Business Experience Since 05/2011
Also since 10/2012 2004-2011 2003-2004 2001-2003 12/2000
Daimler AG, Pretoria and East London, South Africa.
President CEO, Mercedes-Benz SouthAfrica Ltd. Responsible for procurement, sales and after-sales for all Daimler passenger car and commercial vehicle brands in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana as well as the production plant with a total turnover of approx. Euro 3bn Responsible for and Chairman of the Board of Sandown Motor Holding, the own retail arm with 30 dealerships throughout South Africa Non-Executive Director of Mercedes-Benz Financial Services South Africa
University of St. Gallen (USG), St. Gallen, Switzerland
Lecturer for “Coporate Development and Business Innovation” within the Master programme “Entrepreneurial Management”
Daimler AG, Stuttgart, Germany
Vice President, Head of “Strategy, Alliances and Business Innovation”, Responsible for strategy and business development, alliance formation and management, and new business development and innovation within the Daimler group and for all its passenger car and commercial vehicle divisions 2006-2008 Responsible for the implementation of the new global management model within the Daimler group 2001-2011 Non-Executive Director of Mercedes-Benz India, Pune 2004-2005 Member of the Daimler China Executive Board, Beijing
Vice President, Head of “Strategic Alliances“ Responsible for the alliances with Mitsubishi Motor Corp. and Hyundai Motor Corp.
Vice President, Head of „Product- and Production Planning“ and Member of the Executive Board of the DaimlerChrysler Commercial Vehicles Division (Mercedes- Benz Trucks, Busses, Vans, Freightliner, Fuso) Responsible for product planning, production and plant network planning, advanced engineering and development, supply and quality management for commercial vehicles as well as the alliance and later the acquisition of Mitsubishi-Fuso Responsible for transportation logistics and freight procurement for the DaimlerChrysler group (passenger cars and commercial vehicles)
Environmental Officer for the commercial vehicles division Director, Head of “Production Planning Commercial Vehicles”
1999-2000
DDr.Ing.h.c. F.Porsche AG, Stuttgart, Germany
Director, Head of “Strategy and Business Development“
1996-1999
Founding member and Co-Head of the global McKinsey Manufacturing Practice 1995-1996 Member of the senior McKinsey team to build up the McKinsey Seoul office
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zürich, Switzerland
Lecturer for mechatronics, Department of Mechanical Engineering Founding member, teaching and research assistant at the Institute for Robotics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, U.S.A.
Teaching and research assistant, Department of Nuclear Engineering
Academic Education
1989-1992 1987-1988- 1983-1987 and 1989
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zürich, Switzerland
Promotion to Dr.sc.techn., Department of Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, U.S.A.
Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering, Department of Nuclear Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and the Sloan School of Management
University of Stuttgart, Germany
Diploma for Mechanical Engineering (Diplom-Ingenieur), Department of Mechanical Engineering Military Service and Initial Education
11982-1983 1973-1982 1969-1973
Other 2008 Since 2008 Since 2008
German Army Abitur (German Matric) at Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium, Esslingen/Neckar Primary school, Esslingen/Neckar
Participant of the 123rd circle of the Baden-Badener Unternehmergespräche Member of the advisory board of the “Centre for Management Studies (CMS)” at the Justus-Liebig University in Germany, headed by Professor Andreas Bausch Mentoring of a number of bachelor, master and Ph.D. theses in the field of strategic impact management, in collaboration with the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and the Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen, Germany
“I have a long-standing interest in management science since I studied at MIT, where I have been working with Peter Senge on industrial dynamics and the relevant management control techniques alongside completing my Master in Nuclear Engineering. Later, during my Ph.D. work at the ETH in Zurich in the field of the dynamic control of legged robots, I have drawn on some work by Henry Mintzberg and others which has provided insight into and a comparison of the behavioral dynamics experienced in organizations but also responsible for the robust control of legged locomotion.
Since completing my Ph.D. at the ETH in Zurich, I have worked exclusively in internationally-oriented positions relating to management consulting and practice, having the opportunity to work and live in various countries and experience a large number of different management styles from different companies and countries. This provided me with substantial practical and general management experience, in particular in the field of strategy, strategic partnering and alliances, new business development, and strategic leadership. As an example among other topics, I have been responsible for the strategic leadership of the demerger of DaimlerChrysler and the new strategic alignment of Daimler AG for some of this period.
Throughout my work, I have been thinking and working a lot on how to create lasting strategic impact in a company, and what strategists and strategic leaders need to do in order to drive for maximum impact. This has also lead to contacts with the University of St. Gallen and Professor Guenter
Mueller-Stewens, and since 2008, we have been collaborating in developing a theoretical basis for “strategic impact management”. Since then and with the support of a number of internships, bachelor and master theses of students from the University of St. Gallen as well as the Zeppelin University Friedrichshafen which I have mentored, we have developed a foundation for further work on strategy impact. In the meantime there has also been a Ph.D. thesis concluded and mentored by myself on this topic under the supervision of Professor Guenter Mueller-Stewens, and a second Ph.D. student is currently working on another topic within this subject.
The outcome of this year-long work has now become a cornerstone of my lecture at the University St. Gallen in “Corporate Development Business Innovation”, as part of the Master programme for “Entrepreneurial Management”, which is also open for students from other Master programs.
I am also a member of the advisory board of the centre for management studies of the Justus-Liebig university in Giessen, Germany, which is headed by Professor Andreas Bausch.