The RAPA group of companies is still managed by the Pausch family today. The dual management system of Rausch & Pausch SE (holding company) consists of a Management Board and a Supervisory Board. The Management Board is jointly responsible for managing the company. The Supervisory Board monitors, advises and appoints the Management Board.
Dr. Roman Pausch
Chairman of the Executive Board | RAPA SE
Managing Partner | RAPA Automotive
Dr. Roman Pausch has been managing the company in a dual role since 2010, as CEO of the holding company and Managing Partner of the RAPA Automotive division since 2020. He represents the fourth generation of the Pausch family at the helm of the company. Dr. Roman Pausch holds a doctorate in physics and studied financial mathematics at Oxford. He also completed postgraduate studies in economics in Vancouver and Sydney.
Dr. Jochen Endrejat
Member of the Board RAPA SE
Member of the Executive Management RAPA Automotive
Managing Director RAPA Healthcare & Industry
Dr. Jochen Endrejat has been part of the RAPA Group for more than ten years and has an in-depth understanding of both the company’s business and its people.
Dr. Jochen Endrejat holds a doctorate in physics and brings extensive leadership experience, complemented by an Executive MBA from the University of St. Gallen. With his experience, a clear structural mindset, and a hands-on approach, he drives innovation in a focused and effective manner.
Dr. Endrejat is married and has two children.
Oliver Henkelmann-Mattheus
Managing Director RAPA Automotive
Oliver Henkelmann-Mattheus is a child of the Ruhr area and was born in Bottrop. After studying mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen University, he also successfully completed a technical business administration degree (IHK) in the so-called Karlstadt. With over twenty years of experience from various positions in the automotive supply industry, including at Schaeffler and AVL, he has been responsible for the international expansion of RAPA Automotive in the USA and China as Head of Sales since 2017. Henkelmann-Mattheus is married and has one daughter.
Oliver Henkelmann-Mattheus has been part of the management team at RAPA Automotive Germany since July 1, 2024.
Carmen Jordan
Managing Director RAPA Automotive USA
Born and raised in Auburn, Alabama, Carmen Jordan has been leading RAPA’s U.S. location since August 2021. After earning her Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University, she gained valuable experience in both the steel and automotive industries.
Since joining RAPA in 2016, she has played a key role in the company’s success as Head of Quality and Supply Chain. In May 2025, she expanded her expertise by earning an Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) from Auburn University, further strengthening her leadership and strategic capabilities.
Carmen is married and has three children.
Prof. Dr. Zinan Wang
Managing Director RAPA Automotive China
Zinan Wang, a native of Shenyang, took over the management of the China site with effect from September 1, 2020. After completing a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering with a focus on automotive engineering and a master's degree in mechanical engineering with a focus on production technology and globalization at the Institute of Technology in Karlsruhe, he joined RAPA in 2016, initially as a quality engineer, strategic buyer and supplier manager. In 2019, he took over as Head of Business Development China.
Supervisory Board
RAPA's Supervisory Board is made up of members of the Pausch family, experienced managers from the private sector, industry experts and companions of the company who support the management team with their expertise. With currently nine members, it monitors and advises the RAPA Management Board. The Supervisory Board is chaired by Horst Pausch.
Horst Pausch
Chairman of the Supervisory Board
On November 1, 1969, Horst Pausch joined the family business after completing his studies in electrical engineering as a Dipl. Ing. and Dipl. Wirtsch. Ing. at the TH (now TU) Munich, Horst Pausch joined the family business. At this time, his father Albert Pausch managed RAPA as general partner in the second generation. In 1970 he was appointed limited partner and in 1977 general partner of the KG. Since the change of name to GmbH in 1986, Horst Pausch was its sole managing director until 2010. Today, he chairs the company's supervisory board.
Ferry Pausch
Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board
Ferry Pausch studied business administration and economics in Bamberg and Venice. He then completed a Master's program in International Relations at Columbia University in New York. He also began his professional career in the USA at the Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank for foreign policy. In Germany, he has since worked for several business associations, including the Federation of German Industries (BDI), the Association of German Magazine Publishers and the Association of the Migrant Economy.
