After more than 40 years at the helm, Heiner Oberrauch steps aside. His daughter Ruth takes the presidency while a new CEO prepares to take over operations in the fall
Oberalp Group is handing the chairmanship to the next generation. Ruth Oberrauch becomes President of the South Tyrol-based outdoor and sporting goods conglomerate on June 1, taking over from her father Heiner Oberrauch, who founded the group and moves to a supervisory board seat.
The operational leadership changes on a separate timeline. Stefan Rainer becomes Chief Executive Officer on Oct. 1, after a handover period alongside incumbent CEO Christoph Engl, who has run the group since 2018. Engl leaves at the end of September and returns as a senior advisor from 2027.
These are the most consequential leadership changes in Oberalp’s four-decade history. Founded in 1981, the group holds a portfolio of 18 sports brands. Seven are proprietary — among them Salewa, Dynafit, and LaMunt. The other 11, including Under Armour, Fischer, Bollé, and Blackroll, run under a brand development and distribution mandate across Italy and wider European markets.
Ruth Oberrauch has been with the company for more than 15 years. She founded LaMunt in 2022 — a women’s mountain sports apparel brand built to address an underserved segment of the outdoor market. She steps back from leading that brand as she moves into the presidency. Her stated focus is building cross-organizational and external partnerships, a departure from the purely organic brand-building model Oberalp has followed to date.
