Dr Torben Hansen becomes new CEO at bonprix

With effect from 1 April 2024, Dr Torben Hansen will become the new Chairman of the Management Board of bonprix Handelsgesellschaft mbH. He succeeds Dr Richard Gottwald, who will retire on 31 May 2024. In addition to Dr Torben Hansen (CEO and Sales), the future management of the Otto Group's focus company will consist of Carolin Klar (Product and Sourcing), Dr Kai Heck (Finance and Logistics) and Matthias Wlaka (IT/Technology).

The current Managing Director of E-Commerce, Sales Germany, Brand and Advertising, Markus Fuchshofen, is leaving bonprix after almost thirty years with the company. He is leaving by mutual agreement with effect from 31 January 2024.

With Dr Torben Hansen, the Otto Group has gained an outstanding expert in fashion and e-commerce for the important role of Chairman of the Management Board at bonprix. The graduate in business informatics comes from Bringmeister. As Chief Executive Officer (CEO), he initiated a dynamic transformation at the food delivery service. As managing director of Bringmeister GmbH, Bringmeister Fulfillment GmbH and Bringmeister Logistik GmbH, he initiated a change to make the brand independent of its previous owner, Edeka. Dr Torben Hansen succeeded in achieving double-digit sales growth for the online supermarket and significantly reducing variable costs.

Hansen gained his extensive expertise in the fashion segment between 2014 and 2022 at Zalando, where he most recently served as Vice President Recommerce. In this role, he developed Zalando's recommerce activities from the ground up, established a new business model in the European second-hand fashion market and played a key role in driving the internationalisation of the offering in twelve countries.

After studying at Chemnitz University of Technology and obtaining a doctorate with distinction from Saarland University, Dr Torben Hansen's previous professional positions included Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) in Saarbrücken and the management and strategy consultancy McKinsey & Company. Dr Marcus Ackermann, Group Executive Board Member for Multichannel Distance Selling and Chairman of the Advisory Board at bonprix: "I am delighted that the Otto Group has been able to recruit Dr Torben Hansen as the new Chairman of the Management Board at bonprix. His professional career is impressive and characterised by outstanding achievements, entrepreneurial drive and strategic skill in various industries, not least in the fashion segment. Torben Hansen therefore brings exactly the skills and expertise needed to lead bonprix into a sustainably successful future."

As Chairman of the Management Board, Dr Torben Hansen succeeds Dr Richard Gottwald, who has held this position since 2019 and has been a member of the Management Board since 2016. During this time, Richard Gottwald has had a significant impact on the company and has consistently focused bonprix on the challenges of the future.

The doctor of business administration began his career with the Otto Group in April 1989 as a junior controller and was promoted to head of controlling in purchasing management in 1991. In 1993, he moved to the Otto Group's internal management consultancy as Head of Consulting Projects and was appointed Senior Executive shortly afterwards. In February 1998, he joined bonprix as Sales Manager Rainbow. In 1999, Richard Gottwald returned to the Otto Group and took over as Head of Internal Management Consultancy before being appointed Director of Internal Management Consultancy around a year later. In 2004, Richard Gottwald moved to OTTO as Director of Sales and held this position until he joined the management board of bonprix. From 2013 to 2016, he was also the representative of the senior staff on the Otto Group's supervisory board.

Dr Marcus Ackermann: "On behalf of the shareholders and the entire Group Executive Board, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr Richard Gottwald for his enormous contribution to the Otto Group. Richard Gottwald has made an invaluable contribution to the Group at many different levels and in numerous management positions. He deserves the highest recognition for this. I will also miss his wonderful sense of humour. I wish Richard all the best for the future, especially good health, of course."

Markus Fuchshofen is another highly valued colleague who is leaving the management board of bonprix, where he has been a member since 2016. Markus Fuchshofen has held various positions at the company since 1994 and, during this time, has played a decisive role in driving forward the digital transformation of the fashion brand internationally.

Dr Marcus Ackermann: ‘Markus Fuchshofen has rendered outstanding services to the company during his many years at bonprix. His extensive retail expertise, leadership skills and innovative strength have contributed to bonprix becoming one of the top players in the e-commerce fashion segment today. I would like to express my sincere thanks to him for this and wish him all the best for the future.’

About the Otto Group

Founded in Germany in 1949, the Otto Group is now a global retail and services group with around 41,000 employees in 30 major corporate groups, primarily in the three economic regions of Germany, the rest of Europe and the USA. Its business activities cover the segments of platforms, brand concepts, retailers, services and financial services.

In the 2022/23 financial year (28 February 2023), the Otto Group generated sales of €16.2 billion. With online sales of around €12 billion, it is one of the world's largest online retailers. The group's particular strength lies in its ability to offer a wide range of products and services to diverse target groups in relevant regions around the world. A large number of strategic partnerships and joint ventures offer the Otto Group excellent conditions for knowledge transfer and the exploitation of synergy potential. At the same time, a high degree of corporate responsibility and willingness to collaborate among the group companies guarantees flexibility and customer proximity as well as optimal targeting of customer groups in the respective countries.