EY Entrepreneur of the Year and Audience Award: Double Honors for Reinhard Schneider and Werner & Mertz.
Reinhard Schneider, Managing Partner of Werner & Mertz, received the renowned business award EY Entrepreneur of the Year Germany in the Sustainability category and Werner & Mertz won the Audience Award on 6 November in Munich.
Presented under the motto “Shape the Future with Confidence,” the award honors owner-managed, visionary companies that forge new ways and actively shape the future. An independent jury of experts conferred the award in the categories Family Company, Innovation, Sustainability and Young Companies. Werner & Mertz impressed the jury in all four key criteria:
- Entrepreneurship – corporate thinking and action
- Purpose – corporate purpose and vision
- Growth – growth and future potential
- Impact – positive impact and corporate social responsibility
Recognition and confirmation
Twenty companies competed in the competition’s finale for 2025. In addition to the jury’s decision, readers of manager magazine and online voters chose Werner & Mertz as the winner of the Audience Award.
“For our employees and for me, this is an impressive confirmation that we are headed in the right direction. The Audience Award in particular shows the broad, positive feedback of the general public,“ said Schneider.
Courage, stance and vision
Award presenter Christina Diem-Puello, President of the Verband der Unternehmerinnen in Germany, said: The absolutely unswerving stance and passion for his own vision—believing in sustainability along the entire value chain in the face of resistance and against the tide—that was truly convincing.“ She asked what others could learn from Reinhard Schneider and provided an answer: “That everything begins with courage and attitude.” This courage must be sustained for the future of our land as Mittelstand, industry and entrepreneurs—with faith in the coming generations.
