Dr Torben Hansen to be new chairman of Bonprix management board

As of April 1, 2024, Dr Torben Hansen will become the new chairman of the Bonprix Handelsgesellschaft mbH management board. He succeeds Dr Richard Gottwald, who will retire on May 31, 2024. Alongside Dr Torben Hansen (CEO and sales), the future management board of the Otto Group focus company will comprise Carolin Klar (product and sourcing), Dr Kai Heck (finance and logistics) and Matthias Wlaka (IT/technology).

In a further top-level change, the current managing director of e-commerce, sales Germany, brand and advertising, Markus Fuchshofen, is to leave Bonprix after almost thirty years with the company; following cordial mutual agreement he will step down on January 31, 2024.

In Hansen, the Otto Group has successfully recruited an outstanding fashion and e-commerce expert for the major role of chairman of the Bonprix management board. He holds a doctorate in Business Computer Science and joins Bonprix from Bringmeister, where as CEO he launched a dynamic transformation within the food-delivery business. As managing director of Bringmeister, Bringmeister Fulfillment and Bringmeister Logistik respectively, the fundamental change he launched also achieved the brand's independence from Edeka, its previous owner. Hansen successfully achieved double-digit sales revenue growth in the online supermarket business and decisively reduced variable costs.

"I am very pleased that the Otto Group has been able to recruit Hansen as the new chairman of the Bonprix management board. His impressive professional career is characterised by outstanding achievements, high entrepreneurial drive and deep strategic know-how in various industries including the fashion sector. Hansen brings with him precisely those competencies and expertise required to lead Bonprix into a sustainably successful future,” Dr Marcus Ackermann, member of the Otto Group executive board, multi-channel distance selling, and chairman of the Bonprix advisory board, said.

As chairman of the management board, Hansen will succeed Gottwald, who has held this position since 2019 and has been a member of the management board since 2016. During this period Gottwald has had a major impact on the company and has consistently aligned Bonprix with the challenges of the future.

"I would like to express my sincere thanks to Gottwald, also on behalf of the shareholders and the entire group executive board, for his tremendous service to the Otto Group. Gottwald has made an extremely valuable contribution to the group at very diverse levels and in numerous management positions. He deserves the highest recognition for this. I will also miss his delightful sense of humour. I wish him all the very best for the future, and above all, of course, robust good health,” Ackermann added.