The brands
Karl Markgraf
Chief Executive Officer & Chief Information Officer
Karl Markgraf has been Group CEO as well as a member of the Management Board of the FTI GROUP since July 2023. Since July 2022 he has been Group CIO and at the same CIO of the Tour Operator. He continues to hold both positions.
The business administration graduate most recently worked for the software company TeamViewer AG in Göppingen. As CIO and COO, he managed the IT landscape, digitalisation, eCommerce and procurement processes, quality management and global technical support. In this role, Karl Markgraf and other C-level colleagues were instrumental in the successful IPO of the software company in September 2019, one of the largest German tech IPOs since spring 2000. Prior to that, he worked for 20 years in the E.ON Group, most recently as Managing Director of the global IT and Shared Service Organisation.
Lars Creutzmann
Chief Financial Officer
With Lars Creutzmann as CFO, the Group is restructuring its finance organization. He was previously Group CFO and Managing Director at the Europcar Mobility Group in Hamburg, where he was responsible for and managed the finance transformation, the integration of the Buchbinder Group as well as performance and optimization programs.
Lars Creutzmann also represents the FTI GROUP as a registered Managing Director.
Casper Urhammer
Chief Executive Officer Tour Operating
Casper Urhammer leads the tour operator business of the group as CEO Tour Operating. This includes end to end ownership of all Distribution, Marketing, Operation and Product activities, as well as Finance, IT and HR. Urhammer joined the FTI GROUP in March 2022 and was previously Group CEO at DK Travel Holding in Zurich, Group CEO at Contiki Holidays as well as Managing Director at Groupon in London and Sydney.
Sabine Dorn
Chief Executive Officer Hotels & DMCs
The hotel segment of the FTI GROUP is managed by Sabine Dorn in her function as CEO Hotels. The portfolio includes around 60 hotels with six brands, first and foremost Labranda Hotels & Resorts, in a total of eight countries. As CEO DMCs she is responsible for the Destination Management Companies of the FTI GROUP and is thus in charge of the group's own agencies with around 40 representatives in 17 countries. Dorn was most recently Senior Vice President Operations Northern Europe at Accor after taking over as President Europe at Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts in September 2018.
Maria Escobar
Chief Talent & Culture Officer
As CTCO, a position that was newly created in May 2022, Maria Escobar manages Talents & Culture across the whole group. Previously, she was Global Head of Talent & Culture and Interim Head of HR where she was responsible for the international staff of the Tour Operator segment. Before joining the company in 2021, the psychologist and HR professional worked, among others, for Emirates and Coca-Cola.
James Lamb
Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer
James has been with the FTI Group since April 2021, and as Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer he is accountable for planning, delivering and monitoring the Group-wide Transformation of FTI Group, as well as all Strategic and M&A related projects. Prior to joining the Group, James was Head of Strategy & Corporate Finance with Mövenpick Hotels, where he led the successful Transformation and sale. Before this, James spent 10 years working in both Corporate Finance and Equity Markets in London and Frankfurt.
Naguib S. Sawiris
Chairman of the Supervisory Board
Mr. Naguib S. Sawiris leads Maat, a multinational asset management firm.
He is the Chairman of the Board at FTI GROUP since July 2023 and at Orascom Development Holding AG (ODH) since May 2022 after having served ODH as Vice Chairman of the Board from 2020 to May 2022 and Member of the Board from 2016 to 2020. He currently serves on the boards of Andermatt Swiss Alps since 2020 and Tawkify since 2019.
Mr. Sawiris was also the Founder/CEO from 2013 to 2020 and Chairman of the Board from 2020 to 2022 of Yup Technologies Inc., an education technology company that was sold to Prenda, the leading provider of publicly-funded microschools, in 2022.
Since 2021, he has been serving as the Founding Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Manara, Egypt's first non-profit boarding school, with a distinct focus on leadership development.
Ralph Schiller
Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board
Ralph Schiller has been Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board since July 2023. From 2011 to 2023 he was in the management of the FTI GROUP. From 2021 to June 2023, he lead the entire FTI GROUP as Group CEO.
Before joining the FTI GROUP Ralph worked for Reiseland GmbH & Co. KG, Otto Freizeit Touristik GmbH and Rewe Touristik GmbH. He thus looks back on more than 30 years of experience in international tourism and was instrumental in shaping the first stage of the Group's ongoing transformation processes.
Katrin Koller
Member of the Board (Employee representative)
Katrin Koller has been with the FTI GROUP since 2010 and initially started her career within the group as sonnenklar.TV editor before moving to KAIRABA Lounge GmbH as event manager in 2018. 2022 she moved to Talents & Culture where she has been appointed Group Engagement Manager, focusing on continuously improving the employee experience, including culture and values.
Since 2017, she has also been on the board of the employee trust Teamforum.