ZEAL Network Welcomes Stefan Harder as VP of New Business

ZEAL Network, an international Hamburg-headquartered gambling group, has reinforced its team with the addition of a vice president of new business. The one up to the task is Stefan Harder, an e-commerce heavyweight with over two decades of experience.

A Hamburg native, Harder joined ZEAL last month, reporting directly to Helmut Becket, ZEAL’s chief executive officer. In his new position, the hire is tasked with expanding the group and developing its proprietary charity lottery Deutsche Traumhauslotterie.

Harder boasts over 20 years of experience as an e-commerce specialist and entrepreneur. Prior to joining ZEAL, he had a short stint as the interim chief commercial officer of the heycar group. Before that, he worked as an independent e-commerce consultant, following a short tenure as the interim chief growth officer of Rebike Mobility.

Harder spent much of his career at Jollydays, an adventure gift company. He was one of its co-founders and served as its chief executive officer for around 17 years.

Harder is not the sole recent change to ZEAL’s team. In February, the company replaced Marc Peters with Kenneth Chan. In October 2022, the gambling group also welcomed Rodja Schmitz-Hübsch as its vice president of marketing, tasking him with optimizing customer engagement.

Harder Will Leverage His Know-How to Grow the Deutsche Traumhauslotterie

Stefan Harder expressed his excitement about joining ZEAL, saying that he is looking forward to growing Deutsche Traumhauslotterie. He hopes to establish the charity lottery as a major player in the German lottery market.

Harder said that he is very passionate about building and growing brands. He added that he sees a lot of potential in ZEAL’s charity lottery and praised the growth it has experienced since its creation. The appointee concluded that he will join forces with the ZEAL team to maintain this momentum.

ZEAL’s chief executive officer, Helmut Becker, welcomed the VP of new business on board, praising his experience in brand creation and e-commerce. Becker lauded Harder as a proven industry expert and a skilled entrepreneur.

According to ZEAL’s CEO, the Deutsche Traumhauslotterie needs talented people such as Harder to continue to grow and expand its market share. Becker concluded that Harder has infallible intuition and know-how that made him the perfect candidate for the VP position.

ZEAL is also the holding behind the popular LOTTO24 brand. In June, the company launched iGaming in Germany through LOTTO24 and Tipp24.