CEO sport&lifestyle division ; Chairman of the Administrative Board of PUMA SE ; PPR’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Member of the PPR Executive Committee

 
Born on April 6, 1963 in Mannheim, Germany, Jochen Zeitz is currently PPR's Sport & Lifestyle Group CEO ; Chairman of the Administrative Board of PUMA SE and PPR’s Chief Sustainability Officer .
Zeitz attended the European Business School rather than follow in his family's footsteps of becoming a medical doctor and in 1986, he graduated in International Marketing and Finance, after having studied in Germany, France, and the United States. He began his professional career with Colgate-Palmolive in New York and Hamburg. Zeitz joined PUMA in 1990 and in 1993 was appointed Chairman and CEO of PUMA becoming the youngest Chairman in German history to head a public company at the age of 30. Zeitz has spearheaded and held primary responsibility for the restructuring of PUMA, which was in financial difficulties at the time. Zeitz managed to turn PUMA from a low price brand into a premium Sportlifestyle company and one of the top 3 brands in the sporting good industry by sticking to a long-term development plan that he introduced in 1993. Zeitz was the longest serving CEO of a public DAX/MDAX company in Germany.

Jochen Zeitz is a member of the Executive committee of PPR and has been a member of the Board of Directors of Harley Davidson since 2007. He has received numerous awards during his professional career, including "2001 Entrepreneur of the Year", "Strategist of the Year" for three years in a row by the Financial Times, "Trendsetter of the Year" and "Best of European Business Award 2006". In 2004, the German Federal President awarded him with the Federal Cross of Merit of the Republic of Germany.