“We are delighted to have Silvio Kirchmair and Michael Hiese, two outstanding industry experts, join our ACROSS Advisory Board,” says Reinhard Winiwarter, founder and publisher of ACROSS. “In a retail world that is increasingly experience-oriented, store design and food retail have gained significant importance. We look forward to working closely with Silvio Kirchmair and learning from his experience in store design. The same applies to food retail. The importance that Food Anchor has gained for shopping centers in recent years cannot be overestimated. Kaufland is a great company taking big, innovative steps, especially in the CEE region. We are therefore all the more pleased to intensify our cooperation with Michael Hiese”.
Silvio Kirchmair
Silvio Kirchmair has been CEO of umdasch The Store Makers since 2013. After graduating in business administration, Silvio Kirchmair began his career in leading marketing and sales positions. Followed by various professional activities as a management or board of directors member at international B2B companies (including Constantia Industries and Hoerbiger).
umdasch The Store Makers provides special retail solutions to realize successful stores. The Store Makers from umdasch create extraordinary worlds of experience for discerning customers. With their four business units – Multistore Solutions, Premium Solutions, Construction Solutions and Digital Solutions – they serve numerous areas of expertise ranging from Design Consulting & Value Engineering to Project Management, General Contracting and Shop Systems through to Digital Retail.
Michael Hiese
Michael Hiese is Chief Real Estate Officer, Kaufland International, an international retail company with over 1,550 stores in eight countries. Kaufland’s store concept combines modern architecture, maximum flexibility, sustainable construction, and comprehensive service – tailored to each location. Hiese has been an integral part of the company for over ten years. Before taking on his current role, he held various positions at Kaufland, including responsibility for strategic international expansion. Before joining the company, he had already gained professional experience at Metro, Obi, and the Saller Group. From the start of his career, he focused on Central and Eastern Europe and lived in the Czech Republic for several years, thus deepening his expertise in the CEE region.
About the ACROSS Advisory Board
The ACROSS Advisory Board was established in mid-2016. From day one, the Board’s stated goal has been to offer its expertise in topic formulation. Over the years, the board has not only grown, but it has also become more interdisciplinary, just like the retail real estate world itself. In addition to shopping center managers, the board includes architects, retail experts, financial experts, PropTech professionals, consultants, and outlet managers. The mix of expertise from the various areas that our industry has to offer makes the ACROSS board unique. That is not only due to the fact that the mixed-use asset class is on the rise, but also because we all know that collaboration and thinking outside of the box are essential to our business. The ACROSS Advisory Board is currently comprised of 30 members. That gives us the opportunity to closely monitor current trends and changes within the industry and to be able to classify them.
