Leadership
Team

Since 2009, Oliver Reichert has led BIRKENSTOCK as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), transforming it from a family-run, medium-sized shoe manufacturer into an international lifestyle brand.

The first non-Birkenstock family member to manage the Germany-headquartered company, Reichert’s early transformation work saw the creation of the BIRKENSTOCK Group in 2012, from 38 single entities. Less than a decade later, in 2021, he initiated a major, highly touted, strategic partnership with L Catterton, the world’s largest consumer-focused private growth investor, and Financière Agache, which is controlled by Agache, the Arnault family holding.

Alongside these restructuring moves, Reichert has driven the company, internally, to consistently outperform its sales targets, doubling BIRKENSTOCK’s footwear production capacity in the process. As the leader of one of the world’s most dynamic and successful lifestyle brands, he’s demonstrated a savviness in forecasting consumer demand and meeting this with innovative products. With the opening of the 1774 office in Paris, in 2020, he established a platform for globally respected collaborations with the world’s most inspiring designers and high fashion brands such as Dior and Manolo Blahnik. Other key brand innovations include the introduction of new product categories: ergonomic sleeping systems, certified natural cosmetics, premium-quality bags, legwear, and belts.

The 2021 partnership with L Catterton and Financière Agache, established a fresh international chapter for a company backed by a heritage of some 250 years of family tradition in shoe-making. The deal enabled BIRKENSTOCK to continue its growth trajectory by investing in the business, expanding market leadership in Europe and North America whilst growing its presence in fast-growing markets, such as China and India. During this global expansion, Reichert has remained vigilant in nourishing the brand’s German roots, spearheading the expansion of production facilities in the country, and creating thousands of new jobs in the process.

Reichert began his career as a television journalist, later becoming the managing director of TV channel Deutsches Sportfernsehen (DSF, now Sport1). A life-long-lover of BIRKENSTOCK footwear Reichert lives on a remote farm in Lower Bavaria, with his wife, four children, and quite some dogs and horses.

As CPO, Baum is responsible for making sure all of BIRKENSTOCK’s products are created in an excellent way – maintaining the highest functional and quality standards for the international brand’s output.

This role is of particular importance for a footwear manufacturer banking on ‘Made in Germany’ credentials, which have, for decades, held it in high esteem with its audience. With these factors in mind, Baum prides himself on ensuring that not only are BIRKENSTOCK products engineered to perform to the best of their ability but also that the set-up for the manufacturing of these products is prepared to be world-class.

Moving into the role in 2019, after serving as BIRKENSTOCK Global Director for Product Creation, the step-up saw Baum additionally assuming responsibilities for monitoring the sourcing of materials, group quality management and of the company’s product engineering as well as overseeing the brand’s efforts around bolstering its sustainability credentials. For Baum, the fundamental Birkenstock principle of enabling “naturgewolltes Gehen” brought to live by the historically innovative BIRKENSTOCK footbed and the benefits it has long provided remain the key ingredient in his scope of work. With working around the footbed at the core of his Köln-based team’s product development studio’s efforts, Baum draws upon market insights, internal know-how, and new technologies to keep BIRKENSTOCK’s innovative philosophy alive and introducing ambitious new products. One recent example has seen his team drawing upon new direct injection technology to create ‘outdoor’ category sandals.

With a personal family history in tailoring, Baum has held a passion for product creation from a young age. Starting his career in the world of consulting with Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, Baum moved into the footwear arena with Adidas, where he worked in sales, brand and product management roles for almost a decade growing into key leadership roles in Europe. Afterwards he cut his development teeth as Director of Jack Wolfskin’s Footwear Division. Baum’s wellrounded work experience provides BIRKENSTOCK with a powerful asset for product development moving forward.

As President for EMEA at BIRKENSTOCK, Bouyakhf leads the team tasked with growing the brand and business in a major global region.

Bouyakhfs multi-faceted role involves him overseeing distribution (direct to consumer and wholesales partnerships), brand and merchandising management, finance and HR. All within the dynamic and culturally diverse EMEA region, which encompasses Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In this position, he leads teams that collaborate with a wide network of wholesale partners and oversee distribution across multiple countries.

With Germany being the territory where the BIRKENSTOCK brand originated, the executive – who worked with Nike for almost 20 years – understands the importance of the country as a key market but is also pursuing ambitious growth targets across the entire region. Part of this effort is placed on bolstering the direct-to-consumer side of the business, whilst also identifying nations where brand recognition can be substantially elevated and sales increased – with the UK and France being two successes, in this regard, thus far. Alongside growing sales Bouyakhf has helped expand BIRKENSTOCK’s loyal fanbase across the continent via a comprehensive direct consumer relations strategy. Bouyakhf, who joined BIRKENSTOCK in May 2021, is also leading a focussed strategy in the region to grow revenues in BIRKENSTOCK’s less iconic categories beyond traditional sandals. This approach can already be seen in the rapidly growing popularity of the BEND sneaker model.