From 2008, he co-founded the Deutschlandstiftung Integration to support young people with a history of immigration under the patronage of the Federal Chancellor, which he headed as Managing Director until 2017. Pausch then headed a Chinese-German center to deepen economic, cultural and academic relations between the Chinese metropolis of Changde and the state capital of Lower Saxony, Hanover. He is an honorary board member of the Association of the Migrant Economy, a member of the board of trustees of the Education Foundation and a member of the German Council on Foreign Relations. Ferry Pausch was included in Capital magazine's list of 40 executives under 40 in 2013 and 2014 and in Uhlala's list of Germany's Top 100 Out Executives in 2018.
Eva Pausch
Member of the Supervisory Board
Eva Pausch, née Schicker, studied biology with German, art and religion for the teaching profession and passed her first state examination at the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg in 1998. She married Roman Pausch in the same year. After her second state examination in 2000, she spent time abroad in Australia. She lived with her husband and daughter in Vancouver and Sydney for two years. The family returned to Germany in 2004. She has been working as a teacher at the elementary school in Schönwald since 2008. The marriage produced three children. In 2022, she was appointed to the Supervisory Board as another family member.
Prof. Dr. Clemens Schmitz-Justen
Member of the Supervisory Board
Prof. Dr. Clemens Schmitz-Justen is a global automotive veteran. He worked for the Bavarian automotive group BMW for almost 20 years with functions in Germany, the UK and South Africa, and managed the plant in Spartanburg, USA, until 2007. He then founded a management consultancy, where he supported RAPA with its relocation to Alabama, and served as honorary German consul for the state of South Carolina. Before returning to Bavaria, he was responsible for car construction at the Californian electric car start-up canoo. Prof. Dr. Schmitz-Justen studied mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen University, where he was managing senior engineer at the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology. He was an honorary professor at Chemnitz University of Technology and Clemson University. He was a committee member of the US National Academy of Science and is a member of several other German and American supervisory boards in addition to RAPA.
He is married, has two grown-up sons, four pets and never enough old cars in the garage.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Meuche
Member of the Supervisory Board
He has been Professor of Finance at Hof University of Applied Sciences since 1999. He is responsible for the management of various degree courses, such as the part-time Bachelor's degree course in Digital Economy, Digital Administration and the part-time Master's degree course in Digital Transformation, as well as the part-time qualification courses "Beruf-Plus-Studium" at Hof University of Applied Sciences and the university's Competence Center for Digital Administration. Prof. Dr. Meuche is not only active in Upper Franconia, he is also Director of Studies at the Nuremberg and Eastern Bavaria Academy of Administration and Business. Meuche sits on the advisory and supervisory boards of various family businesses, including Joh. Winklhofer Beteiligungs GmbH & Co.
Dr.-Ing. Peter Klaus Kirner
Member of the Supervisory Board
After graduating from high school in Cologne and studying mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen University with a doctorate at the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology, Peter Kirner joined the then Thyssen Industrie AG in 1995 as assistant to the management. Over the course of his 27 years with the Group, he took on international management tasks in various areas of the Group. He initially managed the turbine components business in Europe and the thyssenkrupp/Siemens joint venture Advanced Turbine Components in the US. This was followed by the crankshaft manufacturer thyssenkrupp Gerlach. In 2012, he took over the management of the Access Solutions/Airport Systems business unit at thyssenkrupp Elevator AG. From 2014 to 2021, he was CEO of the landing gear manufacturer BILSTEIN. Since 2022, Peter Kirner has been working as an independent executive consultant specializing in market-oriented corporate management, strategic planning and transformation. In addition to his supervisory board activities at RAPA S.E., he holds further mandates in other international companies. Peter Kirner is married and has two children.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Meuche
Member of the Supervisory Board
Prof. Dr. Reinhard Meckl holds the Chair of International Management at the Faculty of Law and Economics at the University of Bayreuth. He studied economics at the University of Regensburg, then worked as a research assistant at the Chair of Human Resource Management and Strategy, and received his doctorate in 1993 on cross-border corporate cooperation. He then worked for several years in the central corporate planning department of Siemens AG in Munich.
After completing his habilitation in business administration in 1998, he was appointed to a chair in International Management at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena in 2000. In 2004, he moved to the University of Bayreuth. His research focuses on internationalization strategy, digitalization, artificial intelligence, and mergers and acquisitions. His regional research focus is the People's Republic of China.
Prof. Meckl is head of the M&A working group at the Schmalenbach Society for Business Administration and director of the Bavarian University Centre for China. He is also a visiting professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology. Alongside his work on the RAPA supervisory board, he sits on the advisory and supervisory boards of other international companies.