What was expected has now been confirmed: Ceconomy, owner of electronics chains MediaMarkt and Saturn, has appointed Dutchman Remko Rijnders as CEO, effective July 1. At the same time, the retailer has appointed German Jan Niclas Brandt as Chief Customer Officer.
“Putting the customer even more at the center”
Rijnders succeeds Kai-Ulrich Deissner, who is leaving the company for personal reasons. He has worked at MediaMarktSaturn for 17 years in various management positions, including as COO of the MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group and in management positions in the Benelux, Spain, Poland, and Turkey.
At the same time, Ceconomy is expanding its board of directors with the position of Chief Customer Officer (CCO) as of April 1. This position will be filled by Jan Niclas Brandt, who currently heads the Austrian and Swiss organizations. Previously, he was CEO for Austria and Switzerland, Chief Commercial Officer of MediaMarkt Austria, and VP Corporate Strategy.
“With this step, we are underlining our ambition to put our customers even more at the center of everything we do,” the company says. The succession of Remko Rijnders as CFO will be decided separately by the Supervisory Board. The management change comes at an important moment for the group: the acquisition by Chinese giant JD.com is expected to be finalized before the summer.
