News Detail Press

Linz am Rhein ,
30.04.2021

Markus Bensberg steps back from operations while remaining closely linked to the company

With the completion of the closing, Markus Bensberg is stepping back from operations to fully focus on his role as CEO of Alex Birkenstock’s family office. The successful and rapidly growing family office manages Alex Birkenstock's manifold entrepreneurial activities, such as the development of international real estate projects and the management of large properties. As Alex Birkenstock continues to hold a financial stake in BIRKENSTOCK, Markus Bensberg will remain closely connected with the company. Oliver Reichert is the sole CEO of the BIRKENSTOCK Group with immediate effect.

Markus Bensberg can look back on an impressive 30-year career at BIRKENSTOCK. After joining the company in February 1991, he took on a variety of management functions in a wide range of areas of responsibility over the course of three decades, particularly in sales and product development. Since the restructuring of the Group at the end of 2012, Markus Bensberg and Oliver Reichert have jointly led the company, paving the way for a unique success story.

Markus Bensberg: “The successful completion of the closing is a good time for my decision. Those who know me better know that I have always been and will remain very closely connected to the company and the Birkenstock family. BIRKENSTOCK is and will always be my greatest passion. With Oliver Reichert as CEO, I know that BIRKENSTOCK is in the best hands. My thanks go to our employees, customers and partners. I am proud of what we have achieved together in recent years and grateful that I have been able to make a contribution. After three intensive decades, however, I am now looking forward to setting new professional priorities. Besides that I want to give my family more space in the future.”

Oliver Reichert: “I would like to thank Markus Bensberg for his commitment and high level of dedication and for the always excellent cooperation based on trust over the past years. Together, we have repositioned the company in all areas and set the course for tremendous growth through massive investments in product development, production, sales and logistics - creating more than 2,000 new jobs since the end of 2012 and sharpening the profile of BIRKENSTOCK as a global lifestyle brand. Markus Bensberg knows the company and the industry like no one else and has played a key role in shaping the transformation with this wealth of experience. I am therefore pleased that he will remain closely tieds with both me personally and the company.”

Press contact

Jochen Gutzy
Chief Communications Officer

Birkenstock Group B.V. & Co. KG
Burg Ockenfels
53545 Linz

Postal address:
Sedanstraße 4
D-50668 Köln

E-mail:mediabirkenstockcom

About BIRKENSTOCK

BIRKENSTOCK is a global brand which embraces all consumers regardless of geography, gender, age and income and which is committed to a clear purpose - maintaining foot health. Deeply rooted in studies of the biomechanics of the human foot and footed on a family tradition of shoemaking that can be traced back to 1774, BIRKENSTOCK is a timeless «super brand» with a brand universe that transcends product categories and ranges from entry-level to luxury price points while addressing the growing need for a conscious and active lifestyle. Function, quality and tradition are the core values of the lifestyle brand which features products in the footwear, sleep systems and natural cosmetics segments. BIRKENSTOCK is the inventor of the footbed and has shaped the principle of walking as intended by nature (“Naturgewolltes Gehen”).

With around 6,200 employees worldwide, we believe how things are made matters as much as the product itself. To ensure these quality standards, we operate a vertically integrated manufacturing base and produce all our footbeds in Germany. In addition, we assemble over 95% of our products in Germany and we source over 90% of our materials and components from Europe. We process our inputs to the highest environmental and social standards in the industry by operating state-of-the-art scientific laboratories for materials testing.

BIRKENSTOCK runs operational sites in Germany, in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse, Bavaria, Saxony, and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Headquartered in Linz am Rhein, the BIRKENSTOCK Group also operates its own sales offices in the United States and Canada as well as in Brazil, Japan, Denmark, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, the United Kingdom, France, Norway, the Netherlands, Dubai, Singapore and India.

Birkenstock Group B.V. & Co. KG Burg Ockenfels,
Linz am Rhein, Germany

You can find our online shop at www.birkenstock.com