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.
Elmar Heggen has served on the RTL Group Executive Management Team
since January 2006, and been CFO and Head of the Corporate Centre of
RTL Group since 1 October 2006.
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), Martin Taylor 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 was until recently 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.
Pernille Erenbjerg, born in 1967, was appointed as an Independent
Non-Executive Director to RTL Group’s Board of Directors on 28 April
2021.
Pernille Erenbjerg graduated from the Copenhagen Business School
with a Master of Science in Economics. She started her career at
Arthur Andersen as Auditor and Consultant and later joined Deloitte
as Equity Partner.
From 2003 to 2018, Pernille Erenbjerg held several positions at
Denmark’s largest telecommunications company, TDC Group, most
recently as Group CEO and President, and before that as Group CFO
and Deputy CEO.
As well as being a Non-Executive Director for RTL Group, she is
Chairman of the Board of Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT), Deputy
Chair of the Board and Chair of the Remuneration Committee at
Millicom, and Deputy Chair of the Board, Chair of the Audit and
Finance Committee, and member of the Nomination and Corporate
Governance Committee at Genmab.
Pernille Erenbjerg was previously Non-Executive Director at Nordea,
DFDS, and the Royal Danish Theatre.
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, studied business administration in
Vallendar, Los Angeles, and Nancy, and 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.
Rolf Hellermann was appointed CFO and member of the Board at
Bertelsmann Management SE on 1 January 2021.
He previously served as a non-executive member of RTL Group's Board
of Directors from August 2015 to December 2018.
Immanuel Hermreck, born in 1969, has been Chief Human Resources
Officer and member of the Executive Board at Bertelsmann Management
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.
Immanuel 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.
He 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 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 Boards of both Neue
Zürcher Zeitung and 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 limited number of other
companies.
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 in-house lawyer for an international IT
company, with a particular focus on global mergers and acquisitions.
Bettina Wulf graduated from the University of Bielefeld, Germany,
with a degree in law in 1988. In 2014 she was honoured by the
International Law Office with the European Counsel Award for her
prominent role in highly complex merger and acquisition transactions
requiring level-headed negotiation skills.
Lauren Zalaznick, born in 1963, begun her career making independent
feature films. Zalaznick moved on to become a TV executive, most
recently Executive Vice President, Comcast NBC Universal, where she
was responsible for overseeing brands such 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.
