My Experience

Over the past years, my inner perspective on leadership, responsibility and impact has expanded fundamentally. After decades in top executive roles at large companies, I have come to recognise that I want to apply my experience where economic competence and ethical responsibility explicitly belong together. What motivates me today above all is the question of how organisations can create societal meaning, provide people with orientation, and remain economically viable at the same time.

Against this background, I am deliberately seeking new roles in organisations with an explicitly ethical, social or public-benefit orientation – particularly in NGOs, foundations, social enterprises or values-based companies. I am looking for a responsible permanent position, for example as CEO or board member. I can equally well imagine initially joining in an advisory or interim capacity, to enable mutual acquaintance and building a sustainable working relationship on equal terms.

My professional career has for many years been shaped by overall responsibility in complex organisations. I have led companies with up to several thousand employees and was closely involved in the work of supervisory boards and advisory boards. During this time I have learnt to provide orientation under conditions of high uncertainty, to lead organisations through crises and to secure economic stability even in difficult situations.

Among my central achievements is the strategic repositioning of large retail and e-commerce companies. I led the transformation of a traditional mail-order company into a future-proof e-commerce business model with average revenue growth of around 24% per year (revenue approx. €1.2 billion, up to 3,200 employees). In parallel, I managed to significantly reduce massive losses running into the high double-digit millions and bring the company back to breakeven.

In another CEO role, I led an international trading company from a sustained loss situation to lasting profitability (improvement from approx. –4% to +4% return, revenue approx. €200 million, around 1,000 employees). Alongside the economic stabilisation, my focus was on harmonising several brands and organisational units and building a shared, high-performing leadership culture.

I have also successfully developed organisations in the SME context. As CEO of a retail company with physical and digital sales, I grew revenue from approx. €3 million to about €8 million (24 employees) and built a sustainable multi-channel model. This was achieved despite considerable external crises. The necessary restructuring was carried out with social responsibility, combined with measures to integrate disadvantaged people and to cooperate with non-profit organisations.

Across all positions, I have always thought about economic management, governance and culture together. Close collaboration with supervisory bodies, employees, works councils, banks and other stakeholders has shown me how decisive clarity, transparency and reliability are for an organisation's capacity to act – especially when values, mission and economic reality are in tension.

In parallel with my professional development, a conscious inner attitude has evolved over many years that significantly shapes my understanding of leadership today. It expresses itself in self-reflection, inner clarity, composure and a high attentiveness to people and dynamics in organisations. For me, decisions arise from the combination of analytical sharpness, experience and inner stillness. This attitude enables leadership that is sustainable over the long term and builds trust – especially in challenging situations.

The step towards organisations with a social mission is therefore for me a consistent development of my previous responsibility. Many NGOs, foundations and ethically oriented companies today face significant economic and structural challenges: uncertain revenues, rising expectations, complex stakeholder landscapes. This is precisely where I can apply my experience – in developing viable business and revenue models, in clear governance, in stabilising organisations and in a form of leadership that brings people along.

I want to put my experience, my clarity and my values in the service of organisations that want to create impact for people and society. My aspiration is to connect economic viability, structural stability and ethical orientation so that purpose is not merely formulated but becomes tangible in everyday action.