The
Board

Thomas Rabe, born in 1965, holds a diploma and a doctorate in economics from the University of Cologne, Germany. He started his career in 1989 at the European Commission in Brussels. From 1990 to 1996 he held various senior positions at Forrester Norall & Sutton (now White & Case) in Brussels, the state privatisation agency Treuhandanstalt, and a venture capital fund in Berlin. In 1996, he joined Cedel International (now Clearstream), where he was appointed CFO and member of the Management Board in 1998.

In 2000, Thomas Rabe became CFO and member of the Executive Committee of RTL Group. In March 2003, he was also appointed Head of the Corporate Centre. With effect from 1 January 2006, Thomas Rabe was appointed to the Executive Board of Bertelsmann AG as the Group’s CFO. From 2006 to 2008, he was also responsible for Bertelsmann AG’s music business.

Since 1 January 2012, Thomas Rabe has been CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Bertelsmann.

In May 2019, Thomas Rabe was appointed member of the Supervisory Board of Adidas AG and has served as Chairman since 11 August 2020.

On 1 April 2019, Thomas Rabe was appointed CEO of RTL Group.

Elmar Heggen, born in 1968, holds a diploma in business administration from the European Business School Oestrich-Winkel, and graduated with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in finance.

In 1992, he started his career at the Felix Schoeller Group, becoming Vice President and General Manager of Felix Schoeller Digital Imaging in the UK in 1999. Elmar Heggen first joined the RTL Group Corporate Centre in 2000 as Vice President Mergers and Acquisitions. In January 2003, he was promoted to Senior Vice President Controlling and Investments. From July 2003 until December 2005 he was Executive Vice President Strategy and Controlling.

Since January 2006, Elmar Heggen has served on the RTL Group Executive Management Team, and since 1 October 2006 he has been CFO and Head of the Corporate Centre of RTL Group.

In January 2018, Elmar Heggen was appointed Deputy CEO of RTL Group, in addition to his role as CFO.

Since August 2019, Elmar Heggen has been Chief Operating Officer and Deputy CEO of RTL Group.

Martin Taylor, born in 1952, began his career as a financial journalist with Reuters and the Financial Times. He then joined Courtaulds PLC, becoming a director in 1987, then Chief Executive of Courtaulds Textiles PLC on its demerger in 1990. He moved to Barclays PLC in 1993 as Chief Executive, a post he held until the end of 1998. From 1999 to 2003, he was Chairman of WHSmith PLC, and from 1999 to 2005, International Advisor to Goldman Sachs. From 2005 until 2013, he was Chairman of the Board of Syngenta AG.

From 2013 until March 2020, Martin Taylor served as an external member of the Financial Policy Committee of the Bank of England.

He has worked on various projects for the British Government and served for five years as a member of its Council for Science and Technology. Appointed as Independent Non-Executive Director in July 2000 (when RTL Group was created), he took over the responsibilities of Vice-Chairman of the Board in December 2004.

On 1 April 2019, Martin Taylor was appointed Chairman of the RTL Group Board of Directors.

James Singh, born in 1946, holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Windsor, Canada. He is a CPA (Canada) and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (UK).

James Singh joined Nestlé Canada as Financial Analyst in 1977 and served the company in various executive positions until 2000 when he was appointed Senior Vice President, Acquisitions and Business Development in Nestlé SA’s headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland. He was a member of the Executive Board, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Nestlé SA from 2008 to 2012. He retired on 31 March 2012 after a distinguished 35-year career with Nestlé.

James Singh previously served as Chairman of the Finance Committee of the European Round Table, is a member of the International Integrated Financial Reporting Standards, and is a trustee of the Foundation.

He is also a Director of Great West Life Assurance, Director of the American Skin Association, and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of CSM Bakery Solutions Ltd.

On 1 April 2019, James Singh was appointed Vice Chairman of the RTL Group Board of Directors.

Thomas Götz, born in 1971, graduated from the University of Bayreuth with a doctorate in law in 1999. A year earlier, during his studies, he joined Bertelsmann’s Corporate Legal department as an in-house lawyer.

From 2009 to 2013, he was Co-Head of Mergers and Acquisitions at Bertelsmann. Prior to this he worked for two years as Senior Vice President Mergers and Acquisitions.

