Hartmut Ostrowski

Hartmut Ostrowski, Chairman of the Executive Board of arvato AG and Chairman of the Executive Board of Bertelsmann AG, presents the success strategies of an international media company in his lecture "Growth and success factors in the media industry".

The Bertelsmann AG is the most international media company in the world. In the business segments of television and radio, book publishing, magazines and newspapers, printing and media services as well as book and music clubs, over 97,000 employees in 63 countries generated sales of EUR 19.3 billion in 2006, an increase of 7.9 percent on the previous year.

Almost a quarter of this turnover was generated with international media and communication services by the arvato AG achieved.

The internationally networked service provider employs more than 47,000 people. The business is organized in five segments: arvato direct services, arvato logistics services, arvato print, arvato storage media and arvato systems. In the 2005 financial year, the company generated sales of 4.4 billion euros with around 270 subsidiaries in 37 countries.

CEO Hartmut Ostrowski is certain that media and communication services will continue to grow. Ostrowski explains arvato AG's extensive range of services: "At arvato, we realize the entire value chain from conception and content production, data management, printing and processing to distribution and fulfillment, including financial services."

In order to remain successful in the future, Ostrowski relies on strict cost control, creativity, a consistent focus on core business and the sustainable expansion of the broad service portfolio with new products and services. This is complemented by the maintenance and expansion of existing customer relationships and the global acquisition of new clients.

Hartmut Ostrowski was born in Bielefeld in 1958. After studying business administration at the University of Bielefeld, he started as an assistant to the management at what was then Bertelsmann Distribution, learning the business from the ground up at VVA, Vereinigte Verlags-Auslieferung. One year later, he was Head of Accounts Receivable Management. As head of department, he began to market financial services not only within the Group, but also externally. At the age of just 29, he became an authorized signatory at the end of 1987.

Ostrowski was looking for new challenges and moved to a subsidiary of Security Pacific, the fourth largest bank in the USA at the time. First in Frankfurt and then in Munich, he set up a factoring company that was to conquer the European market. In April 1990, he returned to Bertelsmann Distribution as division manager. In July 1992 he became Managing Director and in July 1995 Chairman of the Executive Board of the newly formed Bertelsmann Services Group, followed by his appointment to the Executive Board of arvato in 1996. Since September 2002, Hartmut Ostrowski has been Chairman of the Executive Board of arvato AG and a member of the Executive Board of Bertelsmann AG.

Status: Beginning of 2008