Gassmann with a new management structure
The publisher and owner of the Gassmann Group, Marc Gassmann, has appointed new members to the companies' Boards of Directors and the Executive Board. This is with a view to the long-term continuation of the Group as a family business.
Members of the seventh and eighth generations of the Gassmann family will join various boards of directors of the companies belonging to the holding company. The Board of Directors of the holding company Multimedia Gassmann will also be expanded, as the Group announced in a press release on Thursday. In addition to the family members, Rudolf Meier, a lawyer from Biel, and Roger Burkhard, CFO of the Gassmann Group, have been elected to the Board of Directors.
Marc Gassmann hands over the management of the group of companies to Marcel Geissbühler. He has been General Manager of the media company since 2005. According to the press release, the company intends to achieve an even more efficient organization, continue to offer marketable products and services and develop new, promising business areas and intelligent collaborations. To this end, the company organization will be adapted to the requirements of changing markets. The necessary decision-making basis will be developed in the coming months.
The previous investment strategy will be continued. Following the investments in electronic media (2008 purchase of Radio Canal 3 and 2012 participation in Radio 32) and in publishing (2012 purchase of Terre & Nature SA), investments in customer printing will follow in 2013: according to the press release, the purchase of a latest-generation sheet-fed offset press to replace the previous eight-color press is in preparation. The investment in finishing with a modern high-performance saddle stitcher has already been made.
The Customer Printing division is responsible for around 50 percent of Group sales and is to be further strengthened in terms of productivity and flexibility. As before, it is headed by Markus Schär and Jean-Marc Peltier for Courvoisier-Attinger Arts graphiques. Further innovation projects in the areas of digitalization, printing and media as well as the development of new, promising business areas are being actively pursued, the group added. It is also looking for investment opportunities and is interested in developments and start-ups in the areas of media, communication and digitalization.
