2026 Speaker Profiles

Johannes von Schwarzkopf is the Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) and a member of the Executive Board of BMG. Reporting directly to CEO Thomas Coesfeld, von Schwarzkopf plays a central role in shaping BMG’s transformation into an innovation-led, globally integrated music company. He leads the development and execution of BMG’s global strategy, oversees strategic growth initiatives and M&A activities, and manages the company’s newly unified global music-for-media division, SYNC+. He is also leading BMG’s strategic transaction agenda, including the announced intended combination between BMG and Concord to create a leading global independent music company.

Under his leadership, BMG has accelerated its focus on technology and AI-driven innovation, including collaborations with OpenAI, Google Cloud, and Munich’s Technical University. Von Schwarzkopf has been driving BMG’s AI agenda with a focus on business model innovation, enhancing marketing capabilities, and implementing AI- and agentic-enabled solutions across the company’s music-for-media and SYNC businesses.

Von Schwarzkopf joined BMG in 2021 and has held key roles in Finance and M&A, particularly in connection with Bertelsmann’s Boost investment program. He has been a driving force behind BMG’s investment strategy and the deployment of more than $1.5 billion to date across strategic acquisitions and catalog investments, including BMG’s largest acquisition to date, the acquisition of the Jason Aldean catalog. He was also instrumental in co-developing and implementing BMG Next, the company’s transformation and growth strategy launched in 2023. BMG Next sharpened the company’s strategic focus on publishing and recorded music, strengthened global alignment, expanded investment in technology and AI-enabled services, and contributed to BMG achieving record profitability, as reflected in its 2025 annual results. He additionally played a key role in BMG’s brand refresh, aligning its identity with the company’s ambition to combine global scale with a strong artist- and songwriter-first partnership approach.

Before joining BMG, he held strategic roles at the consulting firm EY and advertising technology company Taboola. He holds a Master’s degree in International Management from ESADE Business School.