by Christo Volschenk
Edyta Sadowska (43) will take over as CEO of Ringier Axel Springer Mediaʼs Polish subsidiary on January 1, 2012. That is when current CEO Andreas Tilk (51) will step down, the company said.

Tilk chose not to renew his contract for family reasons, after completing the integration of the former Axel Springer subsidiary into the new joint venture of Ringier Axel Springer Media at the end of the year. Sadowska has worked in the Warsaw office as chief financial officer (CFO) for Axel Springer and later Ringier Axel Springer since 2005.

Florian Fels, CEO of Ringier Axel Springer Media AG said “Andreas Tilk did an excellent job over the last 18 months. We respect his decision not to renew his contract. His contribution to the biggest subsidiary of our joint venture puts us in a position to start taking steps towards digitization.”

The Polish subsidiary of the Ringier Axel Springer Media joint venture operates two of Poland’s leading job platforms, namely Stepstone.pl and Praca.info. It is quite possible that the “digitization steps” referred to by Fels will include investment in other classified platforms.

In a separate move, Ringier Axel Springer Media Poland created a new division for online in October this year, which pulled together all the internet businesses of the Polish subsidiary. Michael Fijoł, head of internet operations up to that point, was replaced with Alexei Uchański, who now carries the title of director of the newly created online division.

Ringier Axel Springer Media AG is a 50:50 joint venture of Swiss media group Ringier and German media group Axel Springer, created in 2010 to bundle their international activities in central and eastern Europe. The joint venture publishes more than 100 print titles and operates more than 70 web sites. The company is based in Zurich, Switzerland.

With a turnover of close to €414 million and a team of around 4,800 employees Ringier Axel Springer Media  is one of the largest media companies in central Europe.