Werner Wagner was named 2016 Family Business Owner of the Year yesterday at Leibniz University of Hanover.
Werner Wagner is the 2016 Family Business Owner of the Year. The Association of Family Entrepreneurs and The Association of Young Entrepreneurs presented the Managing Director of fire protection specialist firm WAGNER Group GmbH with the award, in recognition of his exceptional entrepreneurial achievements. Werner Wagner accepted the award yesterday evening in front of some 400 guests, in the atrium of the Leibniz University of Hanover.
“With his experience and his scientific curiosity in innovative fire protection, Werner Wagner provides vital safety and security to companies all over the world,” noted Kay Uplegger, Hanover regional chairman of The Association of Family Entrepreneurs, in his honorific speech.
Laudator Prof. Dr. med. habil. Thomas Küpper of RWTH Aachen University echoed this praise as well: “Werner Wagner does lobbying work and helps create standards and guidelines with ambitious, at times even fierce dedication. His persistence in striving for perfection has made numerous innovations possible that are now indispensable to the fire protection market. He is highly respected among colleagues, customers, and partners alike for his straightforwardness, reliability and honesty.”
Since 1976, WAGNER has stood for innovative fire protection solutions. Werner Wagner, a trained engineer, founded the company in Winsen an der Aller; four years later, the company moved to Langenhagen. WAGNER has been doing pioneering work from the very beginning. A major contract for an outdoor monitoring system was soon followed by another special order: a customer who had previously suffered fire damage wanted to avoid repeating the experience, and hired WAGNER to construct an early fire detection system to monitor servers in a data centre. Soon, the developer unveiled the first air sampling smoke detectors for very early fire detection. The introduction of nitrogen as an extinguishing material, and as an active fire prevention technology, marked additional milestones on the company’s path to becoming one of the world’s leading providers of comprehensive fire protection. Today, around 500 people work for WAGNER at 20 locations worldwide. Since 1996, Werner Wagner has been managing the company together with his son, Torsten Wagner. “Our number-one goal is to protect our customers from the consequences of fire,” the Senior Managing Director explains. “We have an obligation to our customers, and we are always scrutinising our solutions, services, and processes, so that we can provide even more safety. So we are especially pleased about the award, and about the recognition of our philosophy that it represents.”
Each year, The Association of Family Entrepreneurs and The Association of Young Entrepreneurs recognise an owner-operated family business within the Hanover economic region for its exceptional entrepreneurship, employee-oriented corporate governance, and commitment to society. The ceremony is held under the auspices of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Economics, and is sponsored by Leibniz University.
