Sirius promotes Rüdiger Swoboda to chief operating officer

Sirius Real Estate, an owner and operator of branded business parks providing conventional space and flexible workspace in Germany, has promoted Rüdiger Swoboda (pictured) to the newly created executive role of chief operating officer.

As part of his extended remit, Rüdiger will continue to oversee customer sales and lettings activities, while also taking responsibility for business operations at an executive level, aligning two integral customer facing functions within the senior management team.

This will include standardising operational processes across the business; managing Sirius’ relationships with its tenants and customers; and ensuring that occupier demands are met from a facilities, service and asset management perspective.

He will retain his position as managing director in parallel with the COO role and will continue to report to chief executive Andrew Coombs while providing regular updates to the board.

Rüdiger joined Sirius in 2010 as a sales director before being promoted to the position of joint managing director of Sirius Facilities, the on the ground service provider responsible for the day-to-day operations, lettings and asset management initiatives across the group’s portfolio.

In this role, he was primarily responsible for customer sales. Working alongside the marketing team, he can also be credited with transforming the Company’s market-leading sales and lettings platform, which, over the past ten years, has seen an 80% increase in enquiries, with the average conversion from enquiries to deals rising from less than 3% to over 13% during the same time period.

The platform has exhibited robust operational performance during the past 12-months, with strong levels of occupancy and rent collection despite COVID-19.

Prior to joining Sirius, Rüdiger worked as a director of sales for MICE AG, the full-service provider for sourcing and marketing MICE (meeting, incentive, congress and event solutions), and has a wealth of experience in leading national and international sales teams.

This promotion follows the appointment of Kremena Wissel to chief marketing and impact officer earlier this year, and Rüdiger will continue to work closely with Kremena to support the delivery of the company’s ESG objectives across the business.

Commenting on the promotion, Andrew Coombs, chief executive of Sirius Real Estate, said: “Over the last ten years at Sirius, Rüdiger has made a significant impact in shaping and standardising our customer sales platform, contributing substantially to our growth as a business.

“His deep expertise in the day to day operation of the business, alongside his intrinsic understanding of our tenant base and their evolving requirements, especially in a post-pandemic environment, make him an outstanding fit for the COO position. I look forward to continuing to work closely with him in this expanded role, supporting Sirius in our efforts to deliver long-term growth.”

Rüdiger Swoboda added: “Sirius Real Estate is a well-established, high-growth company with a strong entrepreneurial spirit and, as someone with a passion for both people and the real estate industry, I am looking forward to furthering my contribution towards shaping our vision as COO.

“This new role enables a more coordinated approach to our on the ground customer services management, ensuring that Sirius maintains robust operational controls, as well as the right services, people and systems required to effectively grow the organisation. This will help provide the financial strength and efficiencies needed for a sustainable future for the company.”