Who I am
Who I am
I was born in Munich, Germany, on June 19, 1960. From 1979 to 1986 I studied English, Spanish and Economics at the universities of Graz (Austria), Granada (Spain) Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh (UK) and Heidelberg (Germany), where I graduated as a linguist and language interpreter. I started my career as a foreign editor of Associated Press in Germany. 1988–1992 I worked as the Deputy Head Advertising and Public Relations of the international fragrance and flavor company Dragoco in Holzminden, Germany.
1992–2000 I worked for France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom in various companies in Frankfurt am Main (Germany), Paris (France), and Brussels (Belgium) as Director External Communications, first for France Telecom in Germany, then in their joint venture with DT, eunetcom, and finally from 1996–2000 for Global One in Brussels. In 2000, I returned to Germany as VP Corporate Communications of the precious metal company Heraeus in Hanau. In 2005 I changed to Continental AG as Head of Communication of their Automotive Systems Division. From 2008 I was in charge of the newly created Chassis & Safety Division, as of 2009 I was in addition in charge of the cross-divisional trade media relations of the Continental Automotive Group. During this time I also trained in client-centric conversation (C. Rogers) to become an official voluntary pastoral care specialist in hospitals.
In 2012, following an intensive training as a systemic coach, I started my own business as a coach and communications consultant. Further specialization trainings were in solution-focused individual as well as team coaching, solution-focused mediation as well as schema coaching (also see coach profile).
I am married and in my free time I enjoy sports (primarily running, weight training, hiking). I am also interested in, among others, politics, traveling, literature, movies, jazz, blues, psychology, and theology. My native tongue is German, my foreign languages are English, French, and Spanish.