Supervisory Board

Chair

Dr. Stefan von Holtzbrinck was born in 1963 in Ettlingen, Germany. He studied law and German literature at the universities of Tübingen and Munich. He holds a degree and received a Ph.D in law from the University of Munich. Dr. von Holtzbrinck began his career in 1990 as a sales & marketing manager at Bloomsbury and as assistant to the CFO of Kirch Medien Gruppe. Two years later, Dr. von Holtzbrinck led the “New Media” division of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck. From 1997 until 2000, Dr. von Holtzbrinck joined the Nature Publishing Group, first as electronic publishing director, then as a managing director and served as director of Macmillan Limited. He joined Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung in 2001 as chief executive officer.

Date appointed: 2018

Term expires: 2028

Alongside his office as chairperson of the Supervisory Board, Dr. von Holtzbrinck is a member of the administrative, management or supervisory bodies of and/or a partner in the following companies, partnerships or foundations outside Springer Nature:

• Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH (Chief Executive Officer, member of the executive board and managing director of several affiliated companies of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group)
• Frontiers Media S.A. (member of the administrative board (Verwaltungsrat))
• tempus Zeitverlag Geschäftsführungsgesellschaft mbH (chair of the supervisory board)
• Zeitverlag Gerd Bucerius GmbH & Co. KG (chair of the supervisory board)
• Stuttgarter Kinderstiftung (chair of the executive board (Stiftungsvorsitz))
• American Academy in Berlin GmbH (vice chair of the board of trustees)
• Bürgerstiftung Stuttgart (member of the executive board)
• Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e.V. (honorary member of the senate)
• Springer Nature Management Aktiengesellschaft (member of the supervisory board)

Deputy Chair

Nikos Stathopoulos was born in 1969 in Athens, Greece. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School (HBS) and a degree in business administration from Athens University of Economics & Business (AUEB). Prior to joining BC Partners, he spent three years as a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in London, and was a Partner at Apax Partners where he worked for seven years on major private equity transactions in Europe. In 2005, he joined BC Partners as Partner and is currently Chairman of Europe and a member of the firm’s Management Committee and the private equity Investment Committee. He has 28 years of experience in private equity and leads BCP’s investments in telecoms and media in Europe. Mr. Stathopoulos is a member of the Global Advisory Board and the Board of Dean’s Advisors of Harvard Business School, the Board of Regents of Boston College, the Board of Trustees of the American School in London and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Date appointed: 2019

Term expires: 2028

Alongside his office as a member of the Supervisory Board, Mr. Stathopoulos is a member of the administrative, management or supervisory bodies of and/or a partner in the following companies or partnerships outside Springer Nature:

• United Group (chair of the board)
• Cigierre (chair of the board)
• Dental Pro (chair of the board)
• Pet City (chair of the board)
• Keesing (chair of the board)
• Alphabet Education (chair of the board)
• Advanced (board member)
• Springer Nature Management Aktiengesellschaft (member of the supervisory board)

Bettina (Obi) Felten was born in 1972 in Saarbrücken, Germany. She holds a degree in psychology and philosophy from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. Ms. Felten started her career in 1996 at Mitchell Madison Group as a consultant. At eToys.com, where she served from 1999 until 2001, Ms. Felten led the expansion to Germany. In 2001, she joined consulting firm Javelin Group. From 2004, she was Head of Multichannel with Signet Group, a specialist retailer of jewelry and watches. In 2006, Ms. Felten joined Google as the head of consumer marketing in the United Kingdom. In 2008, she became director of consumer marketing for Europe, Middle East and Africa. From 2012 she was a senior product director at X, an Alphabet company (formerly known as Google X) until she became the founder and CEO of Flourish Labs, a healthcare company.

Date appointed: 2018

Term expires: 2028

Alongside her office as member of the Supervisory Board, Ms. Felten is a member of the administrative, management or supervisory bodies of and/or a partner in the following companies or partnerships outside Springer Nature:

• Flourish Labs (founder and member of the managing board (CEO))
• Springer Nature Management Aktiengesellschaft (member of the supervisory board)

Chair of Audit Committee

Birgit Haderer was born in 1978 in Donauwörth, Germany. She holds a diploma and master’s degree in business administration from the University of Mannheim, Germany. In 2003, Ms. Haderer started her career in Frankfurt, Germany, at Goldman Sachs as an analyst, and was later promoted to associate and Vice President in the Chicago and San Francisco offices, respectively. In 2013, she started as VP Corporate Finance at Zalando SE, Berlin, Germany, and was later promoted to SVP Finance & Indirect Procurement. Since June 2020, she has been working as Chief Financial Officer at Personio Group SE, Munich, Germany.

