He took over the position from founder Hans Dobke and started in his new role on 03. April 2023. Stephan Schäfer reports directly to Hans Dobke, who is now Chairmann of OCI.
Previously, Stephan Schäfer was OCI´s Managing Director in Germany, and has already been working for OCI since 2004. During this time, he was responsible for the development and the leasing of phases 2 and 3 as well as the management of Designer Outlet Zweibrücken — currently “Zweibrücken Fashion Outlet” — and later the establishment and development of Designer Outlets Wolfsburg.
Already in the year 2000, Stephan Schäfer began to be involved in Factory Outlet Centers, when he was with Cushman & Wakefield in Frankfurt leasing several retail assets, including the outlet center in Zweibrücken, which was under construction at the time. He is an experienced professional in retail, leasing, and development, and a trained retailer, who completed his university education in economics, majoring in retail and marketing at the University for Applied Sciences in Düsseldorf. He is also a Certified Shopping Center Manager of the European Business School.
“25 years after founding OCI, we want to open a new chapter. Having worked closely with Mr. Schäfer over many years and through many challenges, I see today OCI in good hands and I am sure that he will continue to successfully manage and further develop the assets commissioned to us”, comments Hans Dobke, Founder and Chairman of OCI.
“I feel very honored about this new task”, adds Stephan Schäfer. Together with our strong management team and our hard-working colleagues we want to further increase our potential. Designer Outlet Centers have proven highly resilient towards various economic challenges, and we want to benefit from this solid foundation in the future even more.”
