Head of communications leaves Otto Group after 22 years

Thomas Voigt, long-standing vice president of group corporate communications and public affairs at the Otto Group, is leaving the retail group.

Voigt, who has worked for the Hamburg-based company for 22 years, will hand over the reins to Annette Siragusano on March 1, 2026, the Otto Group announced on Friday. Martin Zander will serve as deputy in the area of corporate communications, while Bernd Rakers will continue to head the Otto Group's Berlin public affairs office. Both report directly to Siragusano.

“With Thomas Voigt's move to Annette Siragusano, a successful era comes to an end and an equally new one certainly begins,” said Petra Scharner-Wolff, chief executive officer of the Otto Group. “We are extremely pleased that in Annette Siragusano, we have found an extremely experienced, agile and strategically savvy communicator and team player for this challenging task, with whom we will continue to set standards in corporate communications in very challenging times.”

From within company’s own ranks

The new head of communications comes from within the company’s own ranks. Siragusano has been working as division manager of group corporate communications at the Otto Group since October 2022. Before that, she was responsible for corporate communications at Comdirect Bank AG, which is listed on the stock exchange, for many years and worked as global head of content strategy and cross channel campaign management at real estate service provider Engel & Völkers Group.

Her future deputy, Martin Zander, gained experience as a state political correspondent for the DDP news agency and as an editor for television station Sat.1. Subsequently, the lawyer and journalist was editor-in-chief at video production service Mhoch4 and senior vice president of communications at Yapital, an online payment system developed by Otto, before becoming division manager of group corporate communications at the Hamburg-based retail group in May 2016.

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