Volker Marmetschke served the ElectronicPartner buying group for around 20 years and was appointed to the board in 2019. In this role, he was responsible for Finance, Internal Audit, and Legal. From 2025 onwards, he will bring his extensive expertise to Haubrich Holding, the company owned by the founding family of ElectronicPartner. His successor is 34-year-old former auditor Greta Ziob, who took over the Tax and Accounting department at ElectronicPartner at the beginning of 2023. "Over the past year and a half, I’ve had the opportunity to gain deep insights into the buying group’s processes and to recognize the potential and opportunities within its sometimes complex structures. Now, I’m very much looking forward to this new challenge, especially because I know I have a fantastic team by my side," explains the incoming board member.
With Karl Trautmann, a long-standing industry figure is stepping off the stage of the consumer and home electronics world. After training as a banker and studying economics, he transitioned from the banking sector into the exciting world of retail – a sector to which he has remained loyal to this day. He joined ElectronicPartner in July 1990. To fully embrace the DNA of specialist retail, he initially managed an electronics store on Düsseldorf’s Königsallee for two and a half years. He then moved on to roles as branch and field service manager in Hamburg before returning to the buying group’s headquarters in North Rhine-Westphalia in 1995. There, he became the first head of the new Multimedia Purchasing division. In 2001, he was appointed to the management board. Over the course of 23 years as a board member, he assumed responsibility for various areas, including Sales, national and international Purchasing, the brands MEDIMAX, EP:, and comTeam, international business, support for the national subsidiaries, Public Relations, and most recently, Sustainability. "I have always truly enjoyed my work and have been deeply committed to supporting small and medium-sized retail. It has been an honor to give my all for over 30 years for 'my team' – this unique company ElectronicPartner, its motivated employees, amazing members, and dedicated franchise partners," says Karl Trautmann.
To ensure a smooth transition on the board, the management team set important changes in motion early on: Karl Trautmann handed over responsibility for the comTeam technology network to IT board member Matthias Assmann at the start of last year. More recently, he also transferred responsibility for the Dutch ElectronicPartner subsidiary. Now, Public Relations will also be managed by Matthias Assmann. Greta Ziob will take over the Sustainability division. Responsibility for the subsidiaries in Austria and Switzerland has been assumed by board member Friedrich Sobol.
"It is one of our company's strengths to make the necessary decisions at the right time and implement them in a well-planned manner. We are particularly pleased to be streamlining our board from four to three members and to welcome a young, dynamic colleague to the team, which perfectly reflects our vision of an effective and modern leadership culture – one that is essential for a successful future," emphasizes Friedrich Sobol. He adds: "I am sure I speak for the entire company when I wholeheartedly thank Karl Trautmann and Volker Marmetschke for their dedication and wish them all the very best for their future paths!"
