Press Release | Gütersloh, 06/03/2013

Hartwig Masuch and Bertram Stausberg Appointed to Bertelsmann’s Group Management Committee

Hartwig Masuch, CEO of BMG Rights Management, and Bertram Stausberg, CEO of Be Printers, are joining Bertelsmann’s extended senior management, the Group Management Committee (GMC), with immediate effect. The GMC advises and supports the Bertelsmann Executive Board on important questions of Group strategy, corporate development, and other Group-wide matters.

Thomas Rabe, CEO of Bertelsmann, said: “I am delighted that with Hartwig Masuch and Bertram Stausberg we are strengthening our Group Management Committee with two outstanding entrepreneurs who are responsible for two of our key divisions. In recent years, BMG has become one of the world's largest music rights companies under Hartwig Masuch’s leadership, and is an important growth platform for Bertelsmann – not least following the acquisition of full ownership in April. I am also looking forward to having Bertram Stausberg, an experienced manager who has successfully further developed the printing unit as one of our five divisions in a difficult market environment,join us. Both will not only enrich our work with their great entrepreneurial expertise, but will also augment the GMC’s diverse and complementary line-up.”

Hartwig Masuch has worked in the music industry for more than 30 years. After starting out as a musician, freelance manager and producer, he joined Warner Music Publishing (Germany) in 1985. In 1991 Masuch took over the position as Managing Director and Senior Vice President GSA at BMG Music Publishing and thus Bertelsmann. When the company was acquired by the Universal Music Group in 2007, Masuch first worked as a consultant on the restructuring of Bertelsmann’s music business, and in October 2008 was appointed CEO of BMG Rights Management. Under his leadership, BMG developed from a start-up into the world's fourth largest music rights company within four years.

Bertram Stausberg studied mechanical engineering at the RWTH Aachen. After earning his doctorate, he began his career in 1996 as assistant plant manager at Gruner Druck Itzehoe (now Prinovis Itzehoe). After that, he held successive management positions in the technical departments, and was eventually promoted to production manager. In 2006 he became Head of Production and Engineering at Prinovis Ahrensburg. In 2009, he was appointed Chief Technology Officer at Prinovis Nuremberg. Since 2010, he has been responsible for the Prinovis sites in Ahrensburg and Itzehoe as their Managing Director, and since 2011 has additionally been in charge of Prinovis Dresden’s business. In May last year Stausberg became CEO of the newly founded Bertelsmann print unit Be Printers while simultaneously holding the position of CEO of the gravure printing company Prinovis.

The Group Management Committee is comprised of an international group of 16 managers – ten men and six women – who together represent seven different nationalities. In addition to the Executive Board members Thomas Rabe (Chairman and CEO of Bertelsmann and also Head of the GMC), Achim Berg (Chairman and CEO Arvato), Markus Dohle (Chairman and CEO Random House), Judith Hartmann (Chief Financial Officer), Thomas Hesse (President Corporate Development and New Businesses) and Anke Schäferkordt (Co-CEO RTL Group), the GMC also includes Fernando Carro (CEO Club and Direct Marketing Businesses), Immanuel Hermreck (Corporate HR Chief), Julia Jäkel (CEO Gruner + Jahr), Annabelle Yu Long (Chief Executive Bertelsmann China Corporate Center and Managing Director Bertelsmann Asia Investments), Hartwig Masuch (CEO BMG Rights Management) Guillaume de Posch (Co-CEO RTL Group), Gail Rebuck (Chairman and CEO Random House Group UK), Karin Schlautmann (Head of Corporate Communications), Bertram Stausberg (CEO Be Printers) and Nicolas de Tavernost (CEO and Chairman of the Management Board, Groupe M6).

About Bertelsmann
Bertelsmann is an international media company whose core divisions encompass television (RTL Group), book publishing (Random House), magazine publishing (Gruner + Jahr), services (Arvato), and printing (Be Printers) in some 50 countries. In 2012, the company’s businesses, with their more than 100,000 employees, generated revenues of €16.1 billion. Bertelsmann stands for a combination of creativity and entrepreneurship that empowers the creation of first-rate media, communications, and service offerings to inspire people around the world and to provide innovative solutions for customers.