Date appointed: 2020

Term expires: 2028

Alongside her office as member of the Supervisory Board, Ms. Haderer is a member of the administrative, management or supervisory bodies of and/or a partner in the following companies or partnerships outside Springer Nature:

• Laveno B UG haftungsbeschränkt (managing director)
• Springer Nature Management Aktiengesellschaft (member of the supervisory board)

Dr. Sabine Knauer was born in 1973 in Kirchheim unter Teck, Germany. She studied law at the university of Freiburg and had her traineeship at the regional court of Baden-Baden. She completed her legal education with the first and second state exam and received a Ph.D. in law from the university of Tübingen. In 2001, Dr. Knauer began her career as a lawyer at the law firm Thümmel, Schütze & Partner in Stuttgart. In 2003, she joined Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH & Co. KG / Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, where she has been working in the legal department, dealing mostly with Corporate and M&A matters. In 2013, she took over the additional role of Company Secretary at Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH & Co. KG / Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung. Since 2017 she ishas been the head of the legal department as well as General Counsel at Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH & Co. KG / Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung.

Date appointed: 2024

Term expires: 2028

Alongside her office as a member of the Supervisory Board, Dr. Knauer is a member of the administrative, management or supervisory bodies of and/or a partner in the following companies or partnerships outside Springer Nature: 

• Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH (Senior Vice President Legal/General Counsel at Holtzbrinck Publishing Group and managing director of several affiliated companies of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group)
• Springer Nature Management Aktiengesellschaft (member of the supervisory board)

Dr. Stefan Oschmann was born in 1957 in Würzburg, Germany. Dr. Oschmann holds a degree and a Ph.D in veterinary medicine from Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Germany. After stations at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the German Animal Health Federation (Bundesverband für Tiergesundheit (BfT)), he joined the U.S. pharmaceutical company MSD Merck Sharp & Dohme, where he held a range of executive positions. Among others, he served as vice president of MSD Europe, managing director of MSD Germany, senior vice president for worldwide human health marketing, member of the senior management and corporate officer responsible for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Canada and, finally, president of MSD’s emerging markets. In 2011, Dr. Oschmann joined Merck KGaA as chief executive officer of the biopharma division and as a member of the executive board. From 2013 to 2014, he led the healthcare business of Merck KGaA, where he headed the biopharma, consumer health, allergopharma and biosimilars divisions. In 2015, he was appointed vice chairman of the executive board and deputy chief executive officer. In 2016, Dr. Oschmann was appointed chairman of the executive board and chief executive officer of Merck KGaA and served this position until 2021.

Date appointed: 2018

Term expires: 2028

Alongside his office as a member of the Supervisory Board, Dr. Oschmann is a member of the administrative, management or supervisory bodies of and/or a partner in the following companies or partnerships outside Springer Nature:

• AiCuris Anti-infective Cures AG (chair of the supervisory board)
• Josef Schörghuber Foundation (member of the foundation council)
• Malteser Deutschland GmbH
• European Healthcare Acquisition and Growth Company B.V. (board member)
• Qanat Pharma (chairman)
• Springer Nature Management Aktiengesellschaft (member of the supervisory board)

Björn Waldow was born in 1974 in Mannheim, Germany. He initially completed a professional training at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft before graduating with a Diploma in Business Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2000. In addition he also completed a Masters in Business Administration (Diplom-Kaufmann) at the University of Mannheim in 2002. Mr. Waldow worked in various positions in the corporate banking sector. From 2002 to 2010, Mr. Waldow was employed by the management consultancy Roland Berger Strategy Consultants , which he left as a principal. Mr. Waldow then moved to the Sixt Group, where he was as a Managing Director responsible for the strategy, M&A, sales controlling and group risk management departments. In April 2015, Mr. Waldow assumed the position of Chief Financial Officer of the Sixt spin-off Sixt Leasing, which he helped to take public shortly thereafter. In October 2021, Mr. Waldow was appointed to the executive board of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung as Chief Financial Officer.

Date appointed: 2022

Term expires: 2028

Alongside his office as a member of the Supervisory Board, Mr. Waldow is a member of the administrative, management or supervisory bodies of and/or a partner in the following companies or partnerships outside Springer Nature:

• Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH (Chief Financial Officer as well as managing director of several affiliated companies of the Holtzbrinck Investment Limited (director)
• HV Holtzbrinck Ventures Fund IV LP (member of the board (Beirat))
• HV Holtzbrinck Ventures Fund V GmbH & Co. KG (member of the board (Beirat))
• HV Holtzbrinck Ventures Co-Investment Fund I GmbH & Co. KG (member of the board (Beirat))
• HV Holtzbrinck Ventures Fund VI SCS (member of the board (Beirat))
• HV Holtzbrinck Ventures Fund VII GmbH & Co. geschlossene Investment KG (member of the board (Beirat))
• HV Holtzbrinck Ventures Fund VIII GmbH & Co. geschlossene Investment KG (member of the board (Beirat))
• HV Capital Fund IX Growth GmbH & Co. geschlossene Investment KG (member of the board (Beirat))
• HV Capital Fund IX Ventures GmbH & Co. geschlossene Investment KG (member of the board (Beirat))
• Rocket Internet Capital Partners SCS (member of the board (Beirat))
• DZ Bank AG (member of the corporate customer advisory board)
• COMMERZBANK Aktiengesellschaft (member of the regional advisory board southwest)
• Springer Nature Management Aktiengesellschaft (member of the supervisory board)