Martin Herrenknecht (born in 1942) is company founder and name giver, driving force and Chairman of the Board of Management of Herrenknecht AG. After completing his degree, the graduate engineer (FH) began his career as a design engineer in Switzerland. This was followed by several positions, some lasting several years, as project and design engineering manager in Canada and Germany. From 1971 to 1975, Martin Herrenknecht worked again in Switzerland as director of the mechanical engineering service at the Seelisberg Tunnel with "Big John", the world's largest tunnel boring machine at the time.
In 1975 he founded the Martin Herrenknecht Engineering Service Company, then in 1977 the limited company Herrenknecht GmbH, whose Managing Director he remained until it became a stock joint company. Martin Herrenknecht is responsible for Group Strategy, Business Development, Group Marketing & Communications, Internal Audit and Mergers and Acquisitions. On an interim basis he assumes responsibility for the Business Unit Traffic Tunnelling and the Business Area Group Brands. Martin Herrenknecht has received numerous prestigious awards and honors, including an honorary doctorate (Dr.-Ing. E.h.) from the Carolo-Wilhelmina Technical University of Braunschweig (Brunswick), the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, entry into the Handelsblatt Hall of Fame of German Entrepreneurship, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA) as well as the Werner von Siemens Ring for his outstanding lifetime achievement as an inventor and entrepreneur.
Martin Herrenknecht is married and has three children.
