Joachim Kaufmann was born in the midst of a family that owned publishing house founded in 1816 – Kaufmann Verlag. This upbringing allowed Joachim Kaufmann to experience, from a very early age, the fascination for the publishing industry. He worked in different German publishing houses such as Herder, Christophorus, Random House and Ravensburger, mainly focusing on marketing and sales. Since 2006 he is the CEO of Carlsen Publishing, the market leading publishing house for children´s and young adult publishing, comics, manga and cartoons.