet blue News noted his concurrent role as Alpiq chairman.

Other Board Positions

According to publicly available corporate disclosures, Teyssen has also been associated with other board-level positions in the German and European corporate landscape. His name has appeared in connection with the supervisory structures of additional companies, though the specifics of these roles vary over time as appointments change.

Personal Life

Johannes Teyssen is married and has four children. He has maintained a relatively private personal life compared to some of his peers in the German business community. During his years as CEO of E.ON, he was based in the Düsseldorf and Essen area of North Rhine-Westphalia, where E.ON's corporate headquarters were located.

Teyssen has been involved in cultural sponsorship activities in the Düsseldorf region, consistent with the broader tradition of corporate engagement in the arts among major German companies.

Legacy

Johannes Teyssen's legacy is most closely associated with the fundamental restructuring of E.ON and, by extension, the German energy industry during the 2010s. The decision to split E.ON and spin off its conventional power generation business into Uniper represented a strategic bet that the future of the European energy sector lay in networks, customer solutions, and renewables rather than in centralized fossil fuel and nuclear generation. The subsequent acquisition of innogy and asset swap with RWE further consolidated this transformation, reshaping the competitive dynamics of the entire German utility market.

The long-term consequences of these decisions have continued to unfold after Teyssen's departure. The nationalization of Uniper by the German government in 2022, during the energy crisis precipitated by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, underscored the risks inherent in the conventional generation business that E.ON had shed under Teyssen's leadership — although the separation itself had been conceived years before anyone anticipated such a crisis.

Teyssen's post-E.ON career, spanning energy, infrastructure investment, and aviation, reflects his standing as a figure of significance in European corporate governance. His appointment as designated chairman of the Lufthansa supervisory board in 2025 extended his influence beyond the energy sector into one of Europe's most prominent airline groups.

His presidency of Eurelectric and his role as Norwegian Honorary Consul in Essen point to a career with a notable international and European dimension, consistent with the cross-border character of the energy industry in which he spent the majority of his professional life.