IFRA

Previously, Riess held various executive positions in the paper, printing and publishing industries.

He comes to WAN-IFRA from Mitsubishi Paper Holding (Europe), Düsseldorf, Germany, where he was Interim Sales and Managing Director. Prior to that, he was Managing Director of Deutsche Papier Vertriebs GmbH (belonging to the Australian Paper Group PaperlinX) in Augsburg, Germany, for six years.

In the late 1990s he joined Heidelberger Druckmaschinen as Managing Director Central Europe, with responsibility for all sales and service activities in Central Europe and for the independent agencies covering Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Benelux, Norway, and Iceland.

Earlier in his career, Riess worked for 15 years for the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG, both in Germany and abroad (in Ecuador, Portugal, and Venezuela), holding executive positions in several Bertelsmann-owned companies. He also served on the board of Bertelsmann’s Falk Verlag, the largest international cartographic and tourist guide publisher in Europe.

Riess earned his degree in engineering and business administration (with honours) from the University of Fridericiana in Karlsruhe, Germany.