BMW Alum Esther Bahne Joins Quarters as Co-CEO
Bahne will also serve as chief marketing officer at the global co-living firm.
After seven years as a BMW executive, Esther Bahne has joined global co-living operator Quarters as co-CEO & Chief Marketing Officer. In her new role, Bahne will lead business strategy, brand and customer experience, architecture, technology and marketing operations as the company operation ramps up its presence across the U.S.
Bahne will work alongside Rui Barros, who has served as CEO and COO since February of this year, focusing on the real estate aspects of the businesses and leading expansion, sales and operations.
A graduate of the University of Munich, Bahne spent most of her career spearheading innovation at car brands. At BMW, she served as global head of marketing as well as global head of strategy & innovation at MINI, in which role she led the complete repositioning and relaunch of the automotive marque. Bahne also created and ran four new ventures within the company, including start-up accelerator Urban-X and co-living brand MINI Living. Prior to that, the executive spent nearly a decade at Audi, where she served as head of social innovation and became the youngest ever spokeswoman of the Board.
The Quarters Group operates nearly 3,000 rooms and has 1,500 rooms under development, with more than 15,000 all-time members. The company, which has a presence across 15 cities in the U.S. and Europe, recently expanded in Brooklyn with two new co-living spaces in the North Williamsburg and Fort Greene neighborhoods.