Ex-CMO Ottokar Rosenberger named CEO of Rated People

Ottokar Rosenberger is returning to Rated People as its new CEO 15 years after he served as the company’s commercial director.

The online tradesperson marketplace was in its infancy when Rosenberger joined the business in 2008, he explains, noting he was only its 11th employee at that time and he immediately set about implementing a range of commercial initiatives that remain core to the business to this day.

“The brand, the PR, the paid search, the SEO, the commercial proposition, the consumer proposition, the rating system, all of it had to be built,” Rosenberger tells Marketing Week, adding that the opportunity at that time to work in the “entrepreneurial” world was a key driver in where his career progressed.

He describes returning to the company after all this time as a chance to “build on what I started” and that his prior experience gives him a head start in driving the company forward. “Obviously it has grown so much since I left, but it’s a big plus to have that knowledge of what makes it tick,” he adds.

Four barriers stopping marketers making CEO and how to overcome themRosenberger describes the business as being “very close to his heart” and says he is excited to “drive it forward” in the next stage of its development. Rated People’s current CEO Adrienne Minster is going on maternity leave.

Rosenberger started his career at Procter & Gamble before holding marketing roles at BT, Rated People, eHarmony and Betfair before taking on the CMO position at travel firm Hostelworld Group. A self-styled entrepreneur, he eventually got his opportunity to serve as CEO at Dreamlines, a German travel agency, where he guided the company through the Covid-19 pandemic.

‘Right hand to the CEO’: Marketers on the changing demands of the CMOHaving left that role in August 2022, Rosenberger has spent the past 10 months undertaking a coaching accreditation to help him become a better leader and believes the course has taught him to “learn more about myself” and reflect upon his strengths and weaknesses.

His return to Rated People is testament to never closing a door when you leave a company, he says. “Whenever you change your career or finish the job, make sure you keep the relationships intact,” he adds. “Make sure you leave it in a better state than it was when you took it on. People will remember that. Businesses will remember the person and I think that is what has happened here with Rated People.”

Rosenberger starts in the role tomorrow. Marketing Week will have a full profile of his career to-date in an upcoming Story of my CV article.