Hansgeorg Derks

His career, he started at the Danish premium brand Bang & Olufsen in consumer electronics: initially as head of marketing Germany, then as Director of Marketing and distribution Development and member of the Executive Board.

In the following fifteen years, he led medium-sized brand and family-owned companies with 500 to 1,500 employees: At bulthaup, he initially led the American subsidiary in New York as Senior Vice President. He then led the company bulthaup as CEO and successor of entrepreneur Gerd Bulthaup in Germany. As member of the Hansa Metallwerke AG Executive Board in Stuttgart, he was responsible for the brands Hansa and KWC Switzerland. This was followed by the management of three kitchen brands and one refrigeration technology company as member of the Group Executive Board of the listed Arbonia-Forster-Holding AG in Switzerland. Lastly, he managed the electronic company Siedle & Söhne.

In 2012, Hansgeorg Derks founded his consulting and project management company for strategy, brand, and distribution in Munich – derks brand management consultants.

Parallel to the “daily business”, Hansgeorg Derks is adjunct professor at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich at the Institute of Communication Science and Media Research. Furthermore, he works as presenter at the top management network “Co-Create” and was a member of the jury for the IF Design Awards in Hanover and the IMM Initiative Marke und Mittelstand.

Hansgeorg Derks completed an apprenticeship to be a bank clerk at the Dresdner Bank AG. After that, he studied communication science, political science and work and organisational psychology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich and graduated with the degree of Magister Artium (Master of Arts). In addition, he acquired diplomas in the part-time degree programmes “Direct Marketing” and “Public Relations” at the Bavarian Academy of Advertising and Marketing. He received the Alfred Gerardi Memorial Award.