Faculty

Dr. Jo. B. Aschenbrenner, LL.M. is a lawyer in Hamburg.

She is Head of the HR and Legal Department of Bucerius Law School and is Equal Opportunities Person.

In her own private practice she consults law firm management on HR and business strategies and conducts partner workshops. Moreover, she is shareholder of encode.org, an agile startup that uses the Holacracy practice.

She studied law at the Universities of Freiburg, Geneva and Munich from 1991 until 1996 and worked for several years at the Institute of International and European Law, University of Munich. After finishing her law degree (Erstes Staatsexamen) in 1997, she obtained her master of law in Florence in 1998 and a year later her doctor of law in Munich.

Jo’s practice builds upon her experience as a lawyer in the IP department of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and as CEO of a 100% for profit subsidiary of Bucerius Law School. She speaks English, German, French and Italian.

Jernej Bergoc, an MLB Alumni, works as Head of Finance at at a family office of a renowned German industrial family.

Jernej Bergoc holds an LLB from the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia). During his years at the Faculty of Law he, among others, organized and led student excursions overseas as well as co-authored a book on global development strategies. He also created The Legal Solution, a corporate law competition for senior law students, which has meanwhile turned into the largest event of this sort in Slovenia. After obtaining the Master of Law and Business from Bucerius Law School, his first professional position was at Wieland Capital, a prestigious small cap Private Equity fund where he worked as an analyst.

Dr. Christian Bochmann practices law at the tax and corporate law firm Flick Gocke Schaumburg in Hamburg and manages the Center for Family Businesses at Bucerius Law School. He teaches various fields of private law at Bucerius and is a guest lecturer for capital markets law and for the law pertaining to groups of companies at the Leuphana University Lüneburg.

Dr. Bochmann completed his legal studies at Bucerius Law School in Hamburg (LL.B., Ph.D.), at Columbia University – School of Law – in New York City and at the University of Cambridge (LL.M.). He has been an academic assistant at the chair for company law of Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Karsten Schmidt for several years and served as a clerk to Chief Justice Dr. H. Fischer at the High Court Munich.

His interests include all aspects of company law – from family-owned businesses to listed stock corporations and he is author of several articles and book chapters in this field.

Carolin Bock is Professor of Entrepreneurship at Technical University of Darmstadt. She holds a degree in Business Administration from Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg and a Master of Science in Management from Ecole de Management de Lyon. She received her doctorate from Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg and was a habilitation candidate at the Chair in Entrepreneurial Finance at Technical University of Munich before being appointed in Darmstadt. She was a visiting professor at the Babson College (Massachusetts, USA), the HHL in Leipzig, the European Business School, and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

Her research focuses on the areas of entrepreneurial finance and academic entrepreneurship and has been published in leading entrepreneurship journals. She served on the founding board of the Social Entrepreneurship Akademie (Munich), an institution of the four Munich-based universities. Several (high-tech) start-ups were created under her support and she has wide experience in executive education. Further, she served on the board for developing the DIN-Spec manual for technology- and knowledge-based start-ups and is a jury member of several start-up challenges.

Georgiana Capraru Ianus is a public servant with the European Commission in Brussels. She works in the Directorate General for Competition as a lawyer case handler in the field of antitrust law with a particular focus on energy. Prior to her career at the European Commission, Georgiana worked for three years as an associate lawyer with the international law firm Allen & Overy in Brussels in the EU/Competition law department where she advised in particular on antitrust, mergers and cartels. She is an MLB alumna of the 2008 class and obtained a postgraduate diploma in Economics for Competition Law from King's College in London. She holds a degree in law from the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne and the University of Bucharest. She is fluent in English, German and French.

Christian Decker is professor of International Business, especially International and Corporate Finance, at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg).

Before being appointed as a professor in 2007, he spent ten years with the corporate and investment banking division of a large German bank. He focused on the development of regulatory, economic and/or liquidity-driven securitisation solutions as well as securitisation-based business models. Prior to that, he was involved in the arranging and underwriting of national and international project and acquisition finance transactions in various sectors (e.g. industrial plants, power, telecommunication, traffic infrastructure, oil & gas) and regions (Europe, Asia, America, Australia). He started his professional career in the corporate finance department of a Big Four auditing firm, where he worked three years as consultant, evaluator and trustee.

