Bad Homburg, November 2009 –On 13 November, Hans-Michael Heitmüller will celebrate his 65th birthday. The CEO of Bad Homburg-based Deutsche Leasing AG began his career as a banking apprentice at the county savings bank in Bernkastel-Trier on April 1rst 1960. He made his way through the ranks up to Regional Director of Cologne county savings bank before being appointed Chief Executive Officer of Miltenberg-Obernburg savings bank in 1980. In 1989, the Master of Bank Administration Heitmüller was appointed to the executive board of the German Savings Bank Association (Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giro¬verband) headquartered in Bonn. Hans-Michael Heitmüller has been at the helm of Deutsche Leasing since October 1999. Under his watch, the company has solidified its position as Germany’s premier provider of manufacturer-independent leasing solutions and Sparkassen Finanz¬gruppe’s national Centre of Leasing Excellence. Mr. Heitmüller also consistently pursued Deutsche Leasing’s expansion abroad to the point where the European Federation of Leasing Company Associations (Leaseurope) now ranks the Bad Homburg group as the fifth-largest leasing provider in Europe.