Change at the helm of the OTTO Management Board in 2026: Boris Ewenstein to succeed Marc Opelt
With effect from 1 March 2026, Dr. Boris Ewenstein is set to become the new Chair of the OTTO Management Board. He succeeds Marc Opelt, who is retiring after 35 years in senior positions within the Otto Group, including as OTTO Chief Marketing Officer since 2012 and as chair of the OTTO Management Board since 2018. In addition to Dr. Boris Ewenstein (CEO with responsibility for Retail & Marketplace), Andrea Becker (Finance, HR & Services) and Dr. Michael Müller-Wünsch (Tech), the OTTO Management Board will be augmented in the new financial year by a new board member for Marketing, who will be appointed shortly.
Dr. Boris Ewenstein (48) is an internationally experienced e-commerce manager and has been in charge of OTTO's retail and marketplace business since May 2024. Significant progress has been made in both segments during this period in terms of both product range design and profitable growth. From March 2026, his remit will also include strategy and corporate communications. Before joining OTTO, he was senior vice president with responsibility for supply at Zalando SE until 2023, where he was responsible for product range development and for building up strategic partnerships with international brands. After studying sociology and completing his doctorate in London, Dr Ewenstein worked at McKinsey for over eleven years until 2017, most recently as a partner in Organization Practice, specializing in transformation projects.
Dr. Marcus Ackermann, Executive Board Member for Multichannel Distance Selling at the Otto Group: “I am delighted that we have been able to recruit an internationally experienced leader in Dr. Boris Ewenstein to chair the OTTO Management Board. He will continue the successful development of OTTO together with his colleagues on the Board and, among other things, will provide new impetus in the important future field of AI commerce.”
Marc Opelt (63) started his career at OTTO in 1990, moved to OTTO Büro & Technik (now OTTO Office) in 1994 and was promoted to executive level two years later. In 2000, he joined the management team of Eddie Bauer Germany in Munich, where he was responsible for purchasing, sales, human resources and e-commerce and later became senior vice president for the North American direct business in Seattle. in 2005, Opelt joined the board of the Baur Group where he was responsible for marketing, sales and e-commerce, before being appointed Chair of the Management Board in 2009.
He returned to Hamburg in 2012 and, as OTTO's Head of Marketing, was responsible for the growing online store otto.de, brand management and for the development of business intelligence initiatives. Opelt was appointed CEO of OTTO in 2018. In this position, he was responsible for the successful transformation of the Otto Group's highest-revenue company from an online retailer to Germany's largest shopping platform with over twelve million active customers, around 6,200 marketplace partners and revenue of 7 billion euros based on gross merchandise volume in the 2024/25 financial year.
Dr Marcus Ackermann: “Marc Opelt has successfully shaped OTTO's transformation to become Germany's largest online store and a leading e-commerce platform, making it fit for the future. He has earned our well-deserved thanks for the extremely successful work he has undertaken and for the admirable way he has identified with the values of our group of companies. We want to wish Marc all the best for the years ahead.”
Prof. Dr. Michael Otto, Chair of the Foundation and Shareholders' Council and Honorary Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Otto Group: “Marc Opelt has rendered outstanding services for OTTO and the Otto Group over the past couple of decades. Without his commitment and his astounding expertise, OTTO would not be what it is today: an excellently positioned future-proof company within the Otto Group. I would like to thank him most sincerely for his many years of great engagement on behalf of our Group. I wish Marc Opelt the best of health, time to enjoy his passions and, above all, time to spend with his family in the future.”
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About Otto Group
With a strong heritage as a family business and firmly rooted values, the Otto Group is looking to the future with confidence. Over the past 75 years, the company has developed from a catalog-based mail order company into an international digital retail and services group with 36,300 employees and a large number of key companies, brands and holdings in over thirty countries, primarily in Germany, the rest of Europe and North America. Its business activities extend to the Platforms, Brand Concepts, Retailers, Services and Financial Services segments. In the 2024/25 financial year (ending February 28), the Otto Group generated revenues of 15 billion euros. As the largest online retailer of European origin, it is shaping the digital retail and digital services of the future by drawing on its strength, market significance and values. Driven by a passionate and entrepreneurial performance culture, the Group is exploiting its vast market expertise and technological competence to inspire its many millions of customers with high-quality products, unique choice of goods and an array of services. The Otto Group is proof that a value-oriented approach and business success can go hand in hand. Environmental protection has been another corporate objective since 1986. It takes its ecological, social and digital responsibility seriously – and will continue to do so.