Christian Decker has specialised in didactical concepts that are grounded on competency-based education as well as educational media. His focus lies on the development and execution of course scenarios deploying e-learning, blended learning, inverted classroom (flipped classroom) as well as project-based, case-based and research-based learning. In 2012 and 2017, he was awarded the Hamburg Teaching Award.

Christian Decker graduated with a degree in Business Administration (Dipl.-Kfm.) from the University of Hamburg and received his doctorate (Dr. rer. pol.) from the University of Bremen, Institute for World Economics and International Management (IWIM).

Yvonne Draheim is a Partner in the Hamburg Hogan Lovells Office. She studied law at the University of Hamburg and graduated in 1994, First State Exam. In 1995/1996, she continued with her master studies at the University of Stellenbosch/South Africa where she graduated in 1995 with her master of laws.

Yvonne Draheim's focus lies on intellectual property, in particular trademarks and designs as well as unfair competition law (e.g. comparative advertising, get-up protection), domain name disputes and copyright. Yvonne represents clients from different fields of business, e.g. consumer products, life sciences, textiles, energy, classical industries (e.g. automotive) as well as media, and in particular social media. She mainly works with international clients, e.g. from Europe and the US. Her work, to a large extent, refers to trademark and design right litigation including prior advice thereto, especially with international and cross-border impact (e.g. she worked for years on the famous Philips ./. Remington three-headed shaver cases regarding 3D marks; at present she is involved in the global Merck vs. Merck litigation). Furthermore, she advises on strategic international portfolio management as the basis of a successful enforcement of trademark and design rights in Germany and elsewhere. In addition, she also advises clients on contracting, e.g. licences and prior rights and delimitation Agreements.

Yvonne Draheim continually publishes articles on up-to-date questions of IP law, e.g. on new kinds of trademarks (she was involved in registering the first haptical trademark in the world, the word "Underberg" in Braille), such as abstract color and color combination marks as well as move marks and on trademark portfolio strategy. She is also experienced in teaching IP law on various occasions, and has been teaching international and national students at the Bucerius Law School for years. Yvonne Draheim is a member of the German Association for the Protection of Industrial Property and Copyright (GRUR) as well as the International Trademark Association (INTA). According to JUVE, she belongs – for many years – to the “often recommended attorneys”.

Yamila Eraso is a counsel at LACORE Rechtsanwälte PartG mbB, a Berlin-based corporate law firm with a strong focus on startups/venture capital. She has ample experience advising entrepreneurs, early-stage companies and investors on company’s formation and financing rounds as well as cross-border business, in particular involving the U.S. and Latin America. She is also highly involved with the development of tokenization projects and frequently participates as speaker regarding business and regulatory matters of blockchain technology.

Yamila was a partner at TLDR Global, an advisory firm that specialised in blockchain projects. She has worked as a lawyer for prominent law firms in Colombia and the U.S., as well as in-house legal counsel for a German crowd-lending startup in Berlin.

Yamila received her first law degree (with honors) from Universidad Javeriana in Colombia, she holds a postgraduate diploma in tax law from the same University, an LL.M. from Harvard Law School and she is also an MLB alumna of the 2013 class.

Yamila is admitted as a lawyer in the State of New York and the Republic of Colombia.

Michael Friedman received an A.B. in Economics (magna cum laude) from the University of Southern California and subsequently studied law at the Boalt Hall School of Law on the University of California at Berkeley. He received his Juris Doctor in 1993 and became a member of the California State Bar in 1994. Mr. Friedman practiced law as a senior attorney and litigator in the San Francisco Bay area with the Contra Costa County Office of the Public Defender. He has lived in Hamburg since 2004 and works as a legal editor at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law; his efforts there include revision of the Encyclopedia of European Private Law. In addition to having lectured with the Bucerius MLB program, the Bucerius LLB program and the Bucerius International Exchange Program, he teaches with the GISMA Business School in Hanover and has presented on negotiation for the Deutsch-Amerikanische Juristen Vereinigung (German-American Lawyers Association) and the African Good Governance Network (AGGN).

Recipient of the MLB Best Teacher Award in 2012 for the course Negotiation II.

Rolf Uwe Fülbier is full professor of international accounting at the University of Bayreuth. Before, he was full professor at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management (2005-2008), assistant professor at the University of Bochum (1999-2004) and Ph.D student at the University of Münster (1994-1998). He studied business administration at the University of Cologne, financed by a scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes), and worked several years for Deutsche Bank AG in Germany and Indonesia (Jakarta branch). Since 2005 Rolf Uwe Fülbier has been an appointed tax consultant (Steuerberater).

