At the Munich clothing supplier Willy Bogner GmbH & Co. KGaA. there are some changes in the company and management. Gerrit Schneider, who has been co-managing director since April 2020 and has overseen finance, law, IT, operations and human resources, is now alone at the helm.
Heinz Hackl, who was previously also active as Co-CEO, is leaving the company “by mutual consent,” said Bogner on Monday. He was responsible for sales, design, marketing and licensing. Due to Bogner’s “strong positioning” and the “successfully implemented growth strategy”, it was the right time for Hackl to “devote himself to new entrepreneurial challenges”.
“On behalf of the entire company and the Bogner family, I would like to thank Heinz Hackl for his great commitment to Bogner and wish him all the best for the future,” said Arndt Geiwitz, trustee representative of the owner Willy Bogner Junior. “Heinz Hackl made a significant contribution to Bogner being excellently positioned for the future in international growth markets such as North America and China, in omnichannel sales and in terms of collection technology with our two-brand strategy.”
Former Bogner CEO returns as consultant
For the areas of product and design, Bogner receives support from Andreas Baumgärtner, who was active as CEO from 2017 to 2020. The former CEO had already worked as a consultant in recent years and will now intensify this activity. Andreas Gall will also support the company. The former managing director and head of innovation at the media company Red Bull Media House, which belongs to the Red Bull conglomerate, is said to bring further know-how and experience for the external media presence.
With the “successful completion” of the performance program, trustee Geiwitz has achieved the goal that he set himself together with the management and the Bogner family. Therefore he is giving the company back into the hands of the family, according to the statement. The trust company of the auditor Geiwitz took over in November 2019, when Willy Bogner largely withdrew from the company. Geiwitz will continue to be in contact with Bogner as chairman of the newly created advisory board. He is currently also involved in the protective shield procedure at Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, where he is in charge of the operational restructuring.
Bogner changes legal form
In addition to the personnel changes, Bogner is also changing its legal form to a GmbH and merging individual companies. In this context, the Advisory Board with a supervisory function was established. Christian Laus, advisor to the Bogner family and managing director of Bogner Film GmbH, and Daniel Heine, managing director of Patrimonium Asset Management AG, will also become members of the advisory board. Patrimonium Asset Management AG acts as Bogner’s strategic financing partner and takes on loans that have been concluded with banks.
“I am very pleased to lead Bogner into the future – together with our strong management team and the support of Andreas Baumgaertner, Andreas Gall and the experienced advisory board,” said Schneider, the sole managing director. “With the new legal form and the termination of the loan agreement, we are reducing the complexity and aligning ourselves as best we can to shape our development path and further growth independently. The Bogner team is ready for the next 90 years.”