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Who we are

We are a leading management consultancy company with a start-up mentality and a passion for business innovation and digital transformation. We have a dual mission: to deliver excellent and consistent solutions to complex client challenges and to encourage the development of exceptional individuals in an inspiring environment.

The company

As a leading management consultancy service provider we specialise in strategy, innovation and transformation. We help our clients to develop new markets, establish innovative multi-sector business models and drive technological and organisational change.

Our multidisciplinary teams are the link between the executive floor and the operational level – and the bridge between business and IT. We unite a start-up mentality with first-rate advice. The standards we set for ourselves are high, and we are passionately committed to our clients.

The mentality

Our clients are encountering new challenges on a regular basis: climate change, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology, to mention just a few. We help them to overcome those challenges by prioritising a successful outcome for the client over our company’s own interests.

Even when something initially seems impossible, our teams make it possible. They are intelligent and focused people with a powerful work ethic and the motivation to succeed. And if something really isn’t possible, we let the client know. Sometimes, when we’re looking for the best idea, we get into some pretty heated team discussions. That’s because they benefit the project. And it’s our mentality.

The project teams

We unite competent individuals who are committed to success and set high standards for themselves. We build high-performing teams with the ideal mix of generalists, experts and executives for each new project. As individuals we have our own specific areas of competence. As a team we work towards the collective goal of achieving the best outcome for the client. That’s why the team as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

The people

Exceptional people in an exceptional team. That’s ritzenhoefer & company.

Where to find us

Our teams usually work on-site at the client's location, in Germany and internationally. For hybrid working and the Office-Fridays we have locations all over Germany.

Our offices are not just workplaces, but rather creative spaces and think tanks, offering room for exchange and development.

Berlin

Dircksen­str. 3
10179 Berlin

Bonn

Rabin­straße 1
53111 Bonn

Düsseldorf

Königsallee 2b
40212 Düsseldorf

Mettmann

Johannes-Flintrop-Straße 72
40822 Mettmann

München

Brienner Str. 45 a-d
80333 München

Join the team

As part of our team you are guaranteed to fast-track your personal and professional development. We are looking for interesting people with a diverse of educational and professional backgrounds – students, graduates and professionals with various experience.

Apply now

Alessa Sänger

Alessa Sänger read Southeast Asian Studies and Sociology at Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, Griffith University in Brisbane and Udayana University in Indonesia. She then completed a master’s degree in Curatorial Studies at Goethe University and the Städelschule – State University of Fine Arts in Frankfurt am Main.

During that time she gained her first work experience as a collection researcher at the Museum of World Cultures and assisted in numerous projects involving reputed members of the scientific community at Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaft (a humanities research centre) in Bad Homburg.

After graduation Alessa embarked on an internship at a major international management consultancy firm, where she discovered her enthusiasm for strategic consulting and acquired her first practical experience in change and transformation projects in an insurance environment. At ritzenhoefer & company Alessa works in IT strategy consulting, the management of financial sector client projects and ESG.

Outside work Alessa enjoys playing music and sports, as well as exploring new places.

André Kramp

André Kramp is a graphic designer who decided to follow his passion at a young age as advisor to SMEs on establishing digital process structures. He went on to found an online shop for bespoke tea blends. For nine years he was the entrepreneur who guided the development of the start-up. By the time he exited he had gained extensive experience in the areas of business modelling, sustainability and strategy development. After the sale of the start-up André played an instrumental role in its integration in the new organisation and the improvement of diverse business and communication processes.

André is purpose-driven, fact-based and absolutely committed to customer centricity. He draws on a comprehensive toolkit across all business segments and believes in the power of end-to-end responsibility – an insight that he likes to share with others.

André lives in Berlin with his girlfriend. He loves the capital city’s varied restaurant and bar scene and enjoys spending his free time on the water.

Dr Andreas Harter

Dr Andreas Harter studied physics and mathematics at the University of Cologne. After graduating, he completed his doctorate at the Institute of Nuclear Physics at the University of Cologne on the nuclear structure of transition metals, which he researched using lifetime measurements. During his doctorate, he developed complex measurement systems for recording conversion electrons and software for analyzing large amounts of data in lifetime experiments, wrote publications in technical and physics journals and worked on international research projects. Andreas always enjoyed mentoring younger students and colleagues. At the same time, he worked as a system administrator and was responsible for the computing and storage cluster at the Institute of Nuclear Physics. Andreas is married and lives with his family in Hennef. He spends his free time with his family and friends in the countryside or on city tours, in the wood workshop, tinkering with electronics for the house and garden, making music or reading.

