On 1 June, Mara Sieger took up the post of Head of Corporate Audit Financial within the Corporate Audit division. She reports to Marcel Mertens, Head of Holding Corporate Audit. After studying tax law and qualifying as a Diplom-Finanzwirtin (FH), followed by her tax consultancy examination, Mara Sieger worked for various tax consultancy firms. She has been working within our company as a Tax Manager at PRO-DATA GmbH since 1 August 2021.
Brian Beck, Dr Martin Küssner
Brian Beck, a member of the BILLA Management board responsible for wholesale, will step down from this role on 30 September. For family reasons, he will move to Cologne to join FÜR SIE eG, where the long-standing Management board spokesperson, Martin Küssner, is due to retire at the end of the year. Brian Beck will join the cooperative’s Management board as early as 1 October. FÜR SIE is one of the six owner cooperatives of the REWE Group and a leading partner for wholesalers and retailers. Brian Beck worked for REWE and BILLA Wholesale in Austria for seven and a half years and has been a member of the BILLA Management board since July 2022. With the establishment of the BILLA Wholesale & Retailers division in 2022, he built and consolidated the close ties between REWE Wholesale and BILLA Wholesale. The division will be reorganised with effect from 1 October. This reorganisation will take place as part of the transfer of responsibility for the BILLA Wholesale division to Kai Pataky, BILLA Member of the Management Board for the Sales Department. REWE Wholesale will in future report to Erich Szuchy, BILLA Chief Executive.
Penny Italy has made early arrangements for the age-related succession of the Chief Operating Officer among the managing directors. Alongside Arnd Riehl as CEO and Raffaele Balestra as CFO, Michael Maddalena will be joining the team in future. He began his induction as COO of Penny Italy on 1 July. Maddalena will take charge of purchasing, strategic marketing, supply chain management and Sustainability. He reports directly to Michael Jäger, Member of the Management Board for Retail International and Spokesperson for the managing directors of Penny International. The manager, who is originally from Austria and has personal ties to Italy, has many years’ international experience in the retail sector. After studying law, he began his retail career in 2005 with the Aldi Süd Group, where he held various management roles before being appointed Managing Director of Hofer KG for the Stockerau region in 2016. In 2017, he moved to Aldi Süd’s head office in Mülheim/Ruhr as Managing Director of Central Purchasing. Between 2015 and 2016, he had already played a key role in preparing Aldi’s market entry in Italy as National Purchasing Coordinator. Since January 2020, he has been Aldi’s Country Managing Director, responsible for the entire Italian market. Maddalena is a proven expert on Italy. Indeed, just over ten years ago, as Country Purchasing Coordinator, he played a key role in preparing for Aldi’s market entry in Italy. Since January 2020, he has been Country Managing Director, responsible for the entire Italian market.
Gotthard Klingan
Gotthard Klingan, COO of Penny Italy, will gradually hand over his responsibilities. For 30 years now, the Carinthia-born executive has helped shape REWE International in numerous management roles. Among other roles, he served as Managing Director of BILLA Slovakia and the former BILLA Ukraine, and subsequently as a member of the Management Board of the former EUROBILLA AG. Gotthard Klingan gained in-depth experience of the wholesale sector during his years as Chairman of the Management Board of ADEG, the association of independent retailers in Austria. However, his particular expertise lies in Italy: he previously managed BILLA’s market presence in Italy for five years as managing director. He has been COO of Penny Italy since July 2016.
DSR Hotel Holding is reorganising its senior management: Philipp von Czapiewski will take over as Chairman of the managing directors of DSR Hotel Holding on 15 August. He succeeds Marek Andryszak, who left the company on 15 March 2026 at his own request. Until he takes up his post, Ingo Burmester, CEO of the Hotel Division at DERTOUR Group, will continue to lead DSR Hotel Holding on an interim basis. With Philipp von Czapiewski, an internationally experienced tourism manager is taking the helm at DSR Holding. The 42-year-old brings with him extensive experience in strategic direction and commercial roles within the TUI Group. He is currently Managing Director of TUI Suisse, where he is responsible for the strategic and operational management of the Swiss subsidiary. Since taking up his post in 2020, he has successfully steered the company through a phase of transformation onto a path of sustainability and growth. Previously, von Czapiewski headed the strategy division for TUI Germany and Central Europe and held various management positions in product management, procurement and pricing within TUI’s aviation division. As CEO, von Czapiewski is set to drive the further development of DSR Hotel Holding, whose portfolio has recently grown significantly following the integration of Travel Charme Hotels & Resorts. At the same time, close cooperation with the majority shareholder, the DERTOUR Group, remains a key factor in continuing this growth trajectory.
