The Optimist – From TU Dresden to the SDAX

(interviewed in 2026)

Dagmar Möbius

Yvonne Rostock, an economics student originally from Saxony, would never have imagined that, as a graduate of the Dresden University of Technology, she would one day rise to the top of a publicly traded company. Drawing on her decades of experience with renowned brands, she now serves as an advisor, investor, and expert in corporate transformation - most recently at TU Dresden.

Until a meeting at the Federal Chancellery with the then-Commissioner for Eastern Germany Carsten Schneider, Yvonne Rostock had never given her East German background a second thought. For her, “Saxony” as her home is definition enough; the exact location doesn’t really matter. Perhaps that's because she, who was born in 1972, talks about her first and her second life. When she was just 17 years old, she experienced the political upheaval in the GDR as a new beginning. After that, her “second life” began, and following her high school graduation, she took up her studies at TU Dresden. "A friend submitted the application," she says with a smile. A career in tourism might also have been an option, but Yvonne Rostock studied economics with a focus on marketing and controlling. “A very good foundation,” she says in retrospect. She chose Dresden mainly because of its wide range of academic programs and because she was financing her own living expenses.

"Passion gives us direction"

Yvonne Rostock was fascinated by brands from an early age. “I knew exactly what I wanted to do.” While working with Professor Stefan Müller, she did a lot of work on and for brands, such as the image study for the Semperoper. Under Professor Thomas W. Günther, she learned everything there is to know about management accounting and controlling. She spent a semester abroad in London on a scholarship. An internship took her to Henkel in Düsseldorf, a company steeped in tradition. After finishing her studies in 1998, the economics graduate took her first job here in marketing. In retrospect, she says: "Passion gives us direction."

After that, she worked for 18 years at the cosmetics company L’Oréal. "Happy," as she says. Responsible for brands such as L’Oréal Paris, Maybelline NY, and Garnier. Starting in 2006, she served as managing director in Kyiv, where she built up L’Oréal’s consumer business in Ukraine. "I'm interested in taking on the challenge," she said. “I was 33; the average age of my team was 27.” The startup’s success: profitable, with revenue in the tens of millions. She also turned the traditional retail model of The Body Shop (Germany/Austria) around, moving it from a loss-making situation that threatened its existence to a profitable one that ensured its survival.

Responsibility as Scope for Action

In 2019, Yvonne Rostock took over as head of Prestige at COTY Beauty for the German-speaking Europe area (DACH). A year later, she transformed the company across all divisions and digitized the business. After many years in the cosmetics industry, she joined the photo service provider CEWE in 2023. As CEO, she led the publicly traded company (SDAX) together with her team to record results in revenue and earnings, expanded its market leadership in Europe, and strategically realigned the company. The economist had established the CEWE Group as a corporate platform and shaped the collaborative spirit among its 4,500 employees worldwide. Major awards such as “Best Managed Company,” ten Tipa Awards for innovation, as well as the FidAR — Women on Supervisory Boards — WoB Award 2024 recognize her commitment. Yvonne Rostock doesn't think much of quotas. She sees herself as a source of inspiration and views responsibility not as power, but rather as the freedom to shape things.

Issues Close to My Heart: Education and Eastern Germany

“I never would have thought how far my journey would take me,” laughs the woman from Saxony, who now lives with her family in Düsseldorf. She describes herself as courageous, dedicated, and down-to-earth—having started practically from scratch. For a long time, she didn't realize just how special it was to lead a publicly traded company as a woman of East German origin. She never made a secret of her upbringing. “But it was never highlighted either.” An invitation to a panel discussion at the Federal Chancellery with the then Special Representative for Eastern Germany changed that. “I’m a positivist—I see change as an opportunity,” says Yvonne Rostock. And: “In a time when nothing is certain anymore, we need more people who have the courage to break new ground.” She does not see her career and personal life as being at odds with one another. "Success is a team effort," says the self-proclaimed workaholic. She applies that to her family as well. Together with her husband, an architect whom she had met at Dresden University of Technology, she managed to navigate periods when they were both working in different countries. She is also the proud mother of two sons. “It wasn’t always easy,” she admits, but with the right amount of resilience, it was manageable.

Lifelong learning and the courage to embrace change are two things she urges young professionals to embrace. She also has a lot to say about artificial intelligence. AI should be understood not as a technology, but as a far-reaching transformation: "AI can analyze and assist, but we have to make the decisions ourselves. I am convinced that this is why human qualities are becoming even more important."

Proactively Shaping Economic Change and Creating Added Value

Looking ahead, she believes it is important that people who grew up in East Germany also hold more leadership positions. “Your experiences with upheavals are particularly important for transformation,” says Yvonne Rostock. The key issue for the German economy today must be to proactively shape change and create added value—for example, through innovation, technology, and branding. To that end, she strongly recommends strategic foresight, agility, investment, and optimism — “not focusing on what we don’t have.” She sees startups as the companies of tomorrow and views Silicon Saxony as a promising approach.

In addition to her professional career, she is committed to supporting Eastern Germany and education; most recently, she served as a keynote speaker for students and alumni at TU Dresden. Among other things, she gave them the following advice: “Follow your passions, plan for success, see change as an opportunity, and live your life! Believe in yourself. "You can achieve more than you think you can today."

Contact:
Yvonne Rostock

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