His field of research covers all aspects of financial accounting and reporting, especially international accounting (IFRS, US-GAAP). Rolf Uwe Fülbier is author of a huge variety of books, book sections and articles in national and international refereed journals (European Accounting Review, Abacus, AAAJ, Journal of International Accounting Research, Accounting History, zfbf/sbr, ZfB/JBE, DBW, etc.) and professional journals (WPg, DB, KoR, etc.). He is editorial board member of "Accounting in Europe" (Taylor & Francis), the European publication outlet for policy oriented accounting research, of "Business and Research" (Springer), the official journal of the German Academic Association of Business Research (VHB), "Journal of Business Economics" (Springer) and of "Accounting, Economics and Law – A Convivium" (de Gruyter). Moreover, he was visiting scholar/professor at TU Sofia, University of Oxford and Victoria University of Wellington, he has been involved in several graduate and executive programs of leading German and European Universities and he is member of the German CPA-examination board. Currently, he is also member of the PhD-Faculty ProDok of the German Academic Association for Business Research (VHB) and vice-chairman of the VHB commission ‘Accounting’ of all German-speaking accounting professors. He has been honoured with several best teaching (e.g., WHU, University of Bayreuth), research and other awards. His textbook "International Accounting" (Internationale Rechnungslegung), coauthored with Pellens (Bochum), Gassen (Berlin) and Sellhorn (Munich), received 2018 the VHB-Monograph Prize.

Niels Hartwig joined Siemens AG as an in-house lawyer in February 1990, and since then has been in charge of various functions in Germany and abroad. From 2007-2013 he was involved in handling the compliance crisis; including the settlement with authorities in Germany and the U.S. as well as the coordination of the worldwide activities of the Compliance Monitor, Dr. Theo Waigel. He is currently the Chief Counsel Corporate and directly oversees the Corporate Law, Litigation, Global Functions and Real Estate legal departments. Additionally, he also leads the Supervisory Board Office of Siemens AG.

Niels Hartwig is a member of the board of the Ernst von Siemens Arts Foundation (Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung), Chairman of the judiciary committee of the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Deutscher Industrie- und Handelskammertag, DIHK), Vice President of the In-house Lawyers Association in Germany (Bund der Unternehmensjuristen, BUJ) as well as a member of the board of the judiciary committee of the Federation of German Industry e.v. (Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie e.V., BDI). Furthermore, he is a member of the Advisory Council "Center for General Studies and Personal Development" (Zentrum für Studium Generale und Persönlichkeitsentwicklung, ZSP) of the Bucerius Law School.

Wolfgang Heckenberger is a German qualified lawyer and Senior Competition Advisor at Siemens AG. Prior to joining Siemens in 1999 he served for more than three years at the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) in Berlin and lectured as an assistant professor at the University of Würzburg.

In his position as Senior Competition Advisor, Wolfgang Heckenberger is advising the Siemens Group at all seniority levels on a worldwide basis on all aspects of Competition Law, with a Focus on mergers and acquisitions, collaborative and other horizontal and vertical arrangements, cartel investigations, antitrust-related corporate governance, and state aid/anti-dumping matters. His experience covers the complete range of the Siemens product and services portfolio.

Mr. Heckenberger graduated from the University of Würzburg. He is a member of the American Bar Association (ABA) and of the Studienvereinigung Kartellrecht eV (German Antitrust Lawyers' Association). He currently serves as a board member of the Competition Committee of the BDI (Federation of German Industries). In addition, he is a lecturer at the Bucerius Law School, Hamburg, and is admitted to the Munich Bar.

Dr. Franz Bernhard Herding, a German Rechtsanwalt, is partner in the Banking department at Allen & Overy LLP and based in Frankfurt. During the last years he worked as advisor of financial institutions, sponsors and corporates on numerous national and international corporate and  leveraged finance transactions as well as on complex (out-of-court and in-court) restructurings. He has broad experience in banking and finance law and focuses particularly on the area of insolvency and restructuring.

After his legal studies at the University of Münster and Paris (State Exam 2001), he worked as research assistant at the chair of Prof. Dr. Wolfram Timm (Institut für Deutsches und Europäisches Unternehmensrecht, Münster) (Ph.D 2004)  and completed his clerkship in Berlin (2005).

Dr. Franz Bernhard Herding has been a frequent lecturer in the area of finance and restructuring, e.g. within the M&A Summer Course at the University of Münster.

