Pink University: Global expansion under new management

Dr. Wolf-Bertram von Bismarck and Philipp Mehrtens joined Pink University’s top management team on January 1, 2021 in order to promote the e-learning provider’s rapid growth internationally.

Munich/Hamburg, February 9th, 2021. Pink University plans to become a global leader over the next four years in an e-learning market that is currently benefiting from strong demand. To do this, Joachim Pawlik, the company’s CEO and majority shareholder, has brought two new managing directors on board: experienced manager Dr. Wolf-Bertram von Bismarck as Managing Director of Operations, and sales professional Philipp Mehrtens as Managing Director of Sales.

Joachim Pawlik is pleased to have enlisted two eminent market experts to pursue the new strategy. “We will continue our quality leadership approach and now aim to penetrate new markets rapidly to reach the top international level.” The “time is ripe” for doing so, explains the CEO. E-learning and web-based training are booming worldwide. Corona has accelerated this trend and has firmly established the benefits of digital learning.

According to Philipp Mehrtens, the company’s European expansion is scheduled for as early as this year, beginning with market entry in UK, France and Spain. Asia will follow in 2022. The PAWLIK Group, to which Pink University has belonged since 2019, is already represented at four locations in China through PAWLIK Asia. Entry into other continents is planned from 2024 onwards.

Dr. Wolf-Bertram von Bismarck explains that over the next five years more than 2,600 new videos and learning components will be produced in local languages or language variants at different levels of adaptation, ranging from “subtitled” to “fully localized” – i.e., embedded in the local culture. Studio capacity, technology and human resources will be significantly expanded for this purpose in the short term.

Britta Kroker, who founded Pink University together with publisher Dr. Sven Murmann in 2010 and as managing director helped it obtain numerous international awards and establish it as one of the leading e-learning providers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, is leaving the company on the best of terms, along with Wolfgang Hanfstein, who is responsible for content, to pursue other goals. Joachim Pawlik thanks Britta Kroker for everything she has built up with her team over the last ten years and for their good collaboration.

About Wolf-Bertram von Bismarck

Wolf-Bertram von Bismarck has been the new managing director of Pink University since January 1, 2021. As COO, he is responsible for the production, operations, HR/legal, purchasing and IT departments. He previously held top HR positions at the management level and in the boardrooms of PUMA, Fielmann, Imtech and JOB AG. The native of Kiel, Germany, is an experienced manager and passionate HR associate.

About Philipp Mehrtens

Philipp Mehrtens took over the newly created position of Managing Director of Sales, responsible for determining the strategic direction of Pink University, on January 1, 2021, thus making him the company’s CSO. He plans to readjust Pink University’s national and international sales strategy to ensure sales and business success in the dynamic market. As Deputy Head of Human Resources Development at PAWLIK Consultants, Philipp Mehrtens worked closely with Pink University in the area of “Blended Learning” for three years. Before joining the PAWLIK Group, Mehrtens also served as managing director of the listed company HCI Capital AG.

About Pink University

Pink University is one of the leading providers of e-learning and web-based training courses for effective and long-term HR development in companies. Their internationally award-winning e-library includes over 100 video-based, interactive e-learning courses. Pink University also develops and offers modular learning paths for the targeted development of skills, also as blended learning, in order to purposefully integrate continued learning into everyday working life and motivate people to engage in self-learning activities.

Pink University was founded by Britta Kroker and publisher Dr. Sven Murmann in 2010. Management consultant and HR developer Joachim Pawlik acquired a majority stake in Pink University in 2019, and the company operated in Europe’s German-speaking region until 2020.

Pink University has received numerous awards for its innovative concept and high-quality learning content, including the Comenius Medal for Blended Learning, and was a “Winner” of the International E-Learning Award, New York 2019. The company also took first place in the 2019 German Excellence Awards in the “Strategy and Transformation” category.

About PAWLIK Group

The PAWLIK Group, headed by Joachim Pawlik, supports customers in HR development, organizational development, HR consulting and digital services. Companies at 14 locations worldwide combine their services for customers, taking a people-oriented approach. Operationally, the Group puts a clear priority on implementation.

For more information:

Pink University GmbH
Rüdesheimer Straße 7 (4th floor)
80686 Munich, Germany
Phone: +49 (0)89/5 47 27 84 10

ASTRATURM
Zirkusweg 2
20359 Hamburg, Germany
Phone: +49 (0)40/532 850-0   

Kristina Behrend
E-mail: presse@pinkuniversity.de
Cellphone: +49(0)171/930 20 40