In the past, Florian Fels (45) has been playing dual roles: for one, as CEO Ringier Eastern Europe, he was in charge of Ringier’s activities in Hungary and Romania. At the same time, since Ringier and Axel Springer merged their Eastern European operations in 2010, Fels has also been CEO of the Ringier Axel Springer Media AG joint venture and as such, he was responsible for the publishing business in Poland, Czech, Serbia, and Slovakia. Fels is a member of the Group Executive Board of Ringier AG.
Effective as of 1 March 2013, Florian Fels will take over the helm of Ringier’s Publishing Division. The Publishing Division was formed out of the previous Ringier Switzerland and Germany business segment and had previously been directly overseen by Marc Walder,
CEO Ringier AG.
In 1993, Florian Fels joined the German publishing company Axel Springer where he worked in various capacities. From 1999 to 2010 he was based in Poland, most recently as managing CEO of Axel Springer Poland. Fels will be succeeded as CEO of Ringier Axel Springer Media AG by Mark Dekan (36), currently Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Ringier/Axel Springer joint venture. Dekan will continue to hold the position of CFO. Previously, Dekan had served as Commercial Director of Finance & Services at Axel Springer AG since 2008.
Commenting on the new appointments, Marc Walder, CEO Ringier AG said: “Publishing continues to be a key division and with Florian Fels we will have someone in charge who is exceptionally well qualified and experienced, particularly in the core business of our company. And Mark Dekan, who will take over as CEO of Ringier Axel Springer Media AG, has done an outstanding job in the close to three years he was CFO. Together with Florian Fels, he was instrumental in establishing this joint venture with Axel Springer.”
Ringier Axel Springer Media AG is a leading media enterprise in Central and Eastern Europe. The joint venture is headquartered at Dufourstrasse in Zurich.
The Publishing Division of Ringier includes Blick Group, the Ringier magazines, Ringier Romandie, Ringier Germany, Ringier Print Adligenswil, Swissprinters, Ringier China & Pacific as well as IT & Services. Ringier has three other divisions: Ringier Entertainment (headed by Michael Voss), Ringier Digital (headed by Thomas Kaiser) and Ringier Eastern Europe (which will continue to be headed by Florian Fels).
Ringier AG, Corporate Communications
