Rolf Eberhard Buch (born 2 April 1965) is a German business executive. In 2013, he was appointed

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

company Deutsche Annington, which, following the takeover of

GAGFAH GAGFAH (''Gemeinnützige Aktiengesellschaft für Angestellten-Heimstätten'') was a Luxembourg-based realty company. It owned a portfolio of more than 145,000 rental units in Germany, particularly concentrated in Dresden and Berlin. Around 28% of ...

in the year 2015, was renamed Vonovia. Previously, Buch held an executive position at Arvato.

Early life and education

Buch was born in Weidenau near

Siegen Siegen () is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly sho ...

. At age three, his family moved to the

Kettwig Kettwig is the southernmost borough of the city of Essen in western Germany and, until 1975, was a town in its own right. Kettwig is situated next to the Ruhr river, at a median height of 53 metres above sea level. It is the most recently incorpo ...

district in the city of

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

. After completing his secondary education ("

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

"), Buch studied

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

and

business administration Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

at the

RWTH Aachen University RWTH Aachen University (), also known as North Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Technical University of Aachen, University of Aachen, or ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hoch ...

and received his engineering degree in 1990.

Career

Bertelsmann

in 1991, Buch began his career in the print and industrial division of

Bertelsmann Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA () is a German private multinational conglomerate corporation based in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of the world's largest media conglomerates, and is also active in the service sector and ...

, which was later renamed Arvato. After serving in various positions in sales and marketing of domestic and foreign subsidiaries, he became a member of the executive board of Arvato in 2002. Under his leadership, the international services business grew into a key revenue and profit generator. In 2008, Buch succeeded Ostrowski as CEO of Arvato and also took up duties as a member of the Bertelsmann executive board. In this position, he promoted business involving services for cities and communities. Moreover, he increasingly invested in digital services to prepare Arvato for the

digital transformation Digital transformation is the adoption of digital technology by an organization to digitize non-digital products, services or operations. The goal for its implementation is to increase value through innovation, invention, customer experience or ef ...

. At the end of 2012, Buch stepped down from the Arvato executive board upon his own wishes and left the group.

Vonovia

In 2013, the real estate company Deutsche Annington announced Buch's appointment as CEO. He took the company public, expanding the property portfolio through acquisitions. With the takeover of competitor GAGFAH in the year 2015, he created Germany's largest real estate group. Under the new name of Vonovia, the company was later listed in the

DAX Dax or DAX may refer to: Business and organizations * DAX, stock market index of the top 40 German companies ** DAX 100, an expanded index of 100 stocks, superseded by the HDAX ** TecDAX, stock index of the top 30 German technology firms * Dax ...

blue-chip index.

Miscellaneous

Until May 2009, Buch was member of the supervisory board of the internet service provider

Lycos Europe Lycos Europe was a pan-European network of websites, offering services including communication tools, online communities, web search, e-commerce, web hosting, homepage building and Internet access. It was an independent corporation, sharing no corp ...

. Besides, in 2017 and 2018, he was on the board of directors of the Swedish real estate company . To date, Buch serves on the supervisory board of the Gesellschaft zur Sicherung von Bergmannswohnungen (GSB) and is an active member of the board of trustees of Sparkasse Gütersloh's Woldemar Winkler Stiftung foundation.

Personal life

Buch lives with his wife and two children in Gütersloh.

References

External links

Executive Board
of Vonovia {{DEFAULTSORT:Buch, Rolf Eberhard RWTH Aachen University alumni Businesspeople in real estate 1965 births Living people German chief executives 20th-century German businesspeople 21st-century German businesspeople People from Siegen