RTL Group today announced the appointment of Andreas Fischer (46) as RTL Group’s new Senior Vice President Business Development and Regional Operations CEE & Asia, effective 1 January 2017. In this capacity, he will succeed Andreas Rudas and report to RTL Group Co-CEO Guillaume de Posch.

With his contract as Executive Vice President Regional Operations & Business Development CEE and Asia ending as of 31 December 2016 and his 63rd birthday approaching in November, RTL Group and Andreas Rudas decided by mutual agreement that Andreas Rudas will continue to serve RTL Group as a consultant with a focus on RTL Hungary as from 1 January 2017. In this capacity, he will keep his seat on the Board of RTL Hungary and will be elected Vice-Chairman of the Board.

Andreas Fischer will take over Andreas Rudas’ role at RTL Group, overseeing the broadcasting operations in Croatia, Hungary, Southeast Asia and the German radio business on a day-to-day basis. In this capacity, Andreas Fischer will be elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of RTL Hungary, RTL Croatia, RTL Radio Deutschland and RTL CBS Asia Entertainment Network. Gabriella Vidus, CEO of RTL Hungary, Henning Tewes, CEO of RTL Croatia, and Gert Zimmer, CEO of RTL Radio Deutschland, will report to Guillaume de Posch.

In his future role, Andreas Fischer will continue to manage and co-ordinate RTL Group’s Synergy Committees and business development activities. Additionally, he will become a member of the RTL Group Operations Management Committee (OMC).

A joint statement from Anke Schäferkordt and Guillaume de Posch, Co-CEOs of RTL Group, says: “On behalf of RTL Group, we would like to wholeheartedly thank Andreas Rudas for his service and dedication to our Group. As Chairman of the Board of RTL Hungary – and for a few months in 2015 as Interim CEO – he was decisive to steer the company through the difficult times that it has been facing in recent years. We are happy that we were able to secure Andreas Rudas’ expertise as he will continue to work as a consultant to the Group.”

“We are very pleased that we have found a successor for Andreas Rudas from within RTL Group. In 16 years in different roles at RTL Group, Andreas Fischer gained detailed and extensive knowledge of the markets, our company and our strategy. With this vast experience, he is the perfect fit to continue the work that was started by Andreas Rudas in Asia and continue our success story in Central and Eastern Europe – and for German radio. We wish him all the best for his new role.”

Andreas Fischer, born in 1970, started his career at RTL Group in 2000 and has worked in various functions before joining RTL Group’s Strategy & Controlling department in 2010, where he became Vice President Mergers & Acquisitions in 2011. Since 2013, he has been managing and coordinating the activities of RTL Group’s Synergy Committees, in close collaboration with the Co-CEOs, the chairmen of the various committees and the OMC. In September 2015, Andreas Fischer became Senior Vice President Business Development & Emerging Markets, reporting to Andreas Rudas, under the authority of the Co-CEOs of RTL Group.

Andreas Rudas, born in 1953, was appointed Executive Vice President Regional Operations & Business Development CEE and Asia with effect from 1 January 2009. In this capacity, he has been developing business opportunities in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as in Asia, reporting to Guillaume de Posch. He also oversees RTL Group’s operations in Croatia, Hungary and the German radio business. From 10 March 2015 until 30 June 2015, Andreas Rudas was Interim CEO of RTL Hungary.