Universities, research organisations, innovation agencies are navigating unsettling change. Uncertainty is increasing. Expectations are rising. Resources and academic freedom depleting. AI extends and questions human agency.
To innovate, adapt and thrive in such an uncertain world, we rely on the capacity of people and organisations to reflect, decide and act with clarity, courage, flexibility and wisdom.
We need imaginative and strategic leaders who can encourage and enable their communities to transform themselves and create resilient organisations.
I support leaders of universities, research and innovation organisations across four dimensions:
After a PhD from Yale University and 30 years of international experience in European University, Research and Innovation Systems, I combine
I have advised hundreds of universities, ministries, European, national and regional organisations on strategy, policy and institutional development, analysing the unique individual case against the backdrop of international practices and innovative options.
From 2014-2016 I served as Chancellor (COO/CFO) of a major German research university (Erlangen-Nürnberg), consolidating the budget, modernising infrastructures and services, and being amazed by how much communication time is needed to enable change. Even introducing something as basic as staff development may encounter resistance in tense conservative institutional contexts.
In addition to my international mandates as consultant or coach, I also frequently act as member or chair of international advisory councils, quality review panels and accreditation committees all over Europe.
In recent years, coaching has become a central part of my work. It provides a space to address what strategy alone cannot: how leaders think, interact, decide and communicate in complex environments. As a certified Integral Coach (Coaching Center Berlin, an ICF- and DBVC-accredited training).
Selected engagements at the intersection of strategy, leadership, organisational development and systemic change.