Andreas Pape

Andreas Pape studied computer science in Bremen and Henley, UK. His focal areas of study were relational databases and object-oriented expert systems, which were both brand new technologies at the time.

After joining EDS and training as ITIL service manager, Andreas moved to an international pharmaceuticals company where he headed the entire IT service organisation spanning 40 sites and eight European countries. He discovered his penchant for large-scale projects during his time at telecommunications company MATÁV, where he became one of the youngest programme managers ever to successfully close out a turnaround management project. In the ten years since that experience he has been involved in numerous major international projects in the banking, insurance, telecommunication, automotive, manufacturing and retail sectors, and lived in Hungary, the United Kingdom and Germany. The highlights of his post-EDS career include the management of a core bank transformation programme for one of the big banks, a series of renewal projects at a transaction bank and the relocation of production operations into the cloud for an international e-business enterprise with 1,000 employees.

Andreas lives in Krefeld with his wife Ulrike and his three children. In 2005 he was German vice-champion in fencing. Today he competes in triathlons and other endurance sports, and can often be found at role-play conventions.

Dr Andreas Ringleb

Dr. Andreas Ringleb completed his studies in materials science at the Justus Liebig University in Gießen, Germany, and subsequently earned his doctorate in the field of applied physics. Within the framework of a scholarship from the German Federal Environmental Foundation, he conducted research on semiconductor doping in solar cells. Through various international academic exchanges, he gained valuable experience at renowned institutions such as Stockholm University and Uppsala University in Sweden, Stanford University in the USA, and Yamagata University in Japan.

He has been contributing his expertise and knowledge to the ritzenhoefer & company team as a consultant since 2023.

Andreas lives in Gießen, Germany, and enjoys spending his free time doing activities such as reading, cooking for friends, and exploring the world of the internet.

Bjarne Götzen

Bjarne Götzen read International Cultural and Business Studies at Passau University. During his master’s programme in Passau and at Indian Institute of Technology Madras in Chennai (India) he specialised in technology-driven business models and gained his first work experience as a consultant in the financial sector.

After graduating from university Bjarne joined a Hamburg-based consultancy where he worked on reorganisation and strategic business model innovation projects for insurance and energy sector clients. In May 2021 Bjarne joined ritzenhoefer & company as a consultant, supporting clients through the challenges associated with large-scale transformation projects.

Bjarne lives near Lake Chiemsee and likes to spend his free time doing sports in the mountains or on the water.

Britta Schnittspahn

Britta Schnittspahn studied business management at RWTH Aachen University and Goethe University Frankfurt, where she focused on organisational and value-adding models. Before embarking on a career in consultancy she learned to balance expectation against reality in business models and business cases for start-up and enterprise financing, and gained broad expertise in banking.

During more than 20 years in the consultancy business she has supported numerous large-scale transformation projects, in many cases from initial idea to implementation. In a project team she contributes an unerring ability to identify connections and pitfalls, as well as reliable solution finding competence. She supports transformations from business model design to the comprehensive renewal of large-scale IT platforms.

Outside work Britta enjoys sport and the outdoors, she sails and she has an interest in innovative technologies and business concepts.

Claudia Retz

Claudia Retz is a trained banker and graduate economist (Ruhr University Bochum) with a focus on financing and credit management as well as market and sales. After an 18-month trainee period at a bank in London, Claudia worked for many years in the capital market in bond and derivatives trading as well as in online consulting.

She lived out her enthusiasm for optimizing processes during her time as an independent quality management consultant.

Claudia loves challenges and working in a team and is active in the Finance and Legal department of ritzenhoefer & company.

She lives near Düsseldorf with her husband and two grown-up sons. You can find Claudia with her Spanish water dog near fields and meadows around Mettmann, working in the garden or with her family on city trips in other European countries.

PD Dr Daniel Wicke

Dr Daniel Wicke studied physics at the University of Wuppertal. After gaining a doctoral degree in particle physics he spent several years conducting research in various large-scale experiments at well-known international research institutes in Switzerland and the USA. He gained a post-doctoral lecturing qualification in experimental physics, writing a thesis on the properties of the heaviest elementary particle, and spent three years as a visiting professor at universities in Mainz and Wuppertal.

Aspects of IT in international collaborations always formed an important part of Daniel’s research activities, and he has continued to focus on them over the past ten years in his role as financial consultant. He leads projects, assumes strategic programme management functions, manages key aspects of IT- and business-architecture, and regularly enters the resolution of critical issues within special task forces.

