Peter Spuhler was born in Weiningen, Switzerland, Switzerland. Peter Spuhler, CEO of Stadler Rail, built a fortune buying up railcar makers across eastern Europe. Spuhler got his start in 1987 at a locomotive-parts manufacturer called Stadler. His wife's grandfather had started it five decades earlier, and in 1989, he bought Stadler from her grandmother for $6 million. It then employed 18 people and had $5 million in revenue. He embarked on a two-decade-long acquisition journey, buying up parts of crumbling rivals. Today, Stadler has 5,000 employees and does about $2 billion in sales. When building railcars, Stadler has favored bespoke work (while competitors stuck with a one-size-fits-all approach), and over the years, it has built cars to climb to Germany's highest peak and designed ones to withstand brutal Helsinki winters. Spuhler, a former Swiss Army officer, served for 13 years in parliament where he advocated a pro-business agenda; he favored increased immigration to Switzerland and opposed the country's minaret ban, fearing Muslim boycotts. Stadler sold 20% of his business in 2005 to a private equity shop, but later repurchased nearly all the stake.
Peter Spuhler is a member of Manufacturing
