Business News

Gruner + Jahr announces new Executive Board and appoints Executive Committee

Monday 15. April 2013 - The new Executive Board stands for product orientation, spirit and agility

Within the scope of today’s decision by G+J’s Supervisory Board, the newly formed Executive Board at Gruner + Jahr has announced the following reorganisation of the executive divisions.
Julia Jäkel, 41, previously a member of the Executive Board at G+J and Director of G+J Germany, has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer on the Executive Board. The Chief Executive Officer oversees the entire organisation in terms of strategy, business, content, and also represents Gruner + Jahr in external activities. Apart from her duties in overseeing the entire company, the divisions Digital, Marketing, Corporate Development, G+J International Europe, Personnel, Communication and Internal Auditing also report directly to Julia Jäkel. She is also in charge of G+J’s minority share in Spiegel Verlag Hamburg as well as the Henri Nannen Schule.
Oliver Radtke, 44, previously Managing Director of G+J’s majority share in Dresdner Druck und Verlagshaus (including Sächsische Zeitung), will join the G+J Executive Board as Chief Operating Officer. The Chief Operating Officer manages the transformation process and is in charge of efficiency and costs on the Board. He ensures excellence in workflows and organisation and oversees the operative management of various units and business segments. Radtke is responsible for the divisions Finances and Controlling, G+J International Asia (China, India), Sales, Legal Matters and M&A, the American subsidiary Brown Printing, the management of G+J’s majority shares in Motor Presse Stuttgart and Dresdner Druck und Verlagshaus as well as the divisions Corporate IT and Internal Services.
Stephan Schäfer, 38, previously Publishing Director of the G+J Publishing Group LIFE and Editor-in-Chief of BRIGITTE, has been appointed to the G+J Executive Board as Chief Product Officer. The Chief Product Officer is responsible for the entire portfolio of publications and products, as well as its development and production, with particular focus on the German portfolio of products as well as the international segments. The duties of the Chief Product Officer differ in many ways from those of an Executive Editor-in-Chief; also since Stephan Schäfer will be responsible for all of the company’s products, including non-journalistic products that will play an important role in establishing and expanding clearly defined communities of interest. The Publishing Director of the AGENDA Publishing Group, Thomas Lindner, as well as the Managing Director of Business Publications and Corporate Publishing, Soheil Dastyari, report directly to the CPO. Schäfer is in charge of the LIFE Publishing Group in his role as CPO. In addition, he assumes responsibility for subsidiary activities (Brand Products and Licensing). The publishing house’s Editors-in-Chief will continue to make decisions on the editorial content of the products in their capacities as editors as established by Gruner + Jahr. The editor’s guidelines for reporting remain unaffected. With his appointment to the Executive Board, Stephan Schäfer will cede his duties as Editor-in-Chief and Publisher; his successor will be named shortly.
The new Executive Board at G+J has also appointed an Executive Committee. The Executive Committee controls and manages the business activities and the transformation of G+J; it consists of three other Top Managers in addition to the Members of the Board.
Stan Sugarman, 44, continues his successful work as Chief Digital and Chief Sales Officer as a member of the Executive Committee under Julia Jäkel. As a member of the G+J Executive Committee, he will also focus more attention on the future digital transformation within G+J. In addition to his current duties, he will assume responsibility for the entire digital strategy at G+J, including the company’s international digital strategy.
Rolf Heinz, 46, CEO of Prisma Media France, additionally takes over as President G+J International Europe and is now in charge of the countries in the Adriatic region, the Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Poland and Spain. The operational management in each country remains unaffected. He reports directly to Julia Jäkel.
Udo Stalleicken, 45, previously Head of Finances, takes over the responsibilities as Chief Financial Officer and is in charge of the division Finances and Controlling. He reports directly to Oliver Radtke. The division Business Controlling Germany headed by Matthias Mahler as well as Business Controlling for the international markets will be grouped together in the Finances division under the auspices of the CFO.
Julia Jäkel, Chief Executive Officer of Gruner + Jahr AG gave the following comments on the decision: “The Supervisory Board has reached a major decision, and together with my new colleagues on the Board, I look forward to the challenges this position presents and am grateful for the trust they have shown. I am firmly convinced that the path towards the transformation of G+J presents us with a great opportunity. We will go down this path with the support of the Supervisory Board and our shareholders along with their willingness to make the necessary investments. On behalf of all employees at Gruner + Jahr, I would like to personally thank my previous colleagues on the Executive Board, Torsten-Jörn Klein and Achim Twardy. I enjoyed the outstanding, cooperative and professional collaboration with them and greatly benefited from their experience as Members of the Board. Now I would like to direct my attention to the future and have laid out a clear goal: we want to be the leading company for information in the digital world. We also want to be better, faster, more efficient and expand our business activities in digital media: better and faster in terms of our magazines, digital products, but also our decision-making; more efficient with regard to our organisation; and with expanded activities in digital media with a view towards the overall objectives of our company and the transformation into a digital world. We, the newly appointed Executive Board, the Executive Committee and company management, want to implement visible reforms to the company. We want to work together as a team to ensure a flexible and open collaboration takes place on the Executive Board; we will not focus on individual divisions alone. We want to stand for product orientation, team spirit, creativity, clarity, but also for a new form of collaboration – this will be our benchmark. I look forward to the close cooperation with Oliver Radtke, Stephan Schäfer, the Executive Committee and all of my colleagues at Gruner + Jahr here in Germany and abroad.”