HORNBACH Group: Dr. Joanna Kowalska to be new CFO of HORNBACH Baumarkt AG and HORNBACH Management AG
Bornheim (Palatinate), Germany, April 30, 2025.
The Supervisory Boards of HORNBACH Baumarkt AG and HORNBACH Management AG have appointed Dr. Joanna Kowalska as a new member of their Boards of Management and as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of both companies as of August 15, 2025. Vacant since April 1, 2025, the CFO position on both Boards of Management has now been filled. Dr. Joanna Kowalska will receive a contract with a three-year term. Until the new CFO officially assumes her position, Albrecht Hornbach and Erich Harsch will continue to manage the finance departments at HORNBACH Management AG and HORNBACH Baumarkt AG respectively on an interim basis.
A graduate in business administration, Dr. Joanna Kowalska (47) began her career in 2001 at the auditing firm and tax consultancy KPMG in Düsseldorf, where she successfully qualified as a tax consultant in 2005. In parallel with her professional commitments, she obtained a doctorate at the Poznan University of Economics (Poland) in 2009. In 2008, Dr. Joanna Kowalska moved to the OBI Group in Wermelskirchen (Germany), where she held various international management positions in the finance department, including as Director of Group Accounting, Tax & Transfer Pricing, and was a member of the General Management Team. From April 2022, she was responsible as Managing Director, Senior Vice President, and member of the extended Management Board for corporate financial management, transformation initiatives, as well as group-wide financial and reporting processes. In addition, she is a proven sustainability expert, with an ESG certificate from the University of Oxford. At the OBI Group, she was responsible for the sustainable finance strategy and global reporting. Alongside her international management perspective, Dr. Joanna Kowalska can also contribute extensive experience in digitalizing and automating business processes. As a certified supervisory board member, she has in-depth knowledge of governance, risk, and compliance.
As the HORNBACH Group’s CFO, from mid-August 2025 Dr. Joanna Kowalska will be responsible for Finance, Tax, Group Controlling, Risk Management, Internal Audit, Legal, Compliance, and Investor Relations.
“Thanks to her longstanding experience in finance and her international background, Dr. Joanna Kowalska is outstandingly well qualified to manage the finance division at the HORNBACH Group. We very much look forward to working together with her to shape our future”, comments Albrecht Hornbach, Chief Executive Officer of HORNBACH Management AG and Supervisory Board Chair of HORNBACH Baumarkt AG.
“With Dr. Kowalska, we have successfully gained an experienced manager for the HORNBACH Group. Given her proven sector expertise not just in retail, but quite specifically with DIY stores and garden centers, she will be a superb addition to the Board of Management and the whole group of companies”, stresses Erich Harsch, Chief Executive Officer of HORNBACH Baumarkt AG and member of the Board of Management of HORNBACH Management AG.
HORNBACH Management AG is the General Partner of HORNBACH Holding AG & Co. KGaA. The Board of Management at the General Partner manages the business of the KGaA and represents this to third parties. All shares in HORNBACH Management AG are held by Hornbach Familien-Treuhandgesellschaft mbH.
About the HORNBACH Group
The HORNBACH Group is an independent, family-run retail group managed by HORNBACH Holding AG & Co. KGaA, which is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and included in the SDAX. Its largest subsidiary, HORNBACH Baumarkt AG, operates 173 DIY megastores with garden centers (including specialist stores) and online shops in nine European countries. The HORNBACH Group also includes HORNBACH Baustoff Union, a regional builders’ merchant company with 39 locations in southwestern Germany and France, and HORNBACH Immobilien AG, which develops retail real estate for the Group. In the 2024/25 financial year (balance sheet date: February 28, 2025), the HORNBACH Group generated net sales of Euro 6.2 billion, making it one of the top five retailers for DIY and garden products in Europe. The Group has around 25,000 employees.
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