Zeal Network names rocket company boss Dr Stefan Tweraser as CEO
Tweraser will join the lottery operator from Rocket Factory Augsburg.
Germany.- The German online lottery provider Zeal Network has announced the appointment of the Austrian businessman Dr Stefan Tweraser as chief executive officer. The appointment will be effective from September 15.
Tweraser joins the company from the new space company Rocket Factory Augsburg AG, where he has served as CEO since October 2021. He will join the company as a Management Board member on August 25.
Zeal says it conducted a comprehensive and structured selection process. It says that Tweraser brings extensive leadership experience from international companies in the digital, technology, and consulting industries, including at Google, Telekom Austria and McKinsey. He succeeds Dr Helmut Becker, who decided in March not to extend his contract and to pursue his own entrepreneurial activities.
Becker will resign on September 14 but will remain available to the company as a consultant for the remainder of his contract until the end of January 2026.
Carola von Schmettow, chairwoman of the Supervisory Board of ZEAL Network SE, said: “With Dr Stefan Tweraser, we have gained a highly qualified business leader as our new CEO. He has proven his profound expertise in digital business models in various industries.
“Throughout his career, he has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to guide market-leading companies into their next phase of development with strategic foresight, innovative ideas and a sharp eye for detail. We are very much looking forward to working with him and are convinced that Dr Stefan Tweraser will provide decisive impetus for ZEAL’s continued growth.”
Tweraser said: “I feel very honoured by the trust that the Supervisory Board has placed in me and my abilities. As the number one in the German online lottery market and an innovative trendsetter for products that make people dream, ZEAL enjoys strong brand recognition, an excellent reputation and an outstanding market position with brands such as LOTTO24.
“Together with my colleagues on the Management Board and the entire team, I will be fully committed to driving this well-positioned and future-oriented company forward.”
Becker joined ZEAL’s Management Board in 2013 and has led the company as CEO since September 2015. Von Schmettow said he had made a decisive contribution to the company’s growth and success. “He has continuously expanded ZEAL’s market leadership in the German online lottery market, strengthened the business model in a challenging regulatory market and broadened the portfolio in a targeted manner through innovative product developments such as the dream house raffle,” she said.
Becker said: “ZEAL has always been more than just a job for me. Working alongside my outstanding team has been a great personal enrichment. The company’s great success is the logical consequence of our unique team spirit, innovative mindset and customer focus.
“I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all employees who have contributed with such great passion and expertise each day. I would also like to thank the Supervisory Board and my colleagues on the Management Board for their trusting and constructive collaboration. Together with the leadership team, I will ensure a smooth handover to my successor. I am firmly convinced that under the leadership of Dr Stefan Tweraser, ZEAL will continue on its successful path.”
Tweraser has a Master’s degree and a doctorate in economics from the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU). He is also a qualified psychotherapist (Sigmund Freud University Vienna). He began his professional career in 1998 at the leading management consultancy McKinsey & Company, where he rose to become partner. From 2003 to 2007, he was vice president marketing retail at Telekom Austria AG. In 2008, he moved to Google Germany GmbH as Country Director DACH.
From 2015 to 2018, he held various management positions at the Shiji Group, an international technology company for the hotel industry. In 2018, Dr Tweraser joined Deezer S.A., a French music streaming provider, as CMO/chief product and growth officer.
