Elmar Heggen was born in Dueren, Germany, in 1968. He graduated in Business Administration from European Business School (EBS) in Oestrich-Winkel and holds an MBA in finance.

He started his professional career in 1992, at the Felix Schoeller Group, and subsequently became Vice Chairman and General Manager of Felix Schoeller Digital Imaging in the United Kingdom (1999). He joined the RTL GROUP CORPORATE CENTRE in 2000 as Vice President in charge of Mergers & Acquisitions. In 2003, he was appointed Vice President of Control and Investments. From July 2003 to December 2005, he served as Executive Vice President of Strategy and Control. Since 2006 he has been a member of the Management Committee of the RTL Group and in October of the same year until August 2019 he was the Corporate CFO. In January 2018, he was appointed Deputy CEO of RTL Group, S.A., which still holding the position as CFO.

From 2019, he was Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Deputy CEO of RTL Group, S.A. He has been a member of Bertelsmann Group's Management Committee since 2020.

Other positions held at RTL Group related parties: Chairman of the Board of Directors of Broadcasting Center Europe, S.A. and Media Real Estate, S.A.; Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Métropole Télévision, S.A. (M6) and RTL Nederland Holding BV; member of the Supervisory Committee of RTL Nederland Media Services, S.A. and Bedrock, S.A.S.; director of RTL Group Services Support Limited, CLT UFA, S.A. and Broadcasting Center Europe International, S.A.; Chairman of the Management Committee of Media Properties s.á.r.l.; member of the Management Committee of RTL Group Holding, s.à.r.l.; General Manager of RTL France Holding, S.A.S. and RTL Group Beheer BV; and director of UFA Film und Fernseh Gmbh, RTL Group Services Gmbh, RTL Group Gmbh and RTL Group Vermögensverwaltung, GmbH.