Wolfram Keil

"Several times, individual managers attempted to transform Signa into a more ordinary company. Around 2015, a group led by the businessman Wolfram Keil, who had previously worked for Procter & Gamble, endeavored to modernize the company. The Zurich consulting firm Eden was hired, and an employee survey was commissioned. There was talk of leadership development and of guidelines that they wanted to establish. However, at some point, the initiative fizzled out because Benko seemed to have no interest in it."

"What did not change: Benko wanted to continue making both small and large decisions. When he went on trips, he filled his pockets with countless printouts to work through on the plane or in the car. It could take weeks before he engaged with them and made a decision. Until then, nothing happened. Thus, Benko, who had always spoken of quick decision-making paths, unintentionally slowed down the pace of Signa. His unwillingness to give the company an organization that would have been appropriate for its size also had fatal effects. A long-time leading expert at Signa, the finance and trade expert Wolfram Keil, summarizes: "René Benko had completely tailored the company to himself and did not change that even when Signa had grown significantly and became a conglomerate. Almost all important decisions had to be made by him. Thus, he became a bottleneck for the entire organization.""

"Benko's relationship with long-time top executives like the Chairman of the luxury trading division, Wolfram Keil, has also completely cooled. Keil signed a two-year contract in autumn 2023, although he was already largely disillusioned at that time. His reasoning: "We wanted to continue driving the trading business with luxury houses to achieve the goal of a European luxury group. After that, I wanted to do something else.""