Kempinski Leadership Shake-Up: Group CEO and Several C-Suite Execs Resign

Multiple senior leaders have reportedly stepped down at the luxury hotel group, deepening a pattern of top-level turnover.

Kempinski Hotels, the Geneva-based luxury operator, is going through an unusually sweeping leadership shake-up, according to a report by Travel Weekly citing an internal source familiar with the matter. Group CEO Barbara Muckermann is among several senior executives who have resigned or are in the process of leaving the company.

The reported departures include chief financial officer Gordon Drake, chief development officer Frank Veenstra, chief human resources officer Karin Raguin and chief brand officer Barbara Biffi. Chief information officer Riko van Santen left the brand earlier in the year.

What stands out is how brief each tenure has been:

• Muckermann joined Kempinski as group CEO in May 2024
• Drake arrived in January 2025, Raguin in March 2025, Veenstra in September 2025 and Biffi in October 2025

The revolving-door dynamic is not new. Since longtime chief executive Reto Wittwer left the company in 2014 after roughly two decades at the helm, none of his successors has lasted long. Alejandro Bernabe and Martin Smura each stayed about a year and a half; Markus Semer served just over three years; and Bernold Schroeder, Muckermann’s immediate predecessor, lasted slightly less than three and a half years.

Some roles already have successors lined up: Veenstra has been followed by an internal candidate, Noel Attard, while Andrea Vanni, who served on the company’s board, is taking over as CFO.

Kempinski did not immediately respond to a request for comment. For a storied brand celebrating its European luxury heritage, the scale of the exodus raises questions about strategic direction that the company will soon need to answer publicly.