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About
The Netherlands, France, Thailand, Morocco, South Africa, China, Turkey, Dubai….these all sound like very exciting destinations for a holiday, but I have actually lived and worked in all of these places during my 29 year international business career. Therefore I always describe myself as a cosmopolitan with strong Swiss roots.
After my MBA at the University of St. Gallen I joined Sandoz and started out in several Controlling and Finance roles and then joined Clariant as CFO for Thailand in 1999. But after a few years I was eager to move into the business management, as that was where the action was and I loved the interactions with the customers. So I got the opportunity to take over as Country President and Division Head first in Morocco and then in South Africa. In 2008 I moved for the first time to China and took over a business unit for the whole of Asia.
Throughout my career I was tackling challenging change management, strategy development and execution projects in multi-cultural settings. So as a next challenge I was nominated to run the global healthcare packaging business from Paris, which came through an acquisition and had to be integrated into the Clariant structures and processes while launching a new internationalization strategy with an acquisition in China and a new greenfield plant in India.
Then I became Region Head for Middle East and Africa and supported two separate BUs to close sites in Istanbul and Casablanca and then convinced the executive committee to move the regional head office to Dubai, leading to a stronger focus on the fast growing Catalyst and Oil service businesses in the gulf.
I thrive in leading multi-cultural teams across regions in challenging business environments through strong leadership and excellent stakeholder relationships.
This was also the case in my most recent assignment as Region Head for China & APAC, where I took over after a failed management change and managed to stabilize, engage, and unite the China leadership behind an updated China strategy with an ambitious growth plan.
I always wanted to continue working as a board or advisory board member after my corporate career in order to share my international business experience. While I have already gained experience serving on the boards of several joint venture companies and on two even as chairman, I also decided to get the Financial Times Non Executive Director Diploma to learn more about the responsibilities of a board member.
With my extensive experience in emerging markets in Asia, the Middle East and Africa I believe that I can add value to any company which is looking for a trusted person with high integrity to bring this knowledge to the boardroom. In these critical times it is also very important to follow the geopolitics, which I do passionately. Being based in Asia I see my role as a mediator between East and West in any Western company which is interested to further develop in this massive growth region.
After my MBA at the University of St. Gallen I joined Sandoz and started out in several Controlling and Finance roles and then joined Clariant as CFO for Thailand in 1999. But after a few years I was eager to move into the business management, as that was where the action was and I loved the interactions with the customers. So I got the opportunity to take over as Country President and Division Head first in Morocco and then in South Africa. In 2008 I moved for the first time to China and took over a business unit for the whole of Asia.
Throughout my career I was tackling challenging change management, strategy development and execution projects in multi-cultural settings. So as a next challenge I was nominated to run the global healthcare packaging business from Paris, which came through an acquisition and had to be integrated into the Clariant structures and processes while launching a new internationalization strategy with an acquisition in China and a new greenfield plant in India.
Then I became Region Head for Middle East and Africa and supported two separate BUs to close sites in Istanbul and Casablanca and then convinced the executive committee to move the regional head office to Dubai, leading to a stronger focus on the fast growing Catalyst and Oil service businesses in the gulf.
I thrive in leading multi-cultural teams across regions in challenging business environments through strong leadership and excellent stakeholder relationships.
This was also the case in my most recent assignment as Region Head for China & APAC, where I took over after a failed management change and managed to stabilize, engage, and unite the China leadership behind an updated China strategy with an ambitious growth plan.
I always wanted to continue working as a board or advisory board member after my corporate career in order to share my international business experience. While I have already gained experience serving on the boards of several joint venture companies and on two even as chairman, I also decided to get the Financial Times Non Executive Director Diploma to learn more about the responsibilities of a board member.
With my extensive experience in emerging markets in Asia, the Middle East and Africa I believe that I can add value to any company which is looking for a trusted person with high integrity to bring this knowledge to the boardroom. In these critical times it is also very important to follow the geopolitics, which I do passionately. Being based in Asia I see my role as a mediator between East and West in any Western company which is interested to further develop in this massive growth region.