Based in Germany, and constantly traveling across the region, Bouyakhf says creating and fulfilling customer demand is a key part of his role, but there’s much creative strategy that needs to go into bolstering the brand’s success in EMEA. BIRKENSTOCK’s reputation looks set to be elevated even further via Bouyakhf’s European transformation plan that makes the company future-ready in line with its ambitious business projections. From a brand activation perspective, Bouyakhf works closely with BIRKENSTOCK’s brand and creative teams on finding the right tonality, creative execution, and storytelling output to best engage with the many brand lovers as well as noncustomers on the continent.

As CSO, Baumann has the responsibility of running the BIRKENSTOCK group’s global sales operation. In this position, he remains close to all global and brand-relevant themes.

Baumann’s role involves monitoring how products perform in markets across the world and organizing matters around pricing and planning. The connector between the German-headquartered BIRKENSTOCK group, its production teams, product developers, and the regional market operations where sales are driven, Baumann keeps a close eye on multiple facets of the company.

In this dynamic position, he leads BIRKENSTOCK 1774 – working with external brands such as Dior in forming a new type of creative exchange and a unique way to bring new products to BIRKENSTOCK’s global market. Located in Paris, BIRKENSTOCK 1774, was formally launched in 2019 and was born out of the brand’s decades of experience collaborating with fashion designers. 1774 is also informed by the understanding of the inherent value of opening BIRKENSTOCK’s development process to the creativity of external partners. When working with large fashion names like Stüssy, Baumann pushes for partners to imbue products with their personalities, whilst retaining the simplicity of the BIRKENSTOCK product and total functionality of its design. Deeper than just product development, collaborations include tie-ups with media brands such as 032C as well esteemed fashion schools such as London’s Central Saint Martin’s. The latter’s partnership with 1774 saw its top students deeply exploring the BIRKENSTOCK archive to inform daring new footwear designs.

From a sales perspective, Baumann’s ability to discern how 1774 products perform at the highest end of the retail market alongside results from the broader BIRKENSTOCK product range, provides the company a unique market insight.

A footwear aficionado, Baumann worked with Spanish brand Camper in various positions for 17 years, rising up the ranks before joining Birkenstock in 2015.

With extensive experience as a communications executive on the international stage, Jochen Gutzy, Chief Communications Officer, has played a key role in growing BIRKENSTOCK’s respected public image.

Munich-based, Gutzy conceptualizes and executes the brand’s comprehensive global communications strategy, whilst reckoning with the intense media attention that the popular footwear company receives.

Taking an entrepreneurial approach to his work, Gutzy looks to protect the BIRKENSTOCK brand and its unique purpose in an innovative matter as the company continues to grow in the public eye. His previous work experience boded him well in this regard. With a professional fascination for dealing with complex situations, the economist and former journalist launched his own communications consultancy in 2003 – working with a variety of companies from different sectors and varying sizes, from start-ups to large corporates, helping them evolve and deal with growth, transformation, change and crisis. Gutzy joined BIRKENSTOCK in 2013, as Head of Communications. During this time he oversaw communications at the company’s most pivotal historical moment – as the CEO role at the BIRKENSTOCK business was taken over for the first time by a nonfamily member, Oliver Reichert. 

In the years since, Gutzy has spent the majority of his professional life at BIRKENSTOCK, barring an 18-month period where he took the reins at L’Oréal as Director of Corporate Communications for Germany and Austria, the 4th largest market of the global cosmetics giant’s. Returning to BIRKENSTOCK in 2021 his tenure in his executive communications position has seen him guide the brand through the major acquisition from the LVMH-backed L Catterton that same year.

As Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel at BIRKENSTOCK, Heesch oversees the complete legal framework that the brand operates in, internationally, managing all affairs in this section of the business.

Part of BIRKENSTOCK’s executive team, Heesch - the company’s former external Legal Counsel - provides legal guidance to the CEO and senior management concerning everything from IP law and compliance to commercial law including global distribution deals, sales and supply contracts, international litigation, labor law and all other legal matters.

Heesch, who leads a global team of lawyers and legal experts from BIRKENSTOCK’s corporate headquarters in Munich, joined the business in early 2021 after a successful career as an equity partner at Duvinage, a respected Munich-based boutique law firm, which specializes in the field of sports, media, marketing, and communication, working with international stakeholders in the sports and media industry, as well as with startups, and celebrities. Here he offered expertise on everything from corporate and labor law to advertising, and licensing agreements. It is also where he began his work for BIRKENSTOCK, a longterm client of firm. His prior education saw him successfully completing his law studies at the universities of Kiel and Hamburg.

Heesch says dealing with copyright infringements and intellectual property issues - combatting copycat product makers - is a major part of his role. This is a unique challenge for a global brand. For Heesch building up BIRKENSTOCK’s inhouse design and trademark registration practice has been a crucial element of his success with the company alongside tackling copyright infringements in courts of law.

Another growing aspect of Heesch’s work relates to legal compliance as well as forging internal (legal) structures that can support BIRKENSTOCK’s continuing international growth. With BIRKENSTOCK’s reputation for quality and authenticity in the market increasing, Heesch remains proactive in protecting this company’s reputation from a legal standpoint.

