Reinhard R. Blum, founding member and long-standing Managing Director of CCV Deutschland GmbH (now CCV GmbH), is to retire on 31 August 2021.
Reinhard Blum looks back on a 26-year career within the company and thus the payment industry. As a founding member of the original company EL-ME GmbH, started as a manufacturer of electronic measuring systems, the development of the business area of cashless card readers was initiated under Reinhard Blum and the basis for today’s leading market position as a payment solution provider was created.
After studying electrical engineering, Reinhard Blum started his career in product engineering at Texas Instruments and moved to Toshiba Europe as Manufacturing Manager in 1991. In 1995, Reinhard Blum succumbed to the enticement of the newly founded company EL-ME GmbH to complete the management team as New Business Development Manager. In this function, Reinhard Blum was responsible for the development of the first payment product – the so-called “Chip Mouse”. Only four years later, he took over the role of Executive Board Member for Sales & Marketing in the renamed EL-ME AG and was appointed Chairman of the Board in 2005.
In EL-ME AG, which was then sold to the Dutch CCV Group and finally renamed CCV Deutschland GmbH in 2009, Reinhard Blum took over the overall management as Chairman Managing Director/CEO until 2020. During this time, he shaped the company into a highly respected and successful payment provider in Germany, with a large number of international partners. The transformation of the company from a pure terminal manufacturer to an agile solution provider initiated under Reinhard Blum as well as the strategically important focus on server-based software laid the foundation for further growth.
Since 2020, Reinhard Blum has been concentrating on process optimisation for the finance, purchasing and processing & acquiring areas in the renamed CCV GmbH as Chief Operations Officer.
As of 31 August 2021, Reinhard Blum handed over his responsibilities to the two other long-standing managing directors of CCV GmbH, John Kolthof and Günther Froschermeier, and will continue to be involved in dedicated projects as an external consultant.
“Reinhard Blum is part of the DNA of this company. The culture and the innovative spirit that he helped shape will continue to propel us forward – we are grateful that he will continue to support CCV with his knowledge and expertise. On behalf of all CCV colleagues, I would like to thank Reinhard for his many years of dedication and the many successes he has achieved.,” – Enny van de Velden, Chair of the Board and CCO of CCV Group B.V.