Daniel lives with his wife Petra and their two daughters in Wuppertal. When he isn’t spending time with his family he enjoys cycling, Tai Chi and Tuishou to keep fit, as well as tinkering with his computer systems.

David Poth

David Poth is an economist specialising in econometrics and machine learning. During his time as a student at Bonn University he worked at the Fraunhofer Institute and the Institute on Behavior & Inequality (briq), where he focused on the issues of inequality and microsimulations in behavioural research. David gained his private sector experience in the data science department of an international insurance company and at a machine learning start-up in the Industry 4.0 sector.

At ritzenhoefer & company David plays an instrumental role in studies focusing on data analytics, and he supports clients in the development of technology-based business models and international expansion strategies.

David now lives in Bonn after spending several years in Kigali and Paris. He is a passionate athlete who enjoys testing his limits and trying out new sports such as wind surfing and CrossFit.

Derek Zeiler

After graduating from university in Berlin with a degree in theoretical astrophysics Derek Zeiler spent eleven years at a global IT and management consultancy organisation, followed by three and a half years at strategic consulting company A. T. Kearney.

He took on project and programme management roles in major implementation projects across various industries and assisted several DAX-listed companies in major IT transformation projects. He enjoys developing concepts for complex transformation projects that even major corporations only implement every ten or twenty years, and supporting clients on an end-to-end implementation basis.

Derek lives in Berlin. Whenever he has any spare time he heads off to play golf, both locally and further afield. He is also a wine and gourmet food expert with a surprising repertoire of tips and advice.

Dr Dion Braukmann

Dr Dion Braukmann studied physics at the Technical University of Dortmund. During his doctoral degree programme in experimental solid state physics, which he completed in close cooperation with the Ioffe Institute in St Petersburg, he conducted research into defect centres in diamond.

After university he moved into the management consultancy sector, where he was involved in the implementation of AI and sustainable IT strategy design projects for insurance and financial clients. He also designs company pension business models and processes, as well as supporting group-wide pension fund outsourcing projects.

Dion lives in the beautiful Tauber valley. In his spare time he practices traditional archery. He spends his holidays at role-play conventions or travelling the world to learn about foreign cultures.

Domenik Weisbender

Domenik Weisbender studied business administration at Münster University and Duisburg-Essen University. He spent two foreign semesters in Prague and Hong Kong during as part of his degree programme, as well as collaborating on several projects and completing various internships, which provided him with automotive and banking consultancy experience. He joined ritzenhoefer & company as an associate in 2021.

Domenik lives in Cologne. He likes to run and work out at the gym in his spare time, and his favourite hobbies are cooking and travelling.

Dorian Dawidowicz

Dorian Dawidowicz gained a master’s degree in international marketing and media management from the Rheinische Fachhochschule Köln University of Applied Sciences in Cologne and the Dublin Business School.

He spent the early days of his career working in the field of innovation management at a German big bank, where he built his experience in new business development. At a German-Dutch big bank, where he was responsible for HR strategy in change management scenarios, he discovered his enthusiasm for the financial sector. At ritzenhoefer & company he manages change, strategy and M&A projects.

Dorian lives in Cologne. He is interested in politics, and enjoys exploring foreign countries and cultures in his spare time. Dorian also plays tennis and regularly works out at the gym.

Dr Felix Bischof

Felix studied physics at ETH Zurich. He went on to gain a doctoral degree in theoretical physics at the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, and has written publications on quantum information theory. At ritzenhoefer & company he makes a valuable contribution to the management of IT transformation projects for leading insurance companies. He is also an experienced operations and IT management consultant.

Felix lives in Düsseldorf and loves exploring the city. His leisure time interests include science, society and nutrition.

Florian Friedrich

Florian Friedrich studied business management and international business at the Martin Luther University in Halle and the Cologne Business School. During his master’s programme he specialised in strategic management and consulting. He gained experience in the communications and technology sectors during his time at university through projects, internships and collaborations with start-ups.

Parallel to his degree programme Florian spent many years working in a student management consultancy organisation. One of the projects he was responsible for during that time was the development of a marketing strategy for a professional German ice-hockey club. At ritzenhoefer & company Florian has added to his experience in strategic IT consulting and strategic project management for an international insurance client.

Florian lives in Cologne. He likes to play golf and work out at the gym as often as he can, and his favourite hobbies include cooking and travelling.

Gabriel Albes

Gabriel Albes studied Business Administration & Banking in Mannheim and was already able to gain various experiences in banking, lending and trading during his studies.

For more than 5 years, Gabriel has been successfully advising and supporting financial services institutions in complex digitization and IT transformation projects.

