Ever since I was a child, I had the desire to work in the automotive industry. This dream came true when I was allowed to become part of the BMW Junior Development Programme (NFP) in 2003 with a degree in business administration in Munich and an apprenticeship as an automotive salesman in Mannheim. With the NFP, BMW gave me the perfect start to my professional life.

Afterwards, I started as a product manager for BMW Australia and developed further in the following years through various management positions within the BMW Group. I particularly like the fact that BMW, as a global company, offers me the opportunity to work in many different areas, countries and cultures – also because I love to travel and discover the world.

Today, I am Head of Market Steering for Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa. I am the representative of the markets in the Munich headquarters and make sure that the markets achieve their goals and at the same time that all central specialist units deliver the necessary support to the markets. I also advise the markets on all sales, marketing, dealer and customer issues and on discussions with external stakeholders. This is an extremely exciting and varied job – you deal with different cultures every day and it is a really broad field of topics.

As a balance to work, I am pretty active in my free time – true to the motto "only in a healthy body is a healthy mind". I enjoy running, hiking, cycling and skiing together with my wife and daughter or with my friends.

For me, the BMW Group means a strong team, a sustainable strategy and, of course, great products – because I personally am a big fan of new as well as old cars and, in addition to my company car, I am also the proud owner of a BMW E30 320i convertible (built in 1989). I find the corporate culture particularly inspiring, as it promotes entrepreneurial action and demands permanent learning.