Frank-Michael Schmidt

Frank-Michael Schmidt is CEO of the Scholz & Friends Group and co-CEO of the marketing services holding Commarco.

After completing his degree in journalism, philosophy and political science, he started working as an executive assistant at Wilkens Ayer (now FCB) in Hamburg. In 1991 he switched to Lintas, the market leader then, and assumed the role of strategy consultant. Subsequently, he founded his own consultancy in the sector of strategic brand management. From 1998 onwards he was significantly involved as Chief Strategic Officer in leading and successfully developing the J. Walter Thompson Group in Germany. He has been Partner of the Scholz & Friends Group since 2003 and initially held the role of CEO of Scholz & Friends Germany. Since 2008 he has been CEO of the entire Scholz & Friends Group.

Frank-Michael Schmidt was a co-founder of Account Planning Group Germany in 1996. From 2004 to 2008 Frank-Michael Schmidt served on the board of the GWA (German Association of Communications Agencies). In 2006 the journal “new business” voted him the “Agency Head of the Year”. The “Jahrbuch der Werbung” featured him as their “Communication Personality of the Year” in 2009. The journal “werben & verkaufen” has voted him among their top five most successful German agency managers several times. In January 2012 Frank-Michael Schmidt was named “Man of the Year” and given the “HORIZONT” Award by the journal “HORIZONT”.