BMW
After the end of World War I in 1918, BMW was forced to cease aircraft engine production by the terms of the Versailles Armistice Treaty. To remain in business, BMW produced farm equipment, household items and railway brakes. In 1922, former major shareholder Camillo Castiglioni purchased the rights to the name BMW, which led to the company descended from Rapp Motorenwerke being renamed Süddeutsche Bremse AG (known today as Knorr-Bremse). Castiglioni was also an investor in another aircraft company, called "Bayerische Flugzeugwerke", which he renamed BMW.The disused factory of Bayerische Flugzeugwerke was re-opened to produce engines for buses, trucks, farm equipment and pumps, under the brand name BMW. BMW's corporate history considers the founding date of Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (7 March 1916) to be the birth of the company.
Oliver Zipse
Zipse spent his entire professional life at BMW AG. He joined the company in 1991 as a trainee in development, technical planning and production. From 1992 to 1994, he worked as a project engineer in technology development. From 1994 to 2006, he held various leadership positions in development, production and production planning in Munich and South Africa. From 2007 to 2008 he was the plant manager at the Mini-plant Oxford. From 2009 to 2012, he was head of technical planning before becoming head of group planning and production strategy from 2012 to May 2015. On May 13, 2015, he was appointed to the board of management of BMW AG, succeeding the current chairman Harald Krüger.