Professor Martin Hoegl (MBA, Washington State Univ.; Dr. rer. pol., Univ. of Karlsruhe, Germany; Habilitation, Technical University of Berlin, Germany) is Head of the Institute for Leadership and Organization at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich. Before joining LMU Munich, Professor Hoegl served on the faculties of Washington State University (USA), Bocconi University (Milan, Italy) and WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management (Vallendar, Germany). Moreover, Martin Hoegl held visiting professorships at the Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern Univ., USA), National Sun Yat-Sen University (Taiwan), Curtin Univ. (Perth, Australia), Portland State Univ. (USA) as well as the Univ. of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada).

Recipient of the MLB Best Teacher Award in 2017 for the course Managerial Leadership.

Dr. Jan-Alexander Huber is a Partner in Bain & Company's Frankfurt and London offices. He is a leader in Bain’s EMEA Financial Services practice and Global Co-Head of Bain’s Risk & Finance and Regulatory Practice.

Jan-Alexander has more than 18 years of line and consulting experience, with deep expertise in Wholesale Banking and Finance.

He works globally with leading banks to address the topics of commercial banking and asset-based finance, restructuring, Finance and Risk as well as Corporate Finance. In addition, he advises Private Equity Funds on their investments in the Financial Services industry. 

Jan-Alexander formerly served as Deputy CFO and Managing Director with global responsibility for Group Finance, Financial Controlling and Regulatory Reporting at a German wholesale bank with ~6 years of line experience. In addition, he was operationally in charge as Managing Director for the bank's Corporate Finance business.

He earned a Diploma in Business Administration from the University of Hamburg and a PhD in economics, summa cum laude, from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.

PD Dr. Alexander Kerl, CFA, currently works within the reinsurance development department of Munich Re, where he is in charge of the training and knowledge transfer among financial analysts. He also serves as lecturer at the chair of financial services, Justus-Liebig University of Giessen where he worked as associate professor from 2010 to 2015. His “Habilitation” that he finished in 2014 is titled “Information Intermediaries, Trading Decisions and the Capital Market”. From 2008 to 2010, Alexander Kerl worked for Allianz Investment Management in Munich within a strategic team to establish the strategic asset allocation, and within the CFO office support team.

Alexander Kerl’s research focuses on herding effects on capital markets and financial analysts. He has published articles in international refereed journals such as the Review of Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance and European Financial Management. Alexander Kerl was awarded the „Dr.-Herbert-Stolzenberg-Award” in 2013 alongside the “Finanzkompass Innovationspreis” by the Finanzplatz Hamburg e.V. in 2014.

Adem Koyuncu is double qualified as lawyer and medical doctor and is a Partner of the international law firm Covington & Burling LLP. He is based in Brussels and Frankfurt and admitted to practice in Germany and Brussels. Dr. Koyuncu advises clients on EU and German law issues that affect pharmaceuticals, medical devices and other consumer products. He has a broad practice that covers regulatory, compliance, commercial and liability matters and he also assists clients in Transactions.

Prior to joining legal practice, Dr. Koyuncu worked in the pharmaceutical industry and practiced as a medical doctor. He is a frequent lecturer at legal conferences and seminars and extensively publishes in his practice areas. Among others, he is co-author of the comparative law book "Practical Global Tort Litigation". He is also member of the editorial boards of several legal journals. He is fluent in German, Turkish and English and speaks conversational Spanish.

For his practical and scientific work, Adem Koyuncu received the awards "Wissenschaftspreis im Gesundheitswesen" (2005) and the "Deutscher Arzt Recht Preis" (2008) and is listed as leading lawyer in different rankings.

Annette Kraus is Chief Counsel Compliance in the department Regulatory Compliance of Siemens AG.
Regulatory Compliance is the worldwide centre of competence within Siemens for all regulatory related
compliance topics, criminal law, administrative offenses, and related proceedings ('white-collar
crime'). The department aims to prevent infringements by setting worldwide applicable policies, and to
detect and investigate alleged infringements. Mrs. Kraus, Maître en Droit Européen, is Senior Legal
Counsel with particular expertise in Compliance in M&A transact¡ons and antitrust compliance. Prior to
this activity, she managed projects at Steria Mummert Consulting mainly in the field of capital market
compliance in the banking area. She began her legal career at a law firm with focus in the area of
securities law.

