Annual Report 2020
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.
