GERMANY. Leading travel retailer and distributor Gebr. Heinemann has revealed a new leadership structure from 1 July, with Raoul Spanger named as Co-CEO with Max Heinemann. An expanded Executive Board also comes into effect from this date.
The moves, said the company, will enable it to “better respond to the challenges and changes in the industry and thus simultaneously drive the implementation of the new mission statement”.
Max Heinemann, who represents the fifth generation of family ownership on the Executive Board, will focus on the strategic development of the Heinemann Group as well as the travel retail business model, with a view to partnerships beyond the industry. Raoul Spanger (until now Chief Operating Officer) will assume responsibility for the global core business. The Asian subsidiary Heinemann Asia Pacific will continue to report directly to Spanger.
“Our company has a long tradition and track record of the Co-CEO structure. This was the case with my father and my uncle and also with their fathers,” said Max Heinemann. “At the same time, we are thus continuing the harmonious interaction of the owner family with external managers – if, in the case of Raoul Spanger, one can even speak of an external manager after more than 30 years in the company.”
From 1 July, Florian Seidel will join the Executive Board in the newly created position of Chief Sales Officer. He joined Gebr. Heinemann in 1997 and was recently responsible for the Nordics, Central and Western Europe regions as well as the cruise and ferries channel as Vice President Sales.
Spanger said: “We are convinced of our business model and believe in travel retail. We want to further expand the mainstay of our global core business with our usual strengths in retail and distribution. With the new function of Chief Sales Officer, we will be even more focused on our customers and the different markets in the future. I am pleased that with Florian we have such an experienced colleague and long-time Heinemann in our team.”
At the beginning of this year, the Hamburg-based family business had already announced that Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Stephan Ernst will be leaving Gebr. Heinemann after more than 20 years. Dr Kai Deneke, who until then had been responsible for group controlling, takes over as CFO on 1 July.
Chief Commercial Officer Dr Dirk Schneider will continue to be responsible for Purchasing, Global Supply Chain, Marketing and Commercial Effectiveness.
Max Heinemann concluded: “This Executive Board line-up makes a great team. We have worked very closely together during the crisis of the last two years and I am more than excited that together we will lead Gebr. Heinemann into a successful future.
“In this constellation we want to open up new business potential and new customer segments – with the traveller at the centre of everything we do. We will continue to play a formative and sometimes provocative role in the industry, because one of our four guiding principles is ‘We create change’ and that is exactly what we will do.”