Dr. Nils Krause is a partner at the international law firm DLA Piper and works as a German qualified lawyer and solicitor (England / Wales) in the Hamburg office of DLA Piper. He heads the Corporate / M&A practice of the firm in Germany. His principal areas of practice are mergers and acquisitions, securities law and corporate law. Prior to working for DLA Piper, Nils Krause was a partner at White & Case and, in addition, worked in the investment banking department (Global Banking - M&A) of a leading international bank in Frankfurt.  Furthermore, he was a research student at Harvard Law School and visiting fellow at the University of Oxford. He lectures on corporate law at nationally and internationally renowned universities and is recognized by Legal 500 as "often recommended lawyer for corporate law" in Germany. In addition, Chambers Global recognizes him as "top transactional lawyer" for international M&A projects.

Stephan D. Kretschmer, Dipl. Ing. Brigadier General retired, professional life centered around strategy and leadership. Diplomatic service in Washington D.C., command of a Brigade (3500 soldiers), responsible for the Corporate Identity of the Bundeswehr (Innere Führung). Over 15 years experience in assisting individuals and management teams in meeting personal, strategic and leadership challenges. Lecturing at the WHU and Bucerius Law School.

Stefan Kröll is an independent arbitrator in Cologne (Germany) and the Co-Director of the Center of International Dispute Resolution at Bucerius Law School. In addition, he is one of the directors of the Vis-Arbitration Moot Court and a visiting professor at the School of International Arbitration, CCLS – Queen Mary College, London. He regularly lectures for other universities in Germany and abroad and is a member of the editorial or academic advisory board of several national and international journals. Professor Kröll is one of Germany’s national correspondents to UNCITRAL for arbitration and international commercial law and regularly listed as one of the leading German Arbitration specialists. Educated at the Universities in Marburg, Geneva and Cologne, he holds a doctorate from the University of Cologne and a Master of Laws from the London School of Economics. Professor Kröll is the (co)author and (co)editor of a number of books and articles on international arbitration and litigation, and international commercial law.

Recipient of the MLB Best Teacher Award in 2008, together with Professor Larsen, for the course International Litigation II, in 2013 for the course International Sale of Goods and in 2016 and 2017 for the course Arbitration.

Florian Lechner is a tax partner of Jones Day in Frankfurt. He advises on all tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganisations as well as financing transactions. He also has extensive experience in structuring investment funds. Another focus of his practice is tax compliance and tax related internal investigations. He acts for a broad range of clients, mainly in the finance and investment sector.

Florian is a frequent lecturer at tax seminars and contributor to tax expert journals and books. 

Andreas E. Meier is the Chief Investment Officer of Lombard Assurance International S.A., Luxembourg, a global leader in insurance-based wealth structuring solutions, owned by The Blackstone Group L.P.

Before he joined Lombard, he worked for 15 years at UBS Group where among other functions, he was Head of Latin America and Regional Head Northern Germany.

Mr. Meier served as member of the Executive Board at UBS Germany between 2009 and 2016. He started his career at former Dresdner Bank Latin America in 1992. He is member of the presidency of the Latin American Business Association, Hamburg. He holds a degree (Lic. rer. pol.) in Business Administration from the University of Hamburg, with a special focus in Banking, Finance and Portfolio Management.

Matthias Meyer is full professor for management control and accounting at the Hamburg University of Technology. Before that he was an associate and assistant professor for management accounting at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in Vallendar. He holds a habilitation degree (Dr. oec. publ. habil.) from WHU and a PhD (Dr. oec. publ.) in business economics from Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, where he worked at the Chair of Philosophy and Economics. The topic of his dissertation was the principal agent model. He received his Diplom-Kaufmann in business administration from Eichstaett Catholic University and a master of science in the philosophy of social sciences from the London School of Economics and Political Science. In 2006, Matthias Meyer stayed as visiting scholar at the Center for Computational Analysis of Social and Organizational Systems (CASOS) at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. His practical background in management accounting is his former position as the Managing Director of the Center for Controlling & Management at WHU where companies like DaimlerChrysler, Deutsche Telekom or Deutsche Lufthansa work together with researchers on management accounting topics. He has teaching experience in management accounting, cost accounting, corporate planning and strategic decision-making, economic methodology and business ethics.

