Tradition and future
The ECE Group - a successful family business
Mail order pioneer Werner Otto founded ECE in 1965, bringing the idea of shopping centers to Germany. Today, under the leadership of Alexander Otto, we develop, realize and operate real estate in all asset classes as well as entire city districts. With our specialized companies ECE Marketplaces, Park Property Europe and ECE Real Estate Partners, we offer our customers real estate services and fund management under one roof.
History
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Alexander Otto
Alexander Otto has been Chairman of the Management Board of ECE - a company owned by the Otto family - since 2000. Under his leadership, ECE has developed into the European market leader in the shopping center sector and further into a broad-based, internationally active real estate and investment group, the ECE Group.
Alexander Otto is a member of the supervisory boards of the Otto Group and Curbline Properties (USA). He is also a member of the Global Advisory Council of Harvard University.
Otto is the initiator of the "Lebendige Stadt" foundation, which focuses on the revitalization of European city centres. With the "Alexander Otto Sports Foundation", Otto supports Hamburg's youth and disabled sports in particular and, in this context, has supported the modernization of the tennis stadium at Rothenbaum and enabled the construction of the HSV junior training center. With the "Dorit and Alexander Otto Foundation", he also helps in particular with medical and cultural projects, including the extensive modernization of the Hamburger Kunsthalle.
Alexander Otto was born in Hamburg in July 1967. After graduating from high school in Oxford, he studied at Harvard University (BA 1990, summa cum laude) and Harvard Business School (MBA 1994, with distinction) before joining ECE in 1994.
Managing Director ECE Group
Claudia Plath
Claudia Plath is Managing Director of the ECE Group.
She began her career at ECE in 1996 as a controller. After five years, she took on management tasks as a team leader in Controlling in 2001 and from 2004 onwards she managed the Asset and Corporate Controllingdivision, including the national companies, in a Director function. As Managing Director Finance, Claudia Plath was responsible for the ECE Group's accounting, controlling, risk management, corporate finance and asset management for all shopping centers in Germany and abroad from 2013. Since the reorganization of the ECE Group at the beginning of 2021, Claudia Plath has been responsible for the strategy and management of the entire Group as CFO of the ECE Group together with Alexander Otto (CEO).
At the same time, Claudia Plath was a member of the Supervisory Board of Hochbahn AG for six years and is currently a member of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche EuroShop AG.
She was born in Freital near Dresden in 1971, studied business administration at the Technical University of Berlin and worked at Bayerische Immobilien Verwaltung in Berlin during her studies.
Managing Director of the ECE Group
Henning Eggers
Henning Eggers has been Managing Director of the ECE Group since 2026 and Managing Director of CURA Vermögensverwaltung, the Otto family's family office, since 2013.
He began his professional career in 1995 at the auditing and tax consulting firm PKF Fasselt Schlage. he moved to CURA in 2000. Before his appointment as Managing Director, he initially took on various areas of responsibility in asset management and corporate management.
Henning Eggers was born in 1969, graduated with a degree in business administration from the University of Hamburg in 1995 and successfully passed his tax consultant exam in 1999. He has been a member of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche EuroShop AG since 2019, where he is a member of the Audit Committee.
Committed to society as a corporate citizen
ECE and its CEO Alexander Otto are committed to society in a variety of ways through various foundations. Their commitment focuses on projects and initiatives in the areas of education, health, art and culture, sport, social affairs, urban development, environmental and climate protection and science. Alexander Otto's civic commitment includes the promotion of many small projects that benefit children, athletes or people with disabilities, for example, as well as targeted support for flagship projects such as the modernization of the Schwerin State Museum or the tennis stadium at Hamburg's Rothenbaum. Regardless of the size, every single project is important - always with the aim of giving something back to society.
Dorit & Alexander Otto Foundation
The Dorit & Alexander Otto Foundation, founded by Alexander Otto and his wife Dorit, focuses on promoting education, art and culture, medical research, healthcare, social issues and environmental and climate protection.
Alexander Otto Sports Foundation
The aim of the Alexander Otto Sports Foundation is to promote sport in Hamburg, in particular youth and disabled sport, and to further strengthen Hamburg as a city of sport.