Having completed his studies in business administration, Horst Wagner took on responsibility fairly early, as head of department and sales in the printing industry.
In 1986 Horst started at advertising agency Springer & Jacoby based in Hamburg, as head of production. He then gradually took over management of their FFF, art buying and IT department and became managing partner in 1990 until 1996. Horst then co-founded Elephant Seven with three partners.
After becoming the no.1 digital creative no. 1 agency in Germany, Elephant Seven got listed on the stock exchange in 2003. Horst was a board member, COO and later chairman of the executive board and CEO.
From November 2006, Horst was COO of Pixelpark AG. Ever since the merger of Elephant Seven and Pixelpark in 2007 he has been chairman of the executive board, CEO and CFO. In 2013 Horst became CEO of Publicis Pixelpark in Germany.
In September 2016, Horst got additionally appointed Chairman for Publicis Communications in Germany.