Dr. Morten Petersenn is a partner at the Hamburg office of Hogan Lovells International LLP and a member of their IP, media & technology (IPMT) practice. He specializes in the field of trade mark, design and unfair competition law. Moreover, he advises companies in disputes related to false advertisements or internet related conflicts, such as domain name conflicts, litigation regarding false online marketing or trade mark use through foreign websites. Dr. Petersenn is also representing clients in any kind of litigation proceedings related to the violation of IP rights, in particular copyright claims and false advertisings. His clients include companies from the food, telecom and consumer industries.

Morten Petersenn completed his law studies at the Universities of Göttingen, Salamanca (Spain) and the University of Capetown (South Africa), where he conducted studies for his thesis for his PhD degree. Before joining the Hamburg office Dr. Petersenn worked at Hogan Lovells' office in Alicante, where he focused on Community trade mark and Community design law, for example advising clients in proceedings before the Office of Harmonization for the Internal Market (OHIM), which is located in Alicante.

Dr. Sven Prüfer, a German Rechtsanwalt, is partner at Allen & Overy LLP and based in Frankfurt am Main. Being a member of Allen & Overy's corporate law team he advises regularly corporations, investors and financial institutions on national and international M&A transactions, complex cross-border restructurings and German corporate law. Dr. Prüfer received his legal education at the University of Potsdam/Humboldt-University, Berlin (State Exam 1997, Ph.D 2000) and at Cornell Law School, Ithaca, New York (LL.M. 2003).

Dr. Prüfer is a frequent lecturer on insolvency law and restructuring as well as company (in particular stock corporation) law.

Natalia Ribberink is professor of Foreign Trade & International Management at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Business & Social Sciences.

In addition to her professorship at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences Natalia Ribberink holds visiting professor positions at the University of Rhode Island (USA), California State University Long Beach (USA), and has a position of external faculty member at the Utrecht University of Applied Sciences (The Netherlands).

Before being appointed as a professor Natalia Ribberink spent five years in the German aviation industry within a large airline alliance. She managed international projects in the area of strategic partnerships and was responsible for fare policies, contract management, accreditation procedures and staff recruiting & development. She combined this function with her Ph.D.-studies. Prior to that she worked as a Research Associate at the Faculty of Business & Social Sciences at the University of Applied Sciences in Osnabrueck.

Natalia Ribberink graduated with honours from the Belarusian State University in Minsk with a degree in the World Economy/International Economic Relations. As a winner of DAAD Award for Excellence she continued her education and research in Osnabrueck, Germany, where she obtained her second university degree in European Business Studies (Dipl.-Kffr.) and a Ph.D. in Economics.

Recipient of the MLB Best Teacher Award in 2015 for the course International Strategic Management

Deborah Schanz is professor of taxation and accounting at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München since July 2011.

Deborah Schanz completed her business studies in Hamburg, Newcastle (England) and Tübingen focusing on taxation, management accounting and control and international accounting. In 2004 she finished her doctorate at the University of Tübingen. She completed her “Habilitation” in 2007 at the University of Graz (Austria) on the topic “Auswirkungen der Besteuerung auf Investitionsentscheidungen”. From 2007 until 2011 she was professor for taxation and accounting at the WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management. Prior to her studies she gained practical experience as a management consultant with Deloitte in Stuttgart.

Deborah Schanz publishes articles in different well-known refereed journals (Contemporary Accounting Research, European Accounting Review, Review of Managerial Science, Zeitschrift für Betriebswirtschaftliche Forschung) as well as in professional journals (DStR, DB, BB). She received several awards for her publications including the Monograph Prize from the German Academic Association for Business Research (VHB) in 2006 and the 2018 Best Conference Paper Award of the annual VHB meeting. Her areas of research comprise the influence of taxation on investment and financing decision-making, tax accounting and international Taxation. 

Karsten Schmidt is Professor of Business and Corporate Law and was President of the Bucerius Law School from 2004 to 2012. A doctorate in 1972 was followed in 1975/76 by a post-doctorate (Habilitation) in Bonn in the subjects of civil law, commercial law, business law and civil procedural law. Following a professorship in Göttingen (1976), he held a professorial chair at the University of Hamburg from 1977 to 1997 and was Director of the Departments of Commercial, Maritime and Economic Law. From 1997 to 2004 Karsten Schmidt was a professor at the University of Bonn and Director of the Institute for Commercial and Business Law. Prof. Schmidt holds honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Athens, from Leuphana University and from the University of Vienna.

Recipient of the MLB Best Teacher Award in 2010 and 2011 for the course Business Entities (together with Dr. Carsten Jungmann).