Gabriel lives in beautiful Rheinhessen near Mainz and enjoys the proximity to the Rhine and the neighboring wine-growing regions for numerous excursions. He is an avid winter sports enthusiast and also enjoys traveling the world in the summer months.

Dr Gero Ritzenhöfer

Dr Gero Ritzenhöfer has a degree in physics and a doctoral degree in theoretical physics. After gaining his doctorate he went to the MIT in Boston, USA, as a computational science research fellow. Then he spent ten years as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company, advising clients around the world on the strategic and operational aspects of large-scale transformations. This was followed by a five-year tenure as Head of Division and Programme Manager at Postbank.

As McKinsey partner for banking technology in Germany he established his own consultancy company, ritzenhoefer & company. It aspires to develop new standards in transformation consulting and supports major clients in the most critical projects they can undertake – large-scale transformations.

Gero lives with his wife Claudia near Düsseldorf and has four sons. When he isn’t enjoying family time Gero likes to pursue his hobbies of sailing and music. He is a self-taught musician and a passive high-end connoisseur.

Dr Hanno Tiesbrummel

Dr. Hanno Tiesbrummel studied history and art history at Heidelberg University on a scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation. He has spent time in the UK, at the Sorbonne in Paris and at the Max Planck Institutes for Art History in Florence and Rome. His Spain-focused thesis was written on the subject of the works of Siglo de Oro and he worked as a tutor and in the art trade during his time at university.

At ritzenhoefer & company he is involved in project steering and IT-supported process optimisation for insurance sector clients. Another of his areas of expertise is the systematic analysis and strategic alignment of IT environments.

Hanno lives in Berlin. In his spare time he loves hiking, cycling or sailing in the city and the surrounding region. He is also a music aficionado, both as a singer and a listener.

Heike Bleckmann

Heike Bleckmann trained as a tax accountant assistant after graduating from high school and has several years of professional experience in financial accounting and payroll, as well as the preparation of annual financial statements and tax returns. After a parenting break and several forays into other sectors Heike has been with ritzenhoefer & company since the early days. As part of the back office team she enjoys applying her organisational skills as management assistant, event, fleet and travel manager.

Heike lives near Düsseldorf. She is married and has one son. Outside work she plays an active role in her local community. She also loves spending relaxed evenings with her family, holidays in Denmark and being creative with acrylic paints.

Hermann Angerer

Hermann Angerer studied economics at St. Gallen University. After six years at an international strategy consultancy company he became co-founder and partner of a management consulting boutique in Zurich. When it was sold to PricewaterhouseCoopers he also moved to PwC as director with responsibility for cost management programmes at European banks. After that he headed the German office of a small international consulting firm before moving to ritzenhoefer & company in 2013.

Hermann has been advising banks and insurance companies for more than 20 years. He specialises in business model development (and optimisation), strategy implementation, the interface between business and IT, value chain design and large-scale change programmes.

Hermann is married and lives in Munich.

Jakob Foos

Jakob Foos studied physics at RWTH Aachen University. During his master’s degree course he specialised in experimental solid-state physics and was particularly interested in quantum IT and nanoelectronics. During a foreign semester at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane he took a business management course.

Parallel to that he gained his first practical experience in the analysis of complex IT environments at ritzenhoefer & company. Now he supports finance companies in transformation projects and advises clients on digitalisation and automation-related issues.

Jakob lives in Aachen. In his spare time he enjoys board games, playing around with electronics and learning about new technologies.

Jan Detampel

Jan Detampel completed his bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of Hamburg and his master’s degree at the Free University of Berlin. During several study visits to Israel, Switzerland and Norway, especially to Spitsbergen, he gained international experience. In his bachelor studies his research focused on freshwater ecology, while in his master studies he investigated the effects of climate change on the Arctic flora of Spitsbergen.

Furthermore, during his studies Jan got involved first as a staff member and then as a manager of the student-run second-hand store in Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen.

Jan gained further professional experience as a working student in event management, developing and implementing event series for the pharmaceutical and film industries. At a SaaS and platform start – up he developed and implemented a new sales strategy. His next step led him into consulting with a focus on the transformation and digitalization of an automotive company.

Jan spends his free time with his family and friends and is constantly looking for new challenges. Now, these challenges are of a maritime nature, with the goal of learning how to sail and dive.

Dr Jan Heurich

Jan has degrees in physics and mathematics from universities in Germany and the USA. After gaining his doctoral degree he moved into a new field, joining McKinsey & Company as a strategic consultant in the Business Technology Office. Over a ten-year period he supported large-scale transformations as both technical and IT consultant. During that time he gained comprehensive insights into what makes transformations across various industries and geographical locations successful.

