Tom Enders

Tom Enders    ( businessman,  deep state actor)
Born	December 21, 1958  Neuschlade,  Germany
Nationality	German
Alma mater	•  University of Bonn •  University of California •  Los Angeles
Member of	American Council on Germany/Young Leaders/1989, Atlantik-Brücke, Bilderberg/Steering committee, German Council on Foreign Relations, International Institute for Strategic Studies/Advisory Council, Munich Security Conference/Advisory Council
Deep state actor and military-industrial complex executive.Chairman of the Atlantik-Brücke; Advisory Board of the Atlantic Council, the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Munich Security Conference...Attended every Bilderberg meeting between 2009 and 2018, and was a member of the Bilderberg Steering Committee. Proponent of spending a lot more money on weapons and German access to nuclear weapons.  Atlantik-Brücke/Chairman In office 2005 - 2009 Preceded by Arend Oetker Succeeded by Friedrich Merz  German Council on Foreign Relations/President In office 2019 - Present

Not to be confused with another Bilderberger Thomas O. Enders.

Dr. Thomas "Tom" Enders is a German deep state actor and military-industrial complex executive. He was Chairman of the Atlantik-Brücke; and Member of the International Advisory Board of the Atlantic Council, the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Munich Security Conference. He attended every Bilderberg meeting between 2009 and 2018, and was a member of the Bilderberg Steering Committee. He is a proponent of spending a lot more money on weapons and German access to nuclear weapons.

Background

Enders was born on December 21, 1958, in Neuschlade, Germany, the son of a shepherd,

Education

Enders studied economics, politics, and history at the University of Bonn and the University of California, Los Angeles. He completed his doctorate in political science at the age of 28 on a scholarship of Konrad Adenauer Foundation. He was selected a Young Leader by the American Council on Germany in 1989.

Career

Enders started out his career with early work experience as an assistant at the German Parliament. In 1988, he worked as a researcher at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in Bonn and at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London. Enders also was a Major in the German Army Reserve, and spent two years in the planning staff of the Federal Ministry of Defence from 1989 until 1991.

Enders joined the marketing department of DaimlerChrysler Aerospace in 1991 and held several jobs at DASA until he was promoted to head the defence and security systems business in the frame of the merger of EADS in 2000. In 2005, he was appointed co-CEO (first with co-CEO Noël Forgeard, then Louis Gallois), a job he relinquished in 2007 when the company modified its corporate governance, giving away with double-CEO and double-Chairman structures. As a result of the governance change, Enders was appointed CEO of Airbus SAS, the Group's largest Division. As CEO of the commercial aircraft division, he was responsible for the A320neo launch in 2010, a sales success that forced Boeing to launch the 737 MAX.

In May 2012, the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders approved Enders' nomination to become CEO of EADS. Shortly after his nomination, Enders embarked on a plan to merge with UK-based BAE Systems, which would have created the world's leading armaments company. However, the merger plan failed ultimately due to political intervention. He merged successfully the group with the commercial aircraft division and also took control of the CSeries. In late 2012, EADS and its shareholders – namely Daimler AG, Lagardère Group and the French state – agreed to revamp the company's corporate governance, thereby considerably reducing political influence in the Group. Although Germany, France and Spain are shareholders of the group, none hold any special blocking rights, meaning the company is governed solely by the Board of Directors and the Executive Management. After the failure of the merger with BAE Systems, Enders initiated a review of the company's strategy, which was completed in July 2013. Among others, the outcome resulted in the rebranding of the Group from EADS to Airbus Group in January 2014.

In early 2017, Enders announced his intention to renew his three-year mandate in 2019. On 15 December 2017, the Airbus board – under the leadership of chairman Denis Ranque – confirmed Enders would not stay beyond April 2019 amid corruption allegations in sales campaigns. By the end of his time at Airbus, Enders was widely credited with unifying a company previously divided along national lines, as well as simplifying its governance to reduce political influence.

In January 2021, Enders joined the advisory board of the aerospace start-up Lilium. As announced in June 2021, he will become Chairman of the Board following the planned business combination with Qell.

