Dr. Jochen Köckler is Chairman of the Managing Board of Deutsche Messe AG based in Hannover, Germany. He was appointed to the Board on 1 April 2012 and took over the chairmanship on 1 July 2017.

In addition to Deutsche Messe's overall corporate responsibility, Köckler's CEO portfolio consists of these topics: The business units HANNOVER MESSE & Partner Fairs, Trade & Consumer Fairs and Operations, and the four staff departments Corporate Program- & Project Management, Corporate Communications, Protocol & Public Affairs as well as HR & Organization.

The HANNOVER MESSE & Partner Fairs Division consists of four departments HANNOVER MESSE – Automation & Drive Technology, HANNOVER MESSE – Digitalization & Energy, HANNOVER MESSE – Innovation, Production & Investment, Partner Fairs.

The Trade & Consumer Fair division consists of three departments: LIGNA / INTERSCHUTZ / parts2clean / Surface Technology, DOMOTEX / didacta, Consumer Fairs.

The Operations division comprises four departments: Facility Management I and II, Venue Booking & Special Events, and Technical Event Management.

Before Köckler was appointed to the Board of Management of Deutsche Messe in 2012, he was Deputy CEO of the German Agricultural Society (DLG) in Frankfurt am Main since 2008. Under his leadership, AGRITECHNICA in Hannover developed into the world's largest agricultural technology trade fair. Köckler started his professional career in 1999, holding the positions of Managing Director of the European Pig Producer and Project Manager of EuroTier. He then took over as Managing Director of DLG's Exhibitions Department, where he was responsible for the worldwide organization of trade fairs. In addition to the biennial exhibitions AGRITECHNICA and EuroTier in Hanover, Köckler was also responsible for the national DLG exhibitions in Poland, Russia, China as well as in the USA.

Köckler holds the following external board memberships and honorary posts: Member of the UFI Board of Directors, Chairman of the Managing Board of GDG – Gemeinschaft Deutscher Großmessen e. V. (Association of Major German Exhibition Organizers), Member of the Board of Directors at AUMA – Ausstellungs- und Messe-Ausschuss der Deutschen Wirtschaft e. V. (Association of the German Trade Fair Industry), Chairman of FKM – Gesellschaft zur Freiwilligen Kontrolle von Messe- und Ausstellungszahlen Member of the Board of the Institute of North German Business (Institut der Norddeutschen Wirtschaft, UVN); Member of the Board of the German Chamber of Commerce in Austria (DHK); Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Hannover Marketing & Tourismus GmbH (HMTG), Advisory Board member of Hannover Airport, Member of the Advisory Board of Industrie-Club Hannover e.V. and Member of the Lower Saxony Board of Trustees of the Stifterverbandes für die Deutsche Wissenschaft e.V. Furthermore, Jochen Köckler is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Maedchenchor Hannover (Hannover Girls’ Choir) and Curator of the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation, IFF.

Jochen Köckler studied agricultural economics at the University of Bonn and graduated with a PhD.