Management
CEO
Member of the board of Supervisory directors
Edel Management SE
Dr. Jonas Haentjes
Jonas is a passionate family man, music lover, sportsman, technology- and nature fan. Born in Hamburg in 1985, a few months before Edel was founded, he went to school there and in the USA. He studied medicine, but after graduation decided he would rather go to a desk and follow his passion: entrepreneurship. At Roland Berger and Monitor Deloitte, he spent five years advising international pharmaceutical and medical technology companies on strategy, sales and R&D issues. In 2016, he joined Edel and has been CEO of the company since 2018.
On the weekends, Jonas pursues a variety of outdoor hobbies where he comes up with entrepreneurial ideas. He is also passionate about cooking and listens to a lot of music (not only while doing so). This drives him through all genres, from classical and jazz to dance, rock and metal, and through almost all media – streaming, vinyl and the occasional CD. However, he largely leaves his own trumpet in the closet.
Chairman of the board of supervisory directors Edel Management SE
Michael Haentjes
Michael loves his big family, his children, stepchildren and grandchildren. He is also a big fan of Africa and cars. He was born in Cologne in 1956, went to school there and studied musicology. After working for a short time as a music teacher and journalist, he was drawn to music in a different way: he was employed for several years in various positions at WEA, the predecessor of Warner Music. Since he was unsuccessful in further jobs as an employee, he went into business for himself in 1986 and developed Edel from a one-man company into a successful medium-sized enterprise. Intermittent attempts to turn the company into a global corporation fortunately failed.
Michael spends a lot of time on the roads of near and very far countries. He also enjoys cooking or visiting one of his favorite restaurants. More bad than good he plays keyboard in a blues band with his brothers and occasionally his Hammond organ. He is a very regular visitor to the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.
Chairwoman of the supervisory board of Edel SE & Co. KGaA and Deputy chairwoman of the board of directors o Edel Management SE
Sabine Eckhardt
Sabine Eckhardt is a German manager and member of the Supervisory Board. Since March 2023, she has chaired the Supervisory Board of Edel SE & Co. KGaA since March 2023. Sabine Eckhardt has also been Deputy Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Edel Management SE since March 2023.
She also sits on the Supervisory Board of Ceconomy AG and the Supervisory Board of Unicredit Bank. In addition to her Supervisory Board activities, she also works as a Senior Advisor for the consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in the global media segment and holds a teaching position at the Technical University of Munich. She was previously CEO for Central Europe in 13 countries at the Fortune 500 property company Jones Lang LaSalle SE.
Prior to that, she worked in the media industry for over 20 years, most recently as a member of the Executive Board of the Dax/MDax group ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE. In this role, she was responsible for marketing, all advertising sales and the monetisation of all of the Group’s content.
Eckhardt has extensive knowledge of digitalisation topics and consumer behaviour and is considered to be very experienced in transformation. She is a Germanist and philosopher and studied in Munich and Pisa.
Member of the supervisory board of
Edel SE & CO. KGaA
Dr. Joerg Pfuhl
Since March 2021, Dr Joerg Pfuhl has been a member of the Supervisory Board of Edel SE & Co. KGaA since March 2021 (previously of Edel AG from 2012 to 2016). He has been active in the media industry for over 25 years and was, among other things, Chairman of the Management Board of Verlagsgruppe Random House from 2002 to 2011 and of Holtzbrinck Buchverlage from 2016 to 2020; he was also Honorary Chairman of the Board of Stiftung Lesen for ten years from 2011.
Dr Pfuhl has international management experience and extensive experience in the financial sector. He has been involved in the digital transformation of media markets for over 20 years, both in operational responsibility and on various advisory boards (including Cornelsen Bildungsholding, Audible, Skoobe). Dr Pfuhl studied business administration at Saarland University and the ESC Lyon. He earned his doctorate in auditing and has worked as a lecturer at various German universities.
Member of the supervisory board of Edel SE & Co. KGaA
Charles Caldas
Charles Caldas has been a member of the Supervisory Board of Edel SE & Co. KGaA since March 2022. He is also a member of the Supervisory Board of Azadi Records in India and an advisor to the Japanese company NexTone Inc.
Mr Caldas is a co-partner of the US investment fund Excelleration Music, which specialises in the music sector. He has decades of experience in the global music industry and digital media landscape and has also been associated with the Edel Group for a long time. Caldas has a deep understanding of the mechanisms and dynamics of the globalisation of the music industry as well as of digital customer needs and market developments.
During his career, he already served as CEO of the Shock Entertainment Group, the Australian distribution partner of the Edel Group at the time, in the 1990s. He was also CEO of the Dutch Merlin B.V. Merlin represents the digital rights of independent record companies in over 58 countries worldwide, including the Edel Group. In his twelve years at Merlin, he signed landmark deals with clients such as Spotify, YouTube, Tencent and Google. He led the company through a tremendous period of growth, generating over USD 2bn in revenue for its members and establishing Merlin as a global music powerhouse.