RTL S A : Stephan Schmitter to succeed Gert Zimmer as CEO of RTL Radio Deutschland

RTL Group today announced the appointment of Stephan Schmitter as new CEO of RTL Radio Deutschland, effective 1 January 2018. In this capacity, he will succeed Gert Zimmer who has been leading RTL Group's German radio holding since 1 January 2004.

Stephan Schmitter will remain CEO of the wholly owned subsidiary RTL Radio Center Berlin which pools the operational activities of the Berlin-based radio stations 104.6 RTL, 105'5 Spreeradio, 93,6 Jam FM and RTL Radio - Deutschlands Hit-Radio and of the advertising sales house RTL Radiovermarktung. As of 1 January 2018, he will report to Andreas Fischer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of RTL Radio Deutschland.

Jan Trenn will remain CFO of RTL Radio Deutschland and will be promoted to the unit's Deputy CEO. In this capacity, he will report to Stephan Schmitter and continue to represent RTL Radio Deutschland in a number of investments.

Elmar Heggen, Chief Financial Officer of RTL Group, says: 'On behalf of RTL Group, I would like to thank Gert Zimmer for his extraordinary creative and commercial achievements. Gert strategically transformed our German radio portfolio from a collection of shareholdings into a radio powerhouse. Under his leadership, RTL Radio Deutschland consistently delivered strong results and pro-actively embraced the opportunities of the radio industry in the digital media world. We regret that he will leave our Group and wish him all the best in his future endeavours.'

Elmar Heggen continues: 'We are delighted that we have found, in Stephan Schmitter, such a highly experienced and innovative executive from within our Group as new CEO of RTL Radio Deutschland. With his strong programming and marketing skills, Stephan lives and breathes radio. Under his successful leadership, our Berlin radio family developed a strong core business and constantly branched out into new fields. Jan Trenn has many years of experience in representing our radio holding in its various investments and ideally complements the new management team. I wish Stephan and Jan every success in their new positions.'

Gert Zimmer says: 'I want to thank my whole team at RTL Radio Deutschland for their passion, creativity and outstanding commitment as well as my shareholder for their continuous support and many entrepreneurial opportunities. After 14 years at the helm of our German radio business, I am looking forward to pursuing new entrepreneurial ventures, starting with study trips into the United States to intensify my digital knowledge.'

Stephan Schmitter, born in 1974, joined RTL Group in May 2004 as Managing Director of the Berlin-based radio station 105'5 Spreeradio. In October 2007, he additionally became Managing Director of the local market leader in Berlin, 104.6 RTL, and of RCB Radio Center Berlin (today RTL Radio Center Berlin). Before joining RTL Group, Stephan Schmitter was Programme Director of the Munich-based station Radio Gong 96,3 (1996 to 2004).

Gert Zimmer, born in 1964, has been CEO of RTL Radio Deutschland since 2004. In this capacity, he has been a member of RTL Group's Operations Management Committee (OMC) and has chaired the Group's international Radio Synergy Committee (SyCo) since 2005. From 2004 to 2008 he also served as RTL Group's Senior Vice President Radio Central and Northern Europe. After studies of telecommunications at the Georg-Simon-Ohm-University in Nuremberg, Gert Zimmer worked for various radio stations such as Radio C (Bozen, Italy) and Neue Welle Franken (Nuremberg). From 1986 to 1988 he served as Programme Director for Radio Charivari Nuremberg and was involved in starting other Charivari stations in various Bavarian cities. From 1989 to 1992 Gert worked as a consultant and producer for the BCI Group, a European consulting company for radio stations and TV channels and a music production house. In 1993 Gert became a co-owner of the BCI Group and the CEO of the company and served in that role until the end of 2003.

Jan Trenn, born in 1970, joined RTL Group in February 2006 as CFO and Head of Operations & Development of RTL Radio Deutschland. In this position, he is responsible for Finance, HR and Business Development of RTL Group's German radio holding. Before joining RTL Group, Jan Trenn held various executive positions in the Volkswagen Group (1999 to 2006). He started his career in the Berlin-based auditing company Dr. Röver & Partner KG (1995 to 1999), following his studies of Business Administration at the FHW Berlin.

RTL Radio Deutschland is the holding company for RTL Group's German radio business. The unit currently comprises investments in 17 German radio stations, most of which are minority shareholdings because of constraints in media ownership in Germany. In total, these stations reached more than 23 million listeners each day in 2016, and had a combined average audience of approximately 4.8 million listeners per hour.