Dr. Bernd Kundrun, born in 1957, took his degree in Management Studies at the universities of Münster and Innsbruck. In 1984 he became executive assistant at the Bertelsmann Club GmbH, where he was appointed director of sales in 1987.
In 1989 he took up the position of CEO Marketing at the same company. In this post he was responsible for membership acquisition/direct marketing and all catalog operations. At the start of 1993 he became Chairman of the Management Board at the Bertelsmann Club.
Since 1994 Dr. Kundrun has been Chief Executive at Premiere Medien GmbH & Co. KG in Hamburg. Since then, the television station has successfully doubled its numbers of subscribers to 1.5 million, making it Germany´s fourth largest private broadcasting station (based on sales).
Dr. Bernd Kundrun was appointed to the Executive Board of Gruner + Jahr in August 1997, heading up the newspapers division from then until October 31, 2000, being responsible for BERLINER ZEITUNG, SÄCHSISCHE ZEITUNG, FINANCIAL TIMES DEUTSCHLAND as well as NOVÝ CAS, BLIC and other national newspapers in Eastern Europe.
Dr. Bernd Kundrun was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of the international publishing house Gruner + Jahr AG, Europe´s biggest magazine publisher, on November 1, 2000 as well as Member of the Executive Board of Bertelsmann AG. More than 11,000 employees in 10 countries on three continents work for Gruner + Jahr on more than 110 newspapers and magazines as well as corresponding online services. In the 2003 financial year Gruner + Jahr generated sales of ? 2.5 billion. G+J is the most international publisher in the world, with 63 per cent of total sales generated by business outside Germany. Gruner + Jahr stands for editorial independence, quality journalism and the best service for readers as well as printing-, sales- and advertising customers.
Dr. Bernd Kundrun is married and has one child.