Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
I am an Executive IT and Retail Leader with 30 years of international experience driving digital transformation, retail innovation, IT strategy, and operational excellence across complex business, technology, and logistics environments. As CIO, CPO, and CDO, I have established IT and logistics service organizations with up to 2,000 employees and budgets of up to €500M. In parallel I have successfully led efficiency programs (e.g., OpEx reduction by up to 30%) and driven large-scale transformations across national and international settings (e.g., merger of 8 IT units). Core competencies .- Organizational & business development (e.g., platform supporting 2,000+ startups and 3,500+ retailers) .- IT & Efficiency programs (e.g., 160 projects, 1,000 employees, €380M budget) .- Digital Transformation & AI-driven process automation (e.g., AI-based forecasting and replenishment) .- IT & Supply Chain optimization .- Turnaround & crisis management (e.g., CrowdStrike outage impacting 6,000 stores and 55 distribution centers) .- M&A integration in Retail & IT environments (e.g., Tengelmann, PICNIC) .- IT sourcing (In-/Outsourcing) & large-scale consolidations (e.g., 14 data centers, field support) Background 15 years with EDEKA, Praktiker Group, METRO Group (C&C, MediaMarkt, Kaufhof, ...), AVA INSEAD High Potential Program, Economics Degree with a focus on Information Technology
Responsibilities / tasks Overall responsibility for the transformation program to establish EDEKA IT as a separate entity (merger of 8 IT units and consolidation of data center operating companies) Corporate leadership with full P&L responsibility (2,000+ employees, € XXXM annual budget) Strategic direction and operational management of key business areas: IT strategy, governance/compliance, IT procurement, architecture/platforms, data&analytics / CRM, AI, logistics, desktop apps, operations/sourcing, IT Security IT and digital strategy for the EDEKA Group Further development and implementation of EDEKA's digital transformation including fixed projects Key achievements Speeding up the digitalization of the EDEKA Group based on a strategy house with measurable targets (e.g. AI-based auto-scheduling with XX% automation rate, group-wide EDEKA ChatGPT) Increased innovative capabilities to build new digital business models Optimized IT value creation and reduced IT costs based on 2025-28 business planning (1-year: -XX% costs, +XX% time-to-market speed) Comprehensive sourcing of non-core IT domains based on sourcing roadmap (e.g. RISE migration; data center consolidation: 14 DC > 1 DC, XX% cloud share) XX = under NDA
Responsibilities / tasks
Corporate leadership with full P&L responsibility (110+ employees, € XXM annual budget)
Overall responsibility for IT sourcing and staffing strategy (resources) of the EDEKA Group
Establishment and scaling of a comprehensive development hub in Romania as a "flexible plat-form"
(sourcing from various countries and non-IT disciplines)
Stabilization of the company setup including conception, financing, core process development, structural organization
Interlinking of the service delivery between EDEKA IT DE and EDEKA IT RO organizations
Key achievements
Successful internationalization of EDEKA Group's IT with sustainable securing of required IT skills / capabilities and improved time-to-market for new applications
(e.g., Time-To-Fill vacancies: -XX%, group-wide O365 service management:
Responsibilities / tasks Corporate leadership with full P&L responsibility (650+ internal and 200 external employees, € XXXM annual budget) Strategic direction and operational management of all "EDDI" business areas including Romania: IT strategy, governance/compliance, IT procurement, software/product development, IT applications, operations, IT Security etc. IT and digital strategy for the EDEKA Group Process and technical enablement of EDEKA group to achieve growth targets with highest customer satisfaction through industry-leading omnichannel Customer Journey with best-in-class processes and systems across all value chain stages Further development/operation of all national IT solutions (focus: competitive differentiating processes), execution of full IT sourcing for all EDEKA central companies Development and implementation of a robust digital transformation roadmap for the group Key achievements Optimization of integration speed (-XX%) and integration costs (-XX%) for diverse business models (specialty retail, production facilities, digital models) into EDEKA Group via platforms; integration of online retailers (PICNIC, Bringmeister) Cloud-First strategy Acceletarion of the digitalization of the EDEKA Group based on strategy house with measurable targets (e.g., rollout of cloud-native merchandise management system, AI-based fraud detection solution). Enhanced innovation capabilities for new e-business models, e.g., EDEKA Food Tech Campus (Berlin): startup coworking space for food/tech/retail founders offering flexible workspaces, kitchen studios, event spaces, expert mentoring to develop innovative products for direct EDEKA market distribution. XX = under NDA
Responsibilities / tasks Corporate leadership with full P&L responsibility (110+ employees, € XXM annual budget) Strategic direction and operational management of key business areas of RZ Süd (systems, databases, OS, networks, etc.) Overall responsibility for the group-wide sourcing strategy (operations) Further development and operation of 14 data centers and management of 10 sourcing partners, execution of national cloud operations (public and private cloud) Preparation of EDEKA IT data center consolidation including cloud migration Key achievements Merger with EDEKA IT Cost reduction: XX% (sustainable) XX = under NDA
The Food Tech Campus is a Berlin-based food industry network of passionate and innovative people. For our member we provide growth services, business expertise and office space to proove success on their product or service. The Food Tech Projects Team (part of the Food Tech Campus) is a product design sprint team. We focused on innovative products to improve customer experience and internal B2B processes. Retrospective our biggest success was the founding of www.foodstarter.edeka. A B2B market place for innovative CPG products. By connecting CPG entrepreneurs and EDEKA merchants on one platform we shortened the time to shelf for CPG startups dramatically. Foodstarter was the biggest market place for innovative CPG products in Europe.