Lydia Rullkötter and Daniel Steil take over management of BurdaForward

Management change at BurdaForward: Tanja zu Waldeck joins the TX Group in Switzerland as COO. Lydia Rullkötter and Daniel Steil become co-CEOs of the digital publisher.

Dr Tanja zu Waldeck, CEO of BurdaForward since the end of 2023, will leave the company at the end of July and join the Swiss media company TX Group on 1 October 2024. As Group COO, she will be responsible for the media business and Group functions such as HR and finance. Tanja zu Waldeck joined Burda in 2012 when she sold her start-up netmoms.de to the then Tomorrow Focus AG. She subsequently took on various management roles, including at BurdaForward Advertising.

For me, Burda has always been a home for entrepreneurs. I very much appreciate the great trust I have been able to enjoy over the last few years and would like to thank all my colleagues at Burda for the wonderful time, the many valuable experiences and the friendships.“

Philipp Welte and Marc Al-Hames are jointly responsible for BurdaForward on Burda's Management Board. Philipp Welte: "With her clear strategic vision, Tanja zu Waldeck stands for the great success story of the digital division of our German publishing activities. As the Management Board, we would like to thank her for her great development work and look forward to the next logical step in her career." Marc Al-Hames: "BurdaForward has always strived for the best technologies for digital journalism. This distinctive climate of innovation is largely thanks to Tanja zu Waldeck, and we thank her for that."

Dr Lydia Rullkötter, previously Managing Director of Burda's internal service provider BurdaServices, will take over the top job at the digital publisher on 1 June 2024 on an equal footing with Daniel Steil, who has been developing BurdaForward as Managing Director since 2016. Lydia Rullkötter's successor in the management of BurdaServices will be Rainer Nock, who has been Director Controlling at the Offenburg site for 10 years.

Lydia Rullkötter joined Burda from McKinsey in 2012. For over seven years, she was Director of Corporate Controlling at Burda Holding before taking over the areas of Accounting, Controlling, Real Estate and HR Services as Managing Director of BurdaServices with its 170 employees in 2022. Lydia Rullkötter: "I am delighted to return to the operational publishing business as Co-CEO of BurdaForward and to actively shape the company with Daniel and his colleagues."

Daniel Steil has been Managing Director of BurdaForward since 2016 and, as Chief Content Officer, is responsible for all journalists and for the content direction of the digital publisher's brands. As Editor-in-Chief between 2011 and 2018, he built Focus Online into one of the news portals with the widest reach in the German-speaking world.

I would like to thank Tanja for the very successful years we spent together in the BurdaForward management team and wish her every success in her new role in Switzerland. For the future, we have a great team at BurdaForward that is capable of achieving something special. I look forward to shaping a positive and successful digital future together with Lydia and her colleagues.“