Maison Moderne will recruit a replacement as CEO and Koedinger will focus on the firm’s international expansion plans.
The news was announced on Wednesday evening during a financial sector conference organised by the Paperjam Club and in an article published in Paperjam magazine, both also produced by Maison Moderne.
Koedinger will become chairman of the board later this year. He had been an ordinary member of the board, but will take over the chairman’s post when Jean-Claude Bintz’s three-year term ends in June. Bintz will then be named vice chair.
The other members of the board--Daniel Schneider, an outside director; Francis Gasparotto, Maison Moderne’s sales director; Guido Kröger, head of the firm’s graphics studio; and Etienne Velasti, its administrative and financial director--will remain in place.
Growth plans
The company’s headcount is set to shortly pass 100, and Maison Moderne’s board decided to launch its CEO recruitment efforts publically. “We have chosen to formalise our evolution in total transparency,” stated Bintz. “We are ahead of schedule on our growth plan”, which was adopted in 2014, he added.
“We would like to accelerate our development, primarily, in the digital, native [advertising] and live [event] sectors”, said Koedinger. “Because of our particular position as the leading independent media company in Luxembourg, we also want to guarantee our readers access to quality information, with relevant analysis of economic, political and social issues. And thus contribute to the modernisation and societal change in Luxembourg.”
The new CEO is expected to start later this year, with a handover phase running through 2018, stated Schneider. “Maison Moderne will be reinvented for its 25th anniversary in 2019.”
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The executive will take over an SME in “impeccable condition”: each media brand is a clear leader in its category, turnover is constantly growing (it was €11m in 2016) and returns are “high for the sector,” according to Koedinger.
Bintz explained the goals for the new chief: “They will have to strengthen the overall organisation of the company and manage its digital transformation. We would also like to become a benchmark employer in the communication and press sector, both in Luxembourg and in the Greater Region. And finally, we’re looking to maximise the return on investment for our clients, members and advertisers.”