Christian Stoll is partner at the law firm Hogan Lovells in Hamburg. He is active in Intellectual Property Law. Mr. Stoll has extensive experience in intellectual property litigation, with particular focus on patent litigation, and in the licensing of intellectual property and technology. He advises and represents multiple international companies that are active in the fields of engineering, telecommunications, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and nutrition in the area of patent law and IP licensing. Christian Stoll studied law at the University of Hamburg and Notre Dame University. He frequently holds seminars on patent litigation and IP licensing.

Professor Thorn teaches and researches in different fields of Private International Law, International Commercial Law, and Comparative Law. 

From 2005 through 2009 he was the German director of the program of the Summer Law Institute in Souzhou, China, and since 2007, lecturer within a cooperation framework of Chinese legal training, e.g. the China European International Business School, Shanghai, or the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, as well as the “Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Berlin. In 2010, he was "Director of Studies in the Session of Private International Law for the Diploma Seminars 2010" of The Hague Academy of International Law; in the summer of 2016 he taught there a course on “The Protection of Weaker Business Parties in Private International Law”.

Prof. Thorn is among other academic or professional associations regional head of the German-American Lawyers Association, council member of the German Association for International Law and member of the German Council of International Private Law. He is author and editor of numerous publications, particularly of a commentary on International Private Law within the main commentary „Palandt“. He is co-publisher of “IPRax”, one of the most distinguished German law journals on conflict of laws.

Dr. Nele Julie Todsen is an Associate Legal Counsel in the Hamburg office of Google Germany GmbH.

Nele completed her law studies at the Universities of Hamburg and Cologne. After her First State Exam in Law she worked for an international law firm in Hamburg and London and wrote her doctoral thesis which focused on telemedia and broadcasting law. Before her admission as a lawyer, Nele served as a judge.

Eva Vonau is a German lawyer and founding partner of the IP Boutique Slopek Vonau Rechtsanwälte PartG mbB. The firm specializes in IP law as well as unfair competition and media law. 

Before deciding to pursue her passion for law, Eva Vonau was first a technical assistant for audio and video productions at one of the biggest TV and Film production sites in Germany. This allows her a unique perspective on all questions relating to media, creativity and technology. 

Eva Vonau studied law at the University of Kiel and worked as a research assistant there for two years after finishing her degree. Her PhD thesis focused on copyright law. She started her career as a lawyer in the IP, media & technology (IPMT) practice of Hogan Lovells LLP in Hamburg.

Today she uses her first-hand experience in the media industry to provide practical advice on all legal questions related to copyright, media and unfair competition law in her own law firm. She understands herself as a translator between creatives and lawyers. The focus of her work lies on the development of strategies for the protection of creative work, representing clients in court proceedings and conducting contract negotiations.

Professor Wagner holds the Chair of Logistics Management at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland. He worked in practice for almost 10 years prior to his academic career, namely as head of supply chain management for a Swiss-based technology group and as senior manager for an international top-management consulting firm. He obtained a MBA from Washington State University and a Ph.D. and Habilitation degree from the University of St. Gallen.

He has been a lecturer for supply chain management and related areas on the undergraduate, graduate and executive level at several universities. He has been recognized for his teaching with the MBA Program Best Teacher Award at the WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management (2006) and the “Golden Owl” Teaching Award at the ETH Zurich (2009 and 2013). In addition, he has consulted with and conducted executive training programs for leading companies and business associations.

He is an active researcher and has received numerous research awards. His research interests lie in the areas of supply chain management, purchasing and supply management, logistics and transportation management, and the management of logistics service firms - with a particular emphasis on strategy, networks, relationships, behavioral issues, risk, innovation, entrepreneurship, and sustainability. He is author and editor of ten books and over one hundred book chapters and articles. He has published in journals such as Journal of Operations Management, Decision Sciences, European Journal of Operational Research, Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Management, or California Management Review.

Recipient of the MLB Best Teacher Award in 2016, 2018 and 2019 for the course Logistics and Supply Chain Management.

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Prof. Dr. Christiana Weber is Head of the Institute for Management and Organization Theory at the Leibniz University Hanover, Germany. She studied Management Science at the Technical University Berlin, Germany and at the University of Berkeley, USA as well as Social and Business Communications at the University of Fine Arts Berlin, Germany (MSc) and at the University Stendhal Grenoble, France. She holds her PhD in Sociology from the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB)/Technical University Berlin and her post-doctorate (Habilitation) from the Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg. Moreover, Christiana Weber acted as visiting professor at Cambridge University, UK as well as at Queen Mary University London, UK, and has given guest lectures at various international universities.