His desire to create a platform for transformation consulting that supports clients in complex transformation challenges brought him to ritzenhoefer & company.

Jan is married with two children and lives in Stuttgart. He loves spending time with his family in the mountains – both in summer and winter. Born in Germany’s Palatinate wine-growing region, he also enjoys a good glass of wine in the evening.

Jana Dirksen

Jana Dirksen has a degree in business administration and social science from the Ruhr University of Bochum, majoring in business intelligence and finance. Her thesis was written on the subject of ‘Data Analytics Applications in Enterprise Valuations’. Jana was a Konrad Adenauer Foundation scholarship student and did voluntary work for the ‘Tafel’ organisation.

A workshop on agile management consulting and an internship at a consultancy firm got Jana interested in a career as consultant.

Jana lives in Cologne and likes to spend as much time possible with family and friends. She enjoys singing and is an accomplished skier.

Jasmine Lee

Jasmine gained her Master of Finance and an excellent knowledge of banking and financial modelling at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.

In her role as consultant Jasmine mainly advises leading banks and insurance companies on M&A and IT outsourcing strategy planning and implementation.

She also contributes international experience and cultural diversity after spending many years in Taiwan and New Zealand. Today she lives in Frankfurt. Jasmine loves singing and dancing. She spent four years as singer in an amateur rock band and is a professional break dancer.

Dr Johannes Blobel

Johannes Blobel studied computer science at the University of Paderborn. During his doctorate at TU Berlin, he researched energy-efficient wireless communication in the field of IoT, indoor localization and wildlife monitoring, and taught on the topic of computer history in collaboration with the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum.

After gaining his doctorate he worked for a while as an IT Security Consultant, planning and implementing penetration tests for start-ups and banks. At ritzenhoefer & company he supports corporate clients to implement digital transformation projects.

Johannes lives with his girlfriend in Paderborn. In his spare time, he enjoys computer history, philosophy and wildlife monitoring. When he isn’t looking after his plants and pets, you’ll often find him in the hammock with a book.

Jonas Krings

Jonas Krings studied international management at the ESB Business School in Reutlingen and at Universidad de las Americás Puebla. During his time as a student Jonas worked as project manager at a student business consultancy.

He gained his first professional experience as part of the executive support team at a German consultancy firm with a focus on the automotive industry. In that role he developed sustainable growth models for the company’s subsidiaries and for macroeconomic risk analysis. At an FMCG start-up in Mexico Jonas developed the data analytics processes for marketing campaigns and supported the Chief of Growth in his day-to-day work with data-based action recommendations.

In his free time Jonas likes to play tennis and cycle around Hamburg. And when he ventures further afield Jonas can be found in the mountains. Wearing hiking boots in summer and skis in winter, no mountain is too high and no piste too steep.

Joshua de Haan

After gaining a degree in financial management Joshua embarked on a career in consultancy, specialising in transformation projects in the banking sector. For more than seven years he continued to demonstrate a passion for banking projects, from revaluations of interest rate derivatives on the trading floor to a large-scale offshoring programme in the City of London.

Joshua specialises in bank data management in the broadest sense, data quality and governance as well as migrations and data modelling, and he has already managed a series of projects in these areas. He additionally supports many of our clients to optimise their data strategies with workshops and benchmarking.

Joshua lives in the financial centre of Frankfurt. When he isn’t working he enjoys sailing, hiking and travelling.

Dr Karl Bicker

Dr Karl Bicker studied physics at the Technical University of Munich and went on to complete his doctorate in the CERN Doctoral Student Program, where he gathered experience in data analysis and modelling, in software development projects and in the introduction of quality assurance procedures. In addition, he likes programming apps for the Android operating system.

He is married and lives with his wife and daughter in Essen. He spends his leisure time with his family and is a passionate fan of aviation and flight simulators.

Katharina Weber

Katharina graduated from Maastricht University with a BSc in international business studies and from the Rotterdam School of Management with an MSc in strategic management. She also spent time in Singapore and France in connection with her studies.

She gained her first practical experience as a consultant, as well as in business and venture development, at multinational companies and start-ups. Katharina has been a consultant at ritzenhoefer & company, where she supports clients in large-scale transformation and strategic reorientation projects, since 2020.

A former competitive swimmer, Katharina is a general sports enthusiast who enjoys spending her free time with friends and travelling the world to discover new places.

