June 1, 2017 Schwanau / Frankfurt am Main, Germany. With its "Hall of Fame" the German business publication manager magazin honors personalities who have rendered outstanding services to the German economy. In the presence of a high-profile audience of around 130 guests from political, academic and business circles, manager magazin opened its "Hall of Fame" on May 30th to admit the new laureates. The founder and Chairman of the Board of Management of Herrenknecht AG, Dr.-Ing. E.h. Martin Herrenknecht, joined the list of award winners in Frankfurt. The other laureates inducted into the "Hall of Fame" were Heinz Hermann Thiele (Honorary Chairman of the Supervisory Board and owner of Knorr-Bremse AG) and Herbert Hainer (former CEO of Adidas AG).

The speech honoring the entrepreneur from Baden-Württemberg was delivered by former German Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. Not only did he praise the exemplary achievements of the multi-award winning engineer Martin Herrenknecht for the German economy. He also emphasized the tireless dedication of the founder on behalf of the family-run business Herrenknecht and its employees: "Martin Herrenknecht has achieved something of truly historical dimensions – from scratch, with nothing but hard work, an idea and little capital, he has created a global company. With the spirit of a full-blooded entrepreneur he has led his company forward with foresight for forty years, against all obstacles and with an unwavering will. For me, he is one of the really great entrepreneurs of our country and makes a major contribution to our country's high reputation in the world. Companies like Herrenknecht AG are figureheads for the German economy."

Dr.-Ing. E.h. Martin Herrenknecht was delighted to receive the award and paid tribute to previous recipients: "The 'Hall of Fame' is already well populated with imposing personalities. I am honored to join their ranks. As the founder and head of a family-run company I feel very much at home here – every fourth person in the 'Hall of Fame' falls into this category. Leadership with format and substance is something we urgently need for the future. In this respect we should always be setting an example for the younger generation."

Since 1992 the manager magazin "Hall of Fame" has honored entrepreneurs, managers, politicians and trade unionists who have exerted a decisive influence on the economic, social and civic development of Germany. More than 60 outstanding figures from the German business world have already received the award, including entrepreneurial personalities such as Hubert Burda, Jürgen Heraeus, Klaus-Michael Kühne, Rudolf Miele and Reinhold Würth.

40 years ago family business entrepreneur Dr.-Ing. E.h. Martin Herrenknecht founded a small company in Baden-Württemberg for the production of mechanized tunnelling technology. Since the first day, Herrenknecht AG has been loyal to Germany as a major business location. With around 5,000 employees worldwide, from its headquarters in Schwanau the company operates internationally at the highest level. As the global market leader in its market niche it has been involved in major tunnelling projects for decades. Herrenknecht machines dug their way through the Alps for the new Gotthard Base Tunnel, crossed beneath the Bosphorus in Istanbul, create supersize tunnels in Hong Kong and built a new underground metro system in Doha in record time.