Management

Bernd Reichart, born in Scheidegg in the Allgäu region of southern Germany in 1974, was appointed CEO of Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland in January 2019.

After graduating from university, he started his career in sports rights advertising sales at UFA Sports in Hamburg in 2001. In 2003, he became Marketing Manager for Sportfive, a sports rights agency, in Madrid. A year later he changed career and became Head of Investor Relations at Antena 3 (now ATRES Media) in Spain – an RTL Group affiliate. From 2007 to 2013 he was Managing Director Multichannel at the Spanish broadcaster, responsible for five free-to-air TV channels. In February 2013, he returned to Germany as Managing Director of VOX and was appointed a member of the Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland Management Board.

Matthias Dang, born 1967 in Mainz, was appointed Chief Commercial, Technology & Data Officer of Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland in February 2019.

Furthermore, he has been Managing Director of the sales houses IP Deutschland and Ad Alliance since 2012 and 2017 respectively.

He studied economics in Mainz from 1989 to 1993. While studying he worked in the central editorial department of 3sat. In 1993, the business graduate joined IP Deutschland and performed various marketing functions until 1998, when he was appointed Sales Director. In 2003, he moved back to marketing as Director of Operations. From 2004 to 2009 he was Director of Sales Operations, and in October 2009 was also made Deputy Managing Director.

Alexander Glatz, born in 1970 in Neustadt (Weinstrasse), was appointed Chief Financial Officer responsible for Legal & Finance of Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland in February 2019.

Glatz has been with Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland since September 2015. As Chief Financial Officer (CFO) he was initially responsible for the Corporate Planning/Controlling department, covering finance and accounting, financial reporting, payroll accounting and purchasing as well as the Business & Legal Affairs department. In his role as CFO responsible for Legal & Finance he is now additionally responsible for Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland mergers & acquisitions.

After completing his Law studies at the University of Constance, Glatz began his career as a sales project manager at Deere & Company in England. After obtaining a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) at the Rotterdam School of Management and now a fully qualified attorney, he moved to RTL Group in 2000, where he held various posts in the Business Development and Controlling department. In 2004, he was appointed Vice President Controlling. In 2010, he became Executive Vice President, Strategy & Controlling, a position he held until his appointment at Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland.

Julia Reuter, born 1972 in Frankfurt/Main, will be Chief People and Culture Officer at Mediengruppe RTL (Q2/2019).

She joins from RTL II, where she has held several positions over the past 19 years. As CFO and COO of the channel she was responsible for strategic corporate development, finance, controlling, HR and organisation as well as the IT department. She was integral in steadily developing RTL II into a successful, modern company with flexible structures and a positive corporate culture.

Reuter began at RTL II in the Controlling department in 2000, becoming head of the department in 2005. In 2011, she also took on the role of Deputy Chief Financial Officer at RTL II. In 2012, she was appointed Chief Financial Officer and as of 2016 she also took over the role as Chief Operating Officer. She began her career at Escada in the Controlling department.

Stephan Schäfer, born in 1974 in Witten, was appointed Chief Content Officer of Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland in February 2019.

As CCO in charge of Content & Brands he will be responsible for the entire portfolio of channels, marketing, production management and programme acquisition for Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland. At the same time he remains Chief Product Officer of the Hamburg-based publishing house Gruner + Jahr where he is responsible for the entire portfolio of titles and products, print as well as digital, and for advertising sales. He remains a member of the board of the Bertelsmann Content Alliance, which now manages all collaboration between the Group’s German content businesses.

Stephan Schäfer graduated, after his community service, from the Axel-Springer School of Journalism and began his career on the Politics desk of the “Bild” newspaper. After holding several positions at “Bild” and “Allegra” he became Deputy Editor-in-Chief of “Maxi” in 2001, Editor-in-Chief three years later and finally publisher of the magazine in 2008.  In 2009, he joined Gruner + Jahr as Editor-in-Chief of “SCHÖNER WOHNEN”. A year later he was also appointed Editor-in-Chief of “ESSEN & TRINKEN” and “HÄUSER”. In 2012 he moved to “BRIGITTE” as Editor-in-Chief and then became Managing Director of the G+J LIFE publishing group. In 2013, Schäfer was appointed a member of the Gruner + Jahr Management Board.

Jan Wachtel, born in 1979 in Aachen, was appointed Chief Digital & Publishing Officer of Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland in February 2019. In this capacity he is responsible for all digital and journalistic content of the company.

Furthermore, he has been Managing Director of RTL interactive since May 2017.

After completing his business studies in Hamburg and Tilburg (Netherlands) with a Master of Science degree in International Business he started his career at Bertelsmann Financial Services as a business and project analyst in 2004. In 2007, Wachtel became an advisor to the BILD publishing house management. In 2009 he became a Publishing Director at WAZ, now Funke Mediengruppe. In 2010, he was appointed Director Finance and Member on the Management Board of BILD Digital GmbH & Co.KG responsible for finance management, all data-based activities as well as the BILD digital sports offering. In 2014 as Managing Director Digital he took over responsibility for all BILD Group’s digital activities. In 2015 as Chief Operating Officer for BILD Group he took over additional responsibility for the overall management, controlling and organisation of operations for print and digital.