Corruption

During his time at Airbus, Enders grappled with scrutiny over the company's sales practices after it uncovered inaccuracies in its filings to U.S. regulators over arms technology sales. He also faced criticism in French media and inside parts of the aerospace group for overseeing sweeping compliance probes that led to dozens of senior departures without specific allegations.

In 2017, Enders became one of more than a dozen people being formally investigated by Austria's public prosecutor as part of a long-running probe into fraud over a €2 billion deal for 18 Eurofighter combat jets. In remarks aimed at Defense Minister Hans Peter Doskozil, he called the claims "cheap election rhetoric," and announced that "we will not let part of the Austrian government use us as a punching bag that it can beat to score cheap political points".

Later that year, French anti-corruption investigators questioned Enders and other company executives as witnesses in an investigation centered on the sale of Astrium satellites to Kazakhstan in 2010.

Role in politics

During his time in office, Enders clashed with the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel over industrial or military policy and resigned from the conservative CSU party over Germany's opposition to the 2011 military attack on Libya. He frequently accompanied Merkel on state visits abroad. In Germany, he was chairman of the German Aerospace Industries Association (BDLI) from 2005 to 2012 and in the presidium of the Federation of German Industries (BDI).

Under the premiership of David Cameron, Enders was appointed to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom's Business and Advisory Group in his capacity as chief executive of Airbus and later as chief executive of EADS. Between 2010 and 2011, he sat on the High-Level Group on Aviation and Aeronautics Research launched by European Commissioners Siim Kallas and Máire Geoghegan-Quinn. Since 2015, hewas a member of the European Commission's High-level Group of Personalities on Defence Research chaired by Elżbieta Bieńkowska.

German nuclear weapons

In 2015, Enders pleaded in the Süddeutsche Zeitung not only for an opening of the borders to millions of refugees, but also for an "opening of the labor market". He spoke in favor of a "deregulation" on the US model

In 2020, in an article in Neue Zürcher Zeitung he wrote that if Germans do not want to be considered a people of "small-minded people and cowards", a comprehensive armament package is needed: "we must adapt German defense spending to the needs of the Bundeswehr and increase it to 2 to 3 percent of gross domestic product over the next five years. An increase of the three branches to 200,000 to 250,000 active soldiers – focus on combat troops - and the introduction of a general duty or conscription for men and women must be on the agenda; also to build up a rapidly mobilizable reserve for national defense."

He also wanted German access to French nuclear weapons: "Because a responsible German foreign and security policy must discuss the nuclear options of Germany with realpolitik and soberly. No option should be considered taboo from the outset."

Other positions

• Economic Development Board (EDB), Member of the International Advisory Council
• KNDS, Chair of the Board of Directors (since 2025)
• Helsing, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2022)
• Lilium, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2021)
• Linde, Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board (since 2017)
• HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt, Member of the Advisory Board (since 2012)
• Lufthansa, Member of the Supervisory Board (2020–2025)
• Knorr-Bremse, Member of the Supervisory Board (2020–2022)
• Carl Zeiss Optronics, Chairman of the Supervisory Board (until 2012)
• AmCham Germany, Member of the Board of Directors
• AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe, Member of the Board
• Atlantik-Brücke, Member and former Chairman (2005-2009)
• Atlantic Council, Member of the International Advisory Board
• Berlin Bosphorus Initiative (BBI), Member of the Advisory Board
• Bilderberg Group, Member of the Steering Committee
• German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), Member of the Steering Committee
• Deutsches Museum, Member of the Board of Trustees
• International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), Member of the Advisory Council
• Max Planck Society, Member of the Senate (since 2014)
• Munich Security Conference, Member of the Advisory Council (since 2014)
• Federation of German Industries (BDI), Member of the Presidium (2009-2019)

Personal life

Enders was married to Friederike, an economist. The couple has four sons and lived on a farm in Gmund am Tegernsee. In 2025, Enders announced that he was divorced after 35 years of marriage and was in a new relationship.

