Munich, July 15, 2021 – The Avantgarde Group, Munich, appoints Dr. Marc Schumacher (43) to the management board of the world’s leading brand experience company as of July 15, 2021. He will assume the role of Co-CEO and will lead the company together with Avantgarde’s founder and long-standing CEO, Martin Schnaack.
Martin Schnaack says: “Avantgarde is in the next phase of growth. We are delighted to having gained Marc Schumacher, an experienced and recognized leader with proven marketing, sales and service expertise as well as far-reaching strategic skills. His many years of experience in retail and in advising leading global brands as well as his dynamic personality and customer focus are a perfect fit for our company and our long-term goals. The entire Avantgarde management team is looking forward to working closely with Marc. It is our shared ambition to provide the Avantgarde Group with long-term impetus and to utilize the great potential that is arising in particular from the current transformation in retail and the megatrend of the experience economy for our growth course.”
Dr. Marc Schumacher: “I am very much looking forward to this new role and especially to working alongside Martin Schnaack as Co-CEO. Martin and his team have built a great company that has developed a leading role in the areas of brand experience and retail innovation in its global work with and for top global brands. It’s not often you get the chance to play a key role in continuing such a success story in such an exciting business. I am sure that we can add further chapters to this story.”
Schumacher was born in Bremerhaven. After graduating from high school, he studied business administration at the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University in Stuttgart and also worked at Hugo Boss AG in Metzingen. He then moved to the management of E. Breuninger GmbH & Co. in Stuttgart, where he was involved in the transformation of the company into a luxury and lifestyle department store. At the same time, he completed the MBA program at the Leipzig Graduate School of Management, where he subsequently earned his doctorate at the Chair of Marketing. In 2011, he was appointed Chief Retail Officer on the Management Board of Tom Tailor Holding AG, Hamburg. Since 2015, Schumacher has been Managing Partner of the Liganova Group, Stuttgart, which designs and implements holistic brand and retail experiences for leading global brands.