Thomas Götz has been General Counsel at Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA since January 2014.

Rolf Hellermann, born in 1976, has been a member of RTL Group’s Board of Directors since 1 January 2021.

After studying business administration in Vallendar, Los Angeles, and Nancy, Rolf Hellermann received his doctorate from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in Vallendar. He started working at the Bertelsmann Corporate Centre directly afterwards, in 2004. In 2012, Rolf Hellermann became head of Bertelsmann’s Corporate Controlling and Strategy department. From 2015 until 2018 he was CFO of Arvato, the services division of Bertelsmann. He served as CEO of Arvato Financial Solutions from November 2018 until December 2020 and has been a member of Bertelsmann’s Group Management Committee since January 2019. He also heads the Bertelsmann Tech and Data Advisory Board, which advises the Executive Board on technology issues and advances Bertelsmann’s evolution into a globally leading media, services, and education company in tech.

With effect from 1 January 2021, Rolf Hellermann has taken up the position as CFO and member of the Board at Bertelsmann SE.

From August 2015 to December 2018, Rolf Hellermann had already served as a non-executive member of RTL Group’s Board of Directors.

Immanuel Hermreck, born in 1969, has been Chief Human Resources Officer and member of the Executive Board at Bertelsmann SE since 2015. His responsibilities include the worldwide leadership of Bertelsmann’s HR function, with particular attention to executive development, organisational learning and education, compensation, HR strategy, services, corporate responsibility and corporate culture.

Hermreck was appointed Global Head of HR for Bertelsmann in 2006. Before this, he was Director of the Media Economics Department at the Bertelsmann Foundation, and became Managing Director of Bertelsmann University – the company’s global knowledge and learning institution – in 2000.

Immanuel Hermreck volunteers as a member or trustee of several non-profit organisations, including as a founding Executive Committee member of the German Association of HR Managers.

Immanuel Hermreck holds a PhD in communication and economics, and is both a Stanford University graduate and a former scholar of the prestigious Konrad-Adenauer Foundation.

Bernd Hirsch, born in 1970, holds a diploma in economics from the University of Würzburg, Germany. He started his career in 1998 at the international audit firm Arthur Andersen where he served as an Audit Manager. In 2001, he joined the Carl Zeiss Group as Head of Mergers & Acquisitions. One year later, Bernd Hirsch was appointed Chief Financial Officer and member of the Executive Board at Carl Zeiss Meditec AG.

From December 2009 until December 2015 Bernd Hirsch was Chief Financial Officer and member of the Executive Board of Symrise AG. Bernd Hirsch served as CFO and member of the Executive Board of Bertelsmann Management SE from April 2016 until December 2020.

Bernd Hirsch was a member of the Supervisory Board of Evotec AG, Hamburg, from December 2013 until June 2019 where he served as Chairman of the Audit Committee and Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board.

In May 2018, he was appointed member of the Supervisory Board of Symrise AG, Holzminden, and Chairman of the Audit Committee.

Bernd Kundrun, born in 1957, studied business administration at the universities of Münster and Innsbruck. In 1984, he started his career as Executive Assistant at the Bertelsmann Club. In 1993, he was appointed Chairman of the Management Board of the Bertelsmann Club.

In 1994, Bernd Kundrun became Managing Director of Premiere Medien in Hamburg. He was appointed a member of the Executive Board of Gruner + Jahr in August 1997 and was responsible for the company’s newspaper division until 31 October 2000.

From November 2000 to January 2009, Bernd Kundrun was Chairman of Gruner + Jahr’s Executive Board and the company’s CEO. During this time, he was also a member of the Executive Board of Bertelsmann. Since February 2009, Bernd Kundrun has been partner of the online donation platform Betterplace.org, and since 2015 he has been Honorary Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Gut.org.

At the end of 2009, Bernd Kundrun founded the Start 2 Ventures Beteiligungsgesellschaft, which provides online start-ups with initial capital. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Neue Zürcher Zeitung, of the Board of Caseking, and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of CTS Eventim AG & Co. KGaA.

Guillaume de Posch, born in 1958, started his career at the international energy and services company Tractebel (1985 to 1990) and then joined the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company (1990 to 1993).