Leon Willms

Leon Willms studied Organizational & Social Psychology at the LSE in London. As a scholarship holder of the German National Academic Foundation, he is passionate about the development and change processes of human systems. In addition to these changes on an individual, organizational and societal level, he investigated the influence of today’s environmental characteristics on organizational change processes as well as the importance and understanding of middle management in organizational change processes in the technology industry.

Leon lives in Düsseldorf and devotes his free time to triathlon, learning more about personal development, yoga philosophy and meditation or exploring the city and the surrounding area.

Lukas Gieler

Lukas Gieler studied international management at the ESB Business School in Reutlingen and Pontificia Comillas University in Madrid. Afterwards he focused on emerging markets during his master’s degree at Loughborough University London and conducted research into institutional uncertainty for his master’s thesis. Lukas gained practical experience in entrepreneurship and business development at a Mexican artificial intelligence start-up, where he was responsible for the implementation of chatbot strategies at Latin American fintech, insurance and retail companies. He gained additional project experience working at a southern German car manufacturer, a Spanish NGO and a British consultancy company.

Lukas has seven years of stage experience as a cabaret actor in his home town of Salzgitter, and his first experience of Spanish improvisation theatre in Madrid. He is a sports marksman and an active member of his home town’s community association. Lukas is a big Latin American fan and loves dancing.

Markus Fackler

Markus has a degree in theology. He established a faith communication association as an undergraduate and conducted research into this field for his master’s thesis. He also developed a church management concept and helped to restructure a company’s marketing processes.

When he isn’t working Markus likes to play basketball, produce music and spend time with his wife and friends.

Marc Dereschewitz

Marc Dereschewitz is a communication electronics technician and system specialist. After joining the Federal Armed Forces he spent many years as telecommunications trainer. He then assumed roles of responsibility in diverse information and communication technology projects – some pan-European – as trainer, manager and consultant. At ritzenhoefer & company Marc is IT manager with responsibility for all aspects of IT.

Marc lives in Wuppertal with his wife and two children. He occasionally relives his passion as a youth for football, volleyball, badminton and squash. Otherwise he enjoys working with his son on the home automation and light control system for the children’s basement party room.

Marco Maes

Marco Maes completed his master’s degree in mathematics at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in 2021. Immediately afterwards, he worked for two and a half years at EY in Eschborn, where he mainly dealt with the topics of company pension schemes and risk management in the HR sector. Data analysis, financial modelling in transaction projects, project management as well as process optimization and automation for clients in many different industries characterize his experience in management consulting. Marco lives near Stuttgart and enjoys spending his free time doing sports, exploring new cities or having a coffee with friends.

Marthy Matten

Marthy Matten studied business administration at Otto von Guericke University in Magdeburg and at the Ingolstadt School of Management (WFI) with strategy & innovation as his specialist subject. At university Marthy was involved in various student business consultancies. He gained his first consultancy experience in projects, internships and working student programmes at start-ups, in e-commerce and in the development of business models.

Marthy lives in Düsseldorf and is particularly interested in innovations and business models. In his spare time he likes to run and explore the region on his racing cycle.

Mats Kremers

Mats Kremers studied business administration at Mannheim University and the University of New Hampshire, USA. He wrote his thesis on network effects in digital environments and how they influence consumer behaviour.

During his time at university he had the opportunity to take a peek behind the scenes at an international company, where he also gained his first sales consulting and business development & strategy experience.

Mats joined ritzenhoefer & company as an associate in 2022.

He lives just outside Düsseldorf and when he isn’t working he enjoys spending time on the tennis court or skiing in the mountains. He is also a passionate globetrotter who enjoys discovering new lands, cultures and people.

Maxim Friege

Maxim Friege studied international management at the ESB Business School in Reutlingen and the NEOMA Business School in Reims, France. In his master’s degree programme at the Rotterdam School of Management he specialised in finance and spent a foreign semester as an MBA exchange student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.

Maxim gained professional experience in sales controlling at a German automotive parts supplier and in group management accounting at a French CAC-40 group in Paris. His passion for the consultancy business led him to ritzenhoefer & company.

Maxim lives in Munich. He is a big Formula 1 fan and outside work he enjoys running and travelling.

Maximilian Duesberg

Maximilian is an expert in data analytics and communications in IT environments. After studying psychology, he worked in international technology companies in the areas of software and cyber security at the interface of marketing, data analytics and product development. He then worked as a freelance consultant and interim manager, advising companies on the topics of transformation, change management and digitalization. He also worked as a lecturer in market and advertising psychology at the FOM University of Applied Sciences for Economics & Management and was a speaker at specialist conferences. Maximilian lives in Munich. In his free time, he enjoys going on long hikes in the mountains or working on his handicap on the golf course.