As Vice President Global Finance, Hoff manages much of the financial reporting for the global BIRKENSTOCK brand, whilst heading up all of the company’s FP&A (Financial Planning & Analysis).

This level of financial planning and reporting sees him working closely with key managers across the business. Hoff works with company’s Chief Technical Operating Officer, Mark Jensen, in overseeing the FP&A for all production plants, warehouses, and third-party distribution he also works at a group level to create shareholder presentations as well as overseeing all the profit and loss tables for BIRKENSTOCK’s regional businesses.

Beginning his career at consulting firms KPMG and Bakker Tilly, before launching an independent consultancy in Germany and then working as commercial director with Profine Group (a major German B2B player in the building and construction industry), Hoff is an internationally experienced management professional. As BIRKENSTOCK grows as a company and diversifies its offering Hoff, who joined in December 2020, prides himself on creating long-term financial solutions to aid the brand’s international expansion. He says he’s driven in his work by supporting the brand’s core values, which respect long-term thinking and investing, never compromising on quality and supporting market growth. These aspects are reflected in Hoff’s development of the company’s administrative and finance-related departments where he aims to create infrastructure and systems that are adaptable and amenable to this evolving corporate environment.

One landmark project Hoff is currently overseeing, from a financial point of view, is BIRKENSTOCK’s new production facility in Pasewalk, Germany. Here, he looks after the financial control of the biggest single investment in the history of BIRKENSTOCK, a considerable EUR 110 million project.

For almost a decade David Kahan has helped steer BIRKENSTOCK to success in the Americas through his spirited leadership, passion for the footwear industry and keen understanding of the company’s values.

After taking up the post of President, Americas in June 2013, Kahan has championed the Made-in-Germany BIRKENSTOCK product in the region through collaborations with important retailers, in turn boosting brand recognition and helping sales increase.

Kahan, whose previous postings include a key position with Reebok in the USA, has made bold decisions to achieve success. This has led to a significant boosting of BIRKENSTOCKs direct-to-consumer business thanks to the bolstering of the German brand’s own online retail channels in the US. This has led to the BIRKENSTOCK-owned Americas e-commerce business enjoying a good deal of success.

A lover of sneaker culture, Kahan has built up a strong array of contacts thanks to his decades in the industry. From beginning his career journey in the footwear department at retailer Macy’s – to working with Reebok across major collaborations, Kahan’s love for the industry has never wavered. Injecting this passion into BIRKENSTOCK, a brand he refers to as “the most iconic footwear company on the face of the earth”, Kahan is a staunch brand advocate.

While he says opening the brand’s flagship showroom in Soho in 2018, and BIRKENSTOCK winning a Footwear News Achievement Award four times in the past 10 years, are key achievements, he believes there is plenty more to come. As the brand grows internationally, Kahan plans to double-down on promoting what he likes to describe as the “fine German engineering” behind BIRKENSTOCK, and continue to expand its footprint across the region.

Ivica Krolo is an experienced finance executive with a significant operational and financial planning expertise.

He joined the BIRKENSTOCK Group from EMH Partners, a growth investment firm that invests in owner-managed technology companies, where he has served as Partner and CFO since 2015. He was a member of the Investment Advisory Committee and responsible for the areas of finance, tax, legal and corporate administration. 

Prior to this, Ivica Krolo was a Certified Public Auditor and Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he focused on auditing and advising listed and mid-sized companies, and, before that, an Audit Manager and Tax Consultant at Mazars, a leading global professional services network providing audit and assurance, tax, advisory and consulting services. Ivica Krolo holds a Master of Arts in Auditing, Finance and Taxation from the Universities of Applied Sciences Münster and Osnabrück and qualified as German Tax Advisor and Certified Public Auditor in 2013.</p>

As Vice President in charge of Global Sales Management, Stephan Steder and his team serve as the key link between our regional sales organizations and the supply chain, steering global collaboration and strategic alignment to ensure business success and customer satisfaction.

Since joining BIRKENSTOCK in 2017, Steder has played a pivotal role in bridging the gap between regional sales organizations and the supply chain, a crucial function for effective business planning, forecasting and execution. By ensuring seamless communication and collaboration across regions, his goal is to optimize the product flow, manage demand, and proactively address potential supply chain challenges.

Leading a team of 40 experts based in Cologne, Steder oversees on a global scale forecasting, demand planning, merchandising and order management, tasks that require advanced analytical skills and a deep understanding of data to anticipate demand, trends, and future needs.

Before joining BIRKENSTOCK, Steder spent 17 years at the footwear company Camper, where he led global customer operations and managed both B2B (Business to Business) and DTC (Direct to Consumer) teams. Steder began his career at Meliá Hotels International, where he oversaw the credit department for three years.

After studying Finance in Hamburg, Steder, a passionate drummer who played in bands for many years, initially aspired to become a teacher before venturing into the private sector. In his spare time, he enjoys cycling and padel, a popular racquet sport in Spain often played in doubles on an enclosed court surrounded by glass walls and metallic mesh.