Guillaume de Posch began working in the media industry at the Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT) as assistant to the Managing Director (1993 to 1994) before becoming Head of CLT’s TV operations in French-speaking countries (1995 to 1997). From 1997 to 2003, he was Deputy General Manager and Programming Director of the French pay-TV company TPS, before joining the publicly listed ProSiebenSat1 Media AG in August 2003, first as Chief Operating Officer and then as Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO (2004 to 2008).

Guillaume de Posch was appointed Chief Operating Officer and member of the RTL Group Executive Committee on 1 January 2012.

With effect from 18 April 2012, Guillaume de Posch assumed the role of Co-CEO of RTL Group. In January 2018, Guillaume de Posch stepped down as Co-CEO of RTL Group. Since then, he has served as a non-executive member of RTL Group’s Board of Directors.

Guillaume de Posch has served as President of the ACT (Association of Commercial Television) in Europe since 2017.

Jean-Louis Schiltz, born in 1964, holds a post-graduate degree (DEA) in business law from the University of Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne. He also taught at his alma mater in the early 1990s.

From 2004 to 2009, Jean-Louis Schiltz was a cabinet minister in Luxembourg. His portfolios included media, telecommunications, technology (IT and internet in particular), international development and defence.

Jean-Louis Schiltz is a tech law advisor, a senior partner at Schiltz & Schiltz (avocats) and a professor (hon.) at the University of Luxembourg. His work focuses on technology, regulatory, M&A and finance. He is a regular speaker at tech law conferences and has authored and co-authored a number of articles and reports in this field.

Jean-Louis Schiltz serves on the boards of a number of companies and non-profit organisations.

Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, born in 1948 in Martinsreuth, Germany, is an examined lawyer and studied political science and psychology. He has been an independent business founder and investor since April 2011. Prior to that he was CEO of Sony Music Entertainment (Sony BMG Music Entertainment until October 2008) from February 2006 to March 2011, having served the company as Chairman of the Board from August 2004.

From January 2001 to August 2004, Rolf Schmidt-Holtz was Chairman and CEO of Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) and a member of the Bertelsmann AG Executive Board (from 2000) heading the BMG division, which consisted of the Sony BMG Music Entertainment joint venture and BMG Music Publishing. He also served on the Bertelsmann Executive Board as Chief Creative Officer. Furthermore, he was a member of the Supervisory Boards of Gruner + Jahr, RTL Group and of the Bertelsmann Foundation’s Board of Trustees.

Prior to running BMG, Rolf Schmidt-Holtz served as Chief Executive Officer of CLT-UFA. He later oversaw the merger of CLT-UFA with Pearson Television to form RTL Group. He is Co-Founder and Chairman of Just Software AG and Co-Founder and Partner of Hanse Ventures BSJ GmbH.

Bettina Wulf, born in 1962, has been a member of the Corporate Legal Department at Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA since July 1993. Prior to this she worked as an inhouse lawyer for an international information technology company. Her experience covers in particular global M&A transactions.

Bettina Wulf graduated from the University of Bielefeld, Germany, with a Degree in law in 1988. In 2014 she was honored by the International Law Office with the European Counsel Award for her prominent role in highly complex merger and acquisition transactions requiring levelheaded negotiation skills.

On 30 June 2020, the AGM appointed Bettina Wulf as non-executive director for a term of one year, to expire at the end of the Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders ruling on the 2020 accounts.

Lauren Zalaznick, born in 1963, was appointed as Non-Executive Director to RTL Group’s Board of Directors for a term of three years in April 2018.

Having begun her career making independent feature films, Zalaznick moved on to become a TV executive, most recently EVP, Comcast NBC Universal, overseeing such brands as Bravo, Oxygen, Telemundo, and Fandango. She now advises and invests in the world’s leading digital and media brands.

Zalaznick has devoted her career in media to transforming the cultural landscape, and has been responsible for the growth of some of the strongest TV and digital brands in media. She is widely recognised as an industry shape-shifter and innovator, and has received many honours for her achievements.

Aside from many Emmy, BDA, Webby and Peabody Award nominations and wins, Zalaznick has been named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world, has delivered a TED talk with close to a million views, and has been the subject of a New York Times Magazine cover story.

Lauren Zalaznick is currently a director of The Nielsen Holdings PLC and GoPro Inc, which are both listed companies. She is also a Trustee Emerita of Brown University, from which she graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.