Moritz Hußnätter

Moritz Hußnätter completed a business administration degree programme at Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences and California State University. During his master’s degree at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf and École Supérieure de Commerce in Pau he specialised in entrepreneurship and business transformation. ​

Various internships during his university years allowed Moritz to gather experience in the IT, financial consulting and food production sectors. It was after one of his internships, in 2021, that he signed an employment contract with ritzenhoefer & company.​

Moritz lives in and loves Düsseldorf. Whenever possible he enjoys spending his free time outdoors and loves creative thinking. Travel to local and distant destinations is another of his passions.

Murat Coban

Murat Coban studied industrial engineering with a specialization in mechanical engineering at the FH Aachen. In his research he dealt with technology optimization within high performance machining and the potentials of Digital Twins. In the context of benchmarking projects, his interest in consulting was aroused.

Murat lives in Aachen, where he spends his time cooking with friends or playing badminton.

Navid Angeza

Navid Angeza has a degree in international business studies from Maastricht University.

After graduating he joined a medium-sized management consultancy firm specialising in supply chain management, where he worked in international process definition and optimisation projects in changing organisations. He gained experience in make-or-buy analyses for complex services and implemented classic cost reduction projects to achieve short-term improvements in earnings.

As a consultant at ritzenhoefer & company he specialises in transactions (mergers & acquisitions), integrations and separations and strategic organisational development. Navid supports IT migration projects when new IT solutions are rolled out, organisational unit carve-outs during regular operations, as well as the establishment of new divisions and business models for banks and insurance companies.

He lives in Haan near Düsseldorf and takes advantage of the Rhineland region’s diverse leisure sport scene in his free time.

Dr Nico Stöckmann

Dr. Nico Stöckmann holds a doctorate in economics. His academic career started at the Ruhr-University Bochum and led via the University of Paderborn to the Helmut-Schmidt-University and the University of Hamburg. In his research, he has dealt intensively with the interfaces of foreign trade theory, competition economics and economic policy.

At ritzenhoefer & company, he brings his experience in economic consulting to political decision-makers and companies. In particular, he can draw on a distinctive expertise in the targeted analysis of large amounts of data.

In his free time, Nico can be found playing handball, on the tennis court or skiing in the mountains.

Nicholas Banneke

Nicholas Banneke read international business and international strategic management at Fontys International Business School and Lund University. He graduated from both with a distinction and enrolled on a double degree programme in commerce at Deakin University in Melbourne. As a student Nicholas gained broad intercultural experience during a foreign semester in Hong Kong, among other places.

Nicholas gained his first consultancy experience in various internships at major strategy consulting firms. Besides his working student positions at an innovation centre and in the field of value chain transformation at a consultancy firm, he expanded his project management knowledge base as an intern at an international energy drink company. His digitalisation and process optimisation experience led him to establish a non-profit organisation where he heads the Operations and New Business teams.

Nicholas lives in Düsseldorf and enjoys spending his free time with friends. He enjoys keeping in shape, working on the evolution of his NGO, supporting his football club and he recently developed a passion for the stock market. Nicholas also loves exploring new countries and cultures.

Nicole Krumb

Nicole read Scandinavian languages and literature, Dutch language and literature and business administration at Münster University. She completed various internships in Germany, the USA, the Netherlands and Finland where she was able to gain work experience in the field of data-based marketing and project management. While still at university Nicole set up her own business supporting Dutch companies to develop their businesses in the German market. She has been part of the ritzenhoefer & company team since 2022 and her work there involves supporting large-scale IT migration projects for insurance clients.

Nicole lives in Münster. She is an avid reader, and she also jogs and rides her racing cycle in her spare time. She loves travelling to foreign countries, climbing mountains and learning new languages.

Pascal Eckel

Pascal Eckel studied mathematics with economics as his secondary subject at Darmstadt Technical University. Very impressed by a lecture on game theory during his bachelor’s degree programme, Pascal decided to focus on practical optimisation solutions (e.g. in the transport and traffic sectors) and statistics during his master’s degree.

For much of his career Pascal has been involved in the management of IT projects for leading banks and insurance companies. He has gained an extensive knowledge of IT strategy, provider management and project management.

Pascal lives in Aschaffenburg and enjoys reading in the sun on the banks of the river Main.

Pascal Eißler

Pascal Eißler gained a bachelor’s degree in international management at Dublin City University and the ESB Business School in Reutlingen, Germany. He gained on-the-job experience as an intern working with retail and corporate clients of Commerzbank and in his student job at the Ernst & Young GmbH tax consultancy firm. During an internship at Transformational Business Network, an accelerator for enterprises in developing countries, he worked on the development of an impact investment fund, which got him interested in the financial sector.

