Leadership

Here you can read more about the fantastic people that help make The Stepstone Group a great place to work.

Portrait of Sebastian Dettmers, Chief Executive Officer

Sebastian Dettmers Chief Executive Officer

Sebastian Dettmers joined The Stepstone Group in 2011 as Managing Director of Stepstone.de. He subsequently became responsible for Stepstone Continental Europe's activities in 2017. Since January 2020 he has been the CEO of The Stepstone Group. Before joining The Stepstone Group, Sebastian held various functions at Axel Springer SE, where he helped build the company's digital portfolio. Sebastian holds a PhD and an MBA from the University of Muenster, where he started his career as a research associate for professor Heribert Meffert.

Portrait of Thorsten Otte, Chief Financial Officer

Thorsten Otte Chief Financial Officer

Thorsten joined The Stepstone Group in May 2013. As CFO he is responsible for finance, legal and strategy in the group. Previously he held CFO positions in various companies and regions for Siemens Financial Services in the Nordic Region, Hoist Group and Thomas Cook Group in the Netherlands and Western Europe. Thorsten holds a master’s degree in Economics from the Freien Universität Berlin.

Portrait of Thierry Bedos, Chief Technology Officer

Thierry Bedos Chief Technology Officer

Thierry Bedos has been Chief Technology Officer (CTO) on The Stepstone Group's Executive Committee since June 2023, responsible for all of the Group's technology services. In this role, he also drives scalable solutions for the global tech platform. Bedos was previously CTO at social video company Jellysmack. There, he led the Technology, Data and AI teams in developing solutions to expand the digital reach of successful video creators. Previously, he held a number of leadership roles at the Expedia Group, including global CTO of Hotels.com and Senior Vice President & General Manager of Development Platform & Infrastructure for all Expedia brands.

Portrait of Wolfgang Bruhn, Chief Development Officer

Wolfgang Bruhn Chief Development Officer

Wolfgang Bruhn joined The Stepstone Group in January 2005 as a member of the management board (Vorstand) of Stepstone Germany when Axel Springer AG acquired its shareholding in the company. Currently Wolfgang is in charge for Mergers & Acquisitions, International Sales and The Network, a strategic alliance of job boards in over 130 countries around the world. Wolfgang has extensive experience of managing digital media businesses at both the strategic and the operational level. Before he joined Stepstone Wolfgang was speaker of the management board of the Axel Springer multimedia company AS Interactive. Following a publishing apprenticeship with Axel Springer in the 1980s, and after completing his studies in business economics at Hamburg University, he started his media career as an assistant to the CEO of Axel Springer in 1993. From 1995 he was the managing director of Computel GmbH in Hamburg, which was merged into AS Interactive GmbH at the beginning of 2002.

Portrait of Chris Forman, CEO Appcast

Chris Forman CEO Appcast

Chris Forman is the CEO and founder of Appcast Inc, which was acquired by The Stepstone Group in 2019. He previously served as CEO of StartWire (which he founded), CEO of AIRS, and Chief Development Officer of The Right Thing. Chris has worked in the recruiting industry for over 20 years, developing smart recruiting tools that have helped hire millions of people around the globe. He is a recognized expert in recruiting and talent management in the USA and has been quoted in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Staffing Industry Review.

Portrait of Natalie Matalon, Chief People Officer

Natalie Matalon Chief People Officer

Natalie Matalon joined The Stepstone Group in May 2023 as Chief People Officer, drawing on 27 years of business and people transformation experience. Natalie began her career in banking, before switching to human resources over 12 years ago. Since then, she has held a variety of leadership positions in People Strategy, Analytics and Operations for Capital One, Google and Farfetch. Born in Israel, Natalie studied at Cornell University and holds an MBA from London Business School.

Portrait of Ciaran McCooey, Co-CEO EMEA

Ciaran McCooey Co-CEO EMEA

Since 2023 Ciaran McCooey has been leading the EMEA business of The Stepstone Group alongside Simone Reif as Co-CEO. In this position, he is responsible for the businesses across Continental Europe, the UK, Ireland, South Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, and Mauritius. Previously, Ciaran held several senior roles at The Stepstone Group, most recently as CCO from 2021. Before joining The Stepstone Group, Ciaran was CEO of Saongroup which he grew from an Irish startup of 7 people in 1999, into a successful global digital recruitment business. He played a pivotal role in the acquisition of Saongroup by The Stepstone Group in 2013. Before joining Saongroup, Ciaran held Financial Controller positions in Ireland and America, with the recruitment company Marlborough International PLC and DPI Southwest Distributing. Before that, Ciaran worked as an accountant with PwC. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.

Portrait of Simone Reif, Co-CEO EMEA

Simone Reif Co-CEO EMEA

As Co-CEO, Simone Reif has been responsible for the EMEA business of The Stepstone Group alongside Ciaran McCooey since 2023. The segment combines the technical and commercial expertise of the Continental Europe and Atlantic business. It includes the units Continental Europe, Atlantic with Totaljobs in the UK, as well as the businesses in Ireland, South Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, and Mauritius. Simone joined The Stepstone Group in 2003 and has been Managing Director since 2011. Most recently, she was responsible for the business of Continental Europe. After joining the Düsseldorf-based online job platform, she initially managed the internal sales department before taking over the overall sales management in Germany in 2010 and heading Continental Europe in 2011. Even before joining The Stepstone Group, Simone Reif gained sound sales experience and advised well-known companies on their sales activities for 15 years.

Portrait of Andreas Daembkes, Senior Vice President Corporate Strategy

Andreas Daembkes Senior Vice President Corporate Strategy

Andreas Daembkes joined The Stepstone Group in 2015 and moved to head up the Company strategy team in 2019. During his career, he played a leading role in transforming the organisation making it an integrated global leader in the recruiting and JobTech industry. Prior to overseeing corporate strategy, Andreas led product development across Europe. Before joining The Stepstone Group he held various positions in the telecommunications sector and in management consulting. Andreas is a graduate of Technische Universität Berlin, specializing in Industrial Engineering and Management, and completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.