Germany Decides: CEO Briefing

Prof. Dr. Veronika Grimm

Member of Chancellor Merkel's Council of Economic Advisors

Veronika Grimm has been Professor of Economic Theory at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) since 2008. She studied economics and sociology at the Universities of Hamburg and Kiel and received her PhD in economics from Humboldt University Berlin in 2002. After her PhD she was an assistant professor at University of Alicante and spent some time at CORE (Université Catholique de Louvain) and ULB (Brussels), before she joined University of Cologne, where she earned her habilitation in 2008. Her research interests are in the fields of market design (economic engineering) , behavioral economics, industrial organization, and energy economics. She is the founding director of the Laboratory of Experimental Research in Nuremberg (LERN) and head of the division „Energy Market Design“ at Energie Campus Nürnberg (EnCN). Veronika Grimm is a fellow of CESifo and member of several scientific commitees and boards. She has published widely in prestigeous economics journals, such as the Journal of Economic Theory, the Economic Journal, Games and Economic Behavior, or the European Economic Review. Her research has been founded by the German Research Foundation, as well as other public and private institutions. She also regularly cooperates with public institutions or firms in joint projects. In 2020 Professor Grimm has been appointed to Germany’s most important advisory committee for matters of economic policy, the council of five economic experts known as ‘die fünf Wirtschaftsweisen.

Jce Kaeser

Chairman

Siemens Energy

Joe Kaeser was born in 1957 in Arnbruck in the Regen District (Germany). After completing his studies with a degree in Business Administration (FH), he joined Siemens AG in 1980. After various positions in business management and management positions at Siemens AG in the areas of Administration, Finance and Strategy, Joe Kaeser was appointed to the Managing Board of Siemens AG as Chief Financial Officer in 2006. From August 2013 until February 2021 Joe Kaeser was President and Chief Executive Officer of Siemens AG.

Christian Klein

CEO

SAP

Christian Klein is Chief Executive Officer and member of the Executive Board of SAP SE. In his role as CEO, Klein holds the overall responsibility for the corporate strategic direction, management, and performance of SAP. In addition to the role of CEO, until July 2021, Klein was also SAP’s Chief Operating Officer, leading SAP’s transformation into an Intelligent Enterprise to the benefit of both customers and employees. Prior to becoming CEO, Klein was the COO and head of the Intelligent Enterprise Group, combining global responsibility for the development and delivery of SAP’s core applications with the cross-board area mandate for SAP’s global business operations. Klein’s Intelligent Enterprise Group drove SAP’s digital core development functions and product management. This included SAP’s flagship product SAP S/4HANA, SAP Digital Supply Chain, and managing SAP’s rich industry-specific portfolio. Klein started his career at SAP in 1999 as a student. He held various positions in Active Global Support Operations, Services Operations, and Global Controlling, and served as Chief Financial Officer of SAP SuccessFactors (2011-2012). In 2014, he became Chief Controlling Officer and on April 1, 2016, he was named Chief Operating Officer. Since October 11, 2019, Christian Klein and Jennifer Morgan were Co-CEOs of SAP SE; on April 20, 2020, Christian Klein was appointed sole CEO of SAP SE.

Francine Lacqua

Editor-at-Large

Bloomberg TV

Francine Lacqua is an award-winning London-based anchor for Bloomberg Television. She co-anchors the weekday 3-hour daily program “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene, where she provides insight on foreign policy, global markets and the top business stories of the day. She also presents “Leaders with Lacqua,” a special series where she sits down with top CEOs, entrepreneurs and public figures. Since joining Bloomberg in 2000, Lacqua has covered the World Economic Forum in Davos, IMF in Washington, G20 meetings, the EU Leaders Summit and OPEC. She also led Bloomberg Television’s coverage of the Italian and French elections where she was one of the first international reporters to interview cabinet members. While at Bloomberg, Lacqua has interviewed high-profile figures such as French President Emmanuel Macron, former UK Prime Minister David Cameron, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, Billionaire financier George Soros and ECB President Mario Draghi. She has also interviewed finance ministers from South Korea, Russia, France, Mexico, Italy and Greece, as well as moderating televised debates from the World Economic Forum in Davos and the European Economic Governance package.

Christian Sewing

CEO

Deutsche Bank

Christian Sewing has been a member of the Management Board since January 1, 2015 and Chief Executive Officer since April 2018. On July 7, 2019 he took on additional responsibility for the newly established Corporate Bank and the Investment Bank. He joined Deutsche Bank in 1989. From January until June 2015, he was responsible on the Management Board for Legal, Incident Management Group and Group Audit, and assumed responsibility for Deutsche Bank’s Private & Commercial Bank (including Postbank) between July 2015 and April 2018. He was Head of Group Audit from June 2013 to December 2014, prior to which he held a number of management positions in Risk. From 2012 to 2013, he was Deputy Chief Risk Officer. From 2010 to 2012, he served as the Bank’s Chief Credit Officer. He has worked in Frankfurt, London, Singapore, Tokyo and Toronto. From 2005 until 2007, Christian Sewing was a member of the Management Board of Deutsche Genossenschafts-Hypothekenbank. Before graduating with a diploma from the Bankakademie Bielefeld and Hamburg, Christian Sewing completed a bank apprenticeship at Deutsche Bank in 1989.