Christiana Weber teaches and researches Strategic and Innovation Management, Organization Theories and (Social) Entrepreneurship. She is a review member of several academic journals and the author of several books and edited volumes as well as articles and book chapters. Her research has appeared in Journals such as Academy of Management Review, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Management Studies, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Scandinavian Journal of Management, and others.

Peter Witt is Professor of Technology and Innovation Management at the University of Wuppertal. He holds a degree in economics from the University of Bonn and a Ph.D degree in business administration from WHU. He received his habilitation degree at Humboldt University. From 2002 to 2006, Prof. Witt served as the Otto Beisheim Professor of Entrepreneurship at WHU, from 2006 to 2010 he was the director of the chair for Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship at the University of Dortmund.

Professor Witt supports large international corporations like 3M, Bayer, Deutsche Bahn, Deutsche Börse, Fraport, London Stock Exchange, Metro Group, RWE, and Vaillant in their corporate venturing activities as well as in their executive education programs. From 2008 to 2015, he was the president of the largest German speaking entrepreneurship association (FGF e.V.).

Prof. Witt has won numerous teaching awards, e.g. the WHU Best Teacher Award in 1996, the Kellogg-WHU-EMBA Best Teacher Award in 2003, the Best Teacher Award of the Faculty for Economics at the University of Dortmund in 2008, 2009, 2010, the Best Teacher Award of the University of Wuppertal in 2011 and 2016, the Best Teacher Award of the EMBA Program at the University of Mainz in 2015 as well as the Best Teacher Award in WHU’s Full-Time MBA Program in 2015.

He holds a degree in business administration from the University of Frankfurt and a Ph.D. degree in business administration from the HHL – Leipzig Graduate School of Management. Before joining the University of Göttingen in 2011, he was a post-doc at the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology and served as a full professor for Corporate Governance at the University of Mainz. Moreover, he worked from 2004 to 2006 for McKinsey & Company as a management consultant.

His research covers all aspects of Corporate Governance, especially board effectiveness, impact of active shareholders and incentive systems. Michael Wolff is author of a variety of articles in national and international referred journals (e.g. Contemporary Accounting Research, European Accounting Review, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Management Studies, and Strategic Management Journal) and transfer journals. Moreover, he is the academic (co-)director of the Center for Corporate Governance at the HHL – Leipzig Graduate School of Management and co-founder of the European Center for Board Efficiency. Additionally, he teaches at several institutions and programs (e.g. onboarding trainings for board members) and was member of a working group which developed guidelines for sustainable management board remuneration systems of listed German firms.

Prof. Dr. iur. Dr. rer. pol. Alexander J. Wulf, MSc (LSE), MLB (BLS/WHU) studied law, business and economics, and research methods (2003-2008) in London, Hamburg and Berlin. He is a graduate of the first Bucerius Master of Law and Business class of 2007. Alexander J. Wulf held visiting positions among others at the University of California, Berkeley, Kyoto University and the University of Oxford. He is currently professor of business law at SRH Hochschule Berlin (since 2015). In his research, Alexander J. Wulf studies the interdependence of law and economics, the role of law and legal institutions in economics and the application of empirical methodology to the study of law. His research focuses particularly on the empirical analysis of European Union commercial law.

Dr. Malte Wundenberg works as an attorney in the Frankfurt office of the law firm Hengeler Mueller, advising clients in the fields of capital markets law, banking regulation as well as internal investigations. In addition to his practical work, he is a lecturer at LMU Munich and Bucerius Law School, where he was working as a research associate at the Institute of Corporate and Capital Markets Law.

Malte Wundenberg studied law at Bucerius Law School and the New York University School of Law. Alongside his legal studies, he also obtained a "Dipl. Kfm." (Master) degree in business administration at the University of Mannheim and Hagen and was a research fellow at the University of Cambridge. He received numerous awards for his PhD thesis on banking regulation, including the "DAI-Hochschulpreis" and the Christian-Wilde-Award. Malte Wundenberg has written numerous articles in the field of banking law, capital markets law and civil procedural law. He is the author of the monograph, "Compliance and the principles-based supervision of banking groups," and co-author of a book on English capital markets law. At Bucerius, he has taught classes in contract law, corporate law and capital markets law.