Axel Konjack appointed Chief Operating Officer International Marketplaces at Ringier

Together with Kilian Kämpfen, Head of International Marketplace Unit and Chief Business Development Officer Ringier Marketplaces, Axel Konjack forms the new dual leadership of the International Marketplace Unit, which essentially consists of around ten internal experts and is composed across countries and divisions. Reporting directly to the Group Executive Board, the unit's primary task is to continue building up expertise in a bundled manner and to actively drive forward central operational and strategic initiatives within the Group.

Upon joining Ringier, Axel Konjack will be responsible for the development and competitiveness of the global Ringier Classifieds portfolio in Switzerland, Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. Kilian Kämpfen continues to act as Chief Strategist and looks after the business models of the Marketplaces international.

Axel Konjack and Kilian Kämpfen both report directly to Robin Lingg, member of the Group Executive Board and responsible for the Ringier Group's Marketplace activities internationally.

Robin Lingg: "I am delighted that with Axel Konjack we have been able to gain a proven marketplace expert who will also actively drive and help shape the developments of our business. Axel Konjack's know-how and many years of experience will give us additional power to further expand the international Classifieds business and position it even more successfully in the market."

The 48-year-old business graduate Axel Konjack has many years of experience in the digital and media industry. He knows what it means to develop successful companies operationally and strategically in a complex, digital, global context. Building on his background, he will set new impulses in the Classifieds division, together with the successful international Ringier management team.

Before joining Ringier, Axel Konjack had been Managing Director of the Swiss real estate portal Homegate.ch, based in Zurich, since mid-2015. Prior to that, he held various management positions at Axel Springer in Germany over a period of eighteen years. Among other things, he was head of the Internet business segment as well as project manager and investment manager in the Group's corporate development department in Berlin. Other stations in his career to date were the management of the official city portal hamburg.de, a public-private partnership with the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, and of Immonet, one of Germany's leading real estate portals. There he was responsible for the strategic and operational development of the platform. Axel Konjack holds a degree in business administration and studied in Frankfurt/Main and Lyon.