- The company’s strategic restructuring and ambitious growth targets require organisational adjustments to the executive team.
- Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Tobias Schmidt is leaving the company. Private customer business will be merged into one segment under new arrival Stefan Riedel, Chief Consumer Officer (CCO).
- Roland Schleicher, the former Chief Business Transformation Officer (CBTO), will be appointed Chief Operations Officer (COO).
Berlin, 8 May 2018. Tele Columbus AG is reorganising the responsibilities of its executive team with the aim of improving its ability to respond to strategic and operational challenges in the future as well as continuing the company’s growth course.
All marketing and sales activities for private customer business will in future be combined and merged into the newly created function of the Chief Consumer Officer (CCO). This position will be filled by Stefan Riedel starting 1 June 2018. Tobias Schmidt, who until now has been Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), has chosen to leave the company as of 15 June 2018.
Tobias Schmidt, who has been with the company since February 2017, is responsible for the development and successful launch of the new PŸUR brand, under which the more than ten Tele Columbus Group companies were merged to form one of the largest German telecommunications providers. Furthermore, he developed the new modular product portfolio, which was introduced in October 2017 as part of the market launch. Most recently, the 46-year-old was in charge of private customer sales.
Stefan Riedel will assume the newly created CCO position at Tele Columbus AG starting 1 June 2018. His area of responsibility includes the uniform brand identity of all companies that now belong to the PŸUR brand, product development for TV, internet, telephone, and mobile communications services, as well as management of the sales channels.
The 48-year-old has extensive experience in the telecommunications industry. Before joining Starticket, the second-largest ticket seller in Switzerland, as CEO in 2016, Stefan Riedel worked at Orange Communications SA and its successor company Salt Mobile SA for 12 years in various roles. Most recently, he worked as the Director of Consumer Marketing & Deputy to the Chief Commercial Officer. In this position, he was in charge of Consumer Marketing, where he played a leading role while Orange was re-branded as Salt and was responsible for marketing strategy and product development. He was also jointly responsible for the strategic and operational management of end customer business.
Roland Schleicher, who has been responsible for integrating acquired companies and implementing corporate strategy as Chief Business Transformation Officer (CBTO) since October 2016, will begin his role as Chief Operations Officer (COO) starting 1 July 2018. In his new role, the 38-year-old business information systems specialist and former McKinsey consultant will oversee the expansion of operational functions as well as the digital transformation.
“I would like to thank Tobias Schmidt for his enormous commitment and the important contribution he has made to bringing the individual companies under one roof. Launching the new PŸUR brand and its innovative product portfolio marks a milestone for the company on its way to becoming one of the most important players in the German telecommunications market. At the same time, I am happy to have gained an experienced marketing and sales expert in Stefan Riedel, who will use his many years of experience in the telecommunications industry to consistently develop Tele Columbus Group’s private customer business segment”, said Timm Degenhardt, CEO of Tele Columbus AG. “Over the past two years, Roland Schleicher has provided extensive support for all of the company’s M&A processes and played a crucial role in ensuring Tele Columbus AG’s successful transformation. In his new role as COO, he will concentrate even more on the expansion of and interaction between all operational areas, as well as digital transformation.”
About Tele Columbus AG
The Tele Columbus Group is the third-largest cable network operator in Germany, reaching around 3.6 million households. Under the brand name PΫUR, Tele Columbus stands for simplicity, service and a human touch in providing TV and telecommunications services. With its high-performance broadband cable, PΫUR offers super-fast internet access, including telephone connections and over 250 TV channels on a digital entertainment platform that combines traditional television with video entertainment on demand. Partners in the housing industry can benefit from flexible cooperation models and modern value-added services such as telemetry and tenant portals. As a full-service partner for municipalities and regional suppliers, the Tele Columbus Group is driving the expansion of fibre-optic broadband in Germany. For corporate customers, carrier services and business solutions are provided using the company’s own fibre-optic network. With its registered office in Berlin and other offices in Leipzig, Hamburg, Ratingen and Unterföhring, Tele Columbus AG has been around since 1985 and has been listed on the regulated market (Prime Standard) of the Frankfurt stock exchange since January 2015 and in the S-DAX since June 2015.