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Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/2009	14 May 2009	17 May 2009	Greece Vouliagmeni	The 57th Bilderberg
Bilderberg/2010	3 June 2010	6 June 2010	Spain Hotel Dolce Sitges Barcelona	The 122 guests met in the Hotel Dolce Sitges, Barcelona, Spain.
Bilderberg/2011	9 June 2011	12 June 2011	Switzerland Hotel Suvretta St. Moritz	59th meeting, in Switzerland, 129 guests
Bilderberg/2012	31 May 2012	3 June 2012	US Virginia Chantilly	The 58th Bilderberg, in Chantilly, Virginia. Unusually just 4 years after an earlier Bilderberg meeting there.
Bilderberg/2013	6 June 2013	9 June 2013	Watford UK	The 2013 Bilderberg group meeting.
Bilderberg/2014	29 May 2014	1 June 2014	Denmark Copenhagen Marriott Hotel	The 62nd Bilderberg, with 136 guests, held in Copenhagen
Bilderberg/2015	11 June 2015	14 June 2015	Austria Telfs-Buchen	The 63rd meeting, 128 Bilderbergers met in Austria
Bilderberg/2016	9 June 2016	12 June 2016	Germany Dresden	The 2016 Bilderberg meeting took place in Dresden, Germany.
Bilderberg/2017	1 June 2017	4 June 2017	US Virginia Chantilly	The 65th Bilderberg Meeting
Bilderberg/2018	7 June 2018	10 June 2018	Italy Turin Hotel Torino Lingotto Congress	The 66th Bilderberg Meeting, in Turin, Italy, known for months in advance after an unprecedented leak by the Serbian government.
Munich Security Conference/2009	2009	2009	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 45th Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2010	5 February 2010	7 February 2010	Germany Munich Bavaria	An anti-war demonstration outside described it as "Nothing more than a media-effectively staged war propaganda event, which this year had the purpose of justifying the NATO troop increase in Afghanistan and glorifying the continuation of the war as a contribution to peace and stability."
Munich Security Conference/2011	4 February 2011	6 February 2011	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 47th Munich Security Conference, about 60% of guests have a page
Munich Security Conference/2012	3 February 2012	5 February 2012	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 48th Munich Security Conference, over half of the 325 guests have a page
Munich Security Conference/2013	1 February 2013	3 February 2013	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 49th Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2014	31 January 2014	2 February 2014	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 50th Munich Security Conference, around half of the attendants have pages.
Munich Security Conference/2015	6 February 2015	8 February 2015	Germany Munich Bavaria	"400 high-ranking decision-makers in international politics, including some 20 heads of state and government as well as more than 60 foreign and defence ministers, met in Munich to discuss current crises and conflicts."
Munich Security Conference/2016	12 February 2016	14 February 2016	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 52nd Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2017	17 February 2017	19 February 2017	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 53rd Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2018	12 February 2018	14 February 2018	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 54th Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2019	15 February 2019	17 February 2019	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 55th Munich Security Conference, which included "A Spreading Plague" aimed at "identifying gaps and making recommendations to improve the global system for responding to deliberate, high consequence biological events."
Munich Security Conference/2022	18 February 2022	20 February 2022	Germany Munich Bavaria	~1/2 of the 664 of the participants have pages here
Munich Security Conference/2023	17 February 2023	19 February 2023	Germany Munich Bavaria	Annual conference of mid-level functionaries from the military-industrial complex - politicians, propagandists and lobbyists, about 30% of whom have a page. The policies are determined by deep politicians behind the scenes, elsewhere.
Munich Security Conference/2025	14 February 2025	16 February 2025	Germany Munich Bavaria	Annual conference of mid-level functionaries from the military-industrial complex - politicians, propagandists and lobbyists - in their own bubble, far from the concerns of their subjects
Munich Security Conference/2026	13 February 2026	15 February 2026	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 2026 Munich Security Conference had as theme "Under destruction". The solution is - as always - more spending on weapons
WEF/Annual Meeting/2012	25 January 2012	29 January 2012	Switzerland WEF	2113 guests in Davos (2113 known)
WEF/Annual Meeting/2013	23 January 2013	27 January 2013	Switzerland WEF	2588 mostly unelected leaders met to discuss "leading through adversity"

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References

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