He also spent a year out volunteering in Belgrade, where he worked with Roma children and gained an understanding of the Serbian language and culture, as well as an appreciation of how cultural norms affect outlooks and behaviour.

Pascal currently lives in Stuttgart where he takes long cycle tours and runs to stay fit. When he isn’t reading he enjoys tinkering with Python or playing drums for bands.

Paul Hermes

Paul Hermes studied human medicine at the University of Bonn and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in Spain. During his experimental research on non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, he first came into contact with the qualitative and quantitative analysis of large amounts of data.

With interests far beyond medicine and as a scholarship holder of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, he was able to gain many insights into business, science and politics during his studies. Thus, he made first experiences with startups in the AI field, traditional medium-sized companies and large international corporations.

In addition to his professional training, his voluntary work in the Catholic university community and the volunteer fire department, among others, was important to him.

Since joining ritzenhoefer & company he has been supporting complex transformation projects in the insurance environment.

Paul currently lives in Munich and enjoys being close to lakes and mountains. In his free time, he enjoys road biking and water and mountain sports, both in summer and winter.

Ralf Seyl

Ralf Seyl studied Corporate Governance, Marketing and Business Information Systems at the University of Trier.

He worked for more than 20 years at a global IT service company, where he held various management positions in team, account and programme management and gained extensive experience in the areas of transformation, restructuring and IT outsourcing, primarily for the automotive, banking and retail sectors. Ralf set up a Europe-wide pre-sales organisation for a global provider of storage, virtualisation, IT security and big data solutions to implement end-to-end business development strategies with IT service providers.

He has been a consultant involved in the management of strategic change projects, particularly in the banking sector for the past 8 years. Ralf is passionate about designing change processes and he benefits in that respect from his structured approach.

Ralf is married with three children. In his spare time he enjoys hiking, barbecues and networking.

Roland Selle

Roland Selle studied business administration & economics in Passau and Budapest. After graduating he completed a master of science in finance at Münster University.

After various asset management and investment banking internships at leading international banks, Roland moved straight into business consultancy. For more than four years now Roland has been advising banks in complex transaction projects and he has already successfully closed out numerous major projects. Roland has been assessing the impacts of climate change on the risk function of banks for several years now, and he also develops strategies and scenarios for the future of banking.

He has made Munich his home and takes advantage of being so close to the mountains to go hiking and skiing on a regular basis.

Samuel Schilling

Samuel Schilling studied international management at Dublin City University, Ireland, and at the ESB Business School in Reutlingen, Germany. He then completed an M.Sc. in strategic management in Dublin with special emphasis on entrepreneurship.

One of the places where he gained practical experience in entrepreneurship and business development was The Wolfington Companies in Miami, USA, where he mainly worked on designing an e-commerce website for an automotive start-up. Samuel also built up his business development knowledge base through his work securing corporate donations for the Medair humanitarian aid organisation.

Projects Samuel has been involved in at ritzenhoefer & company include a transformation project for an insurance company and a migration project for a big bank.

Samuel lives near Tübingen. In his spare time he likes reading, sports and getting involved in the local parish community. He is particularly interested in theology, philosophy and current affairs, and he loves to travel.

Dr Sebastian Waic

Dr. Sebastian Waic studied business administration with a focus on strategy, finance and statistics at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. In his doctorate in Strategic Management at the University of Salzburg, he investigated how the social background of managers influences their strategic actions. He passed on his theoretical knowledge to students as a lecturer at FHAM Ismaning. He gained practical experience in management consulting, investment banking, and as a long-time managing director of Junior Management Science – a publishing startup he founded in 2016 as a student together with two professors.

At ritzenhoefer & company, he brings together his theoretical and practical experience in strategic management and banking. Thereby, he helps his clients to successfully implement their transformation plans and generate long-term competitive advantages.

Sebastian lives in Munich with his fiancée. He is passionate about playing chess – preferably with a wine from his Palatinate region or a Scotch whisky. He is also an avid skier.

Sertan Dalkiran

Sertan Dalkiran studied Business Administration (B.Sc) at the University of Cologne and then completed a Master in Management (M.Sc) at the HHL Graduate School of Management while working. During his studies, he spent six months at Monash University in Kuala Lumpur and six months at Sabanci University in Istanbul.

Before joining ritzenhoefer & company, Sertan worked for a global IT and management consultancy for more than five years. He accompanied digital transformation projects of large corporations and was able to gain his first management experience by