Anke Schäferkordt (born 12 December 1962) is a German businessperson who was CEO of the

RTL Group RTL Group S.A. ("Radio Télévision Luxembourg") is a Luxembourg-based international media conglomerate, with another corporate office in Cologne, Germany. The company operates 56 television channels and 36 radio stations in Germany, France an ...

from 2012 until 2017. She won the

International Emmy Award The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York City, New York–based International Academy of Televisi ...

for Directorate Award in 2013.

Early life and education

Schäferkordt grew up in the village of Henstorf, studied in a primary school in Kalletal and graduated in 1982 in ''Marianne-Weber-Gymnasium'',

Lemgo Lemgo (; ) is a university and old Hanseatic League, Hanseatic town in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated between the Teutoburg Forest and the Weser Uplands, 25 km east of Bielefeld and 70 km west of H ...

. Then, she studied business administration at

Paderborn University Paderborn University () is a public research university in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in 1972 and 20,308 students were enrolled at the university in the winter semester 2016/2017 in 62 different degree programmes. ...

and graduated in 1988.

Career

Schäferkordt began her professional career in the business management trainee program at

Bertelsmann The Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, commonly known as Bertelsmann (), is a German privately held company, private multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation based in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, ...

AG in Gütersloh. Schäferkordt was with Bertelsmann subsidiary RTL from 1991. For many years, she worked at the VOX television station, where she was the managing director from 1999 to 2005. In February 2005, Schäferkordt became Gerhard Zeilers' vice at RTL Germany. On 1 September 2005 she took over as his successor the entire media group of RTL Alemanha; RTL Television, VOX, n-TV, RTL II, Super RTL, RTL NITRO, RTL Interactive, IP, infoNetwork e CBC. Schäferkordt was at the same time managing director of the

RTL Television RTL (from '), formerly RTL plus and RTL Television, is a German-language free-to-air television channel owned by RTL Deutschland, headquartered in Cologne. Founded as an offshoot of the German-language radio programme '' ,'' RTL is cons ...

station. In 2012, Schäferkordt became CEO of the international RTL Group in

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

, but kept her jobs for another year in Germany. In the same year, she was inducted into the German Advertising

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

. On 1 February 2013 Schäferkordt handed over the position of CEO of RTL Television (Germany) to the managing director of VOX, Frank Hoffmann. In the same year, she won the

for Directorate Award. In 2017, Schäferkordt left the office as CEO of

. In 2023, several German state governments led by the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) proposed Schäferkordt as a member of an expert group advising on a reform of country’s public broadcasting; however, she declined the appointment.

Other activities

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2020) *

Wayfair Wayfair Inc. is an American e-commerce company based in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts that sells furniture and home goods online. Formerly known as CSN Stores, it was founded in 2002, and currently offers 14 million items from more than 11,000 gl ...

, Member of the board of directors (since 2019) * Serviceplan, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2019) *

BASF BASF SE (), an initialism of its original name , is a European Multinational corporation, multinational company and the List of largest chemical producers, largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters are located in Ludwigshafen, Ge ...

, Member of the Supervisory Board (2010–2022) *

M6 Group Métropole Télévision SA, commonly known as Groupe M6 (), is a French media holding company. It was formed around the commercial television channel M6, launched in March 1987 by the CLT ( RTL Télévision) and La Lyonnaise des Eaux. In addi ...

, Member of the Supervisory Board (2015–2018) *

Software AG Software GmbH, trading as Software AG, is a German multinational software corporation that develops enterprise software for business process management, integration, and big data analytics. Founded in 1969, the company is headquartered in Darmstad ...

, Member of the Supervisory Board (2010–2015)

Recognition

In 2007, Schäferkordt was named one of Europe's 25 top businesswomen in the Financial Times annual ranking.Andrew Hill and Joanna Chung (October 10, 2007)
Anne Lauvergeon named Europe’s top businesswoman

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

References

External links

Anke Schäferkordt
in

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician a ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schaferkordt, Anke 1962 births Businesspeople from North Rhine-Westphalia Living people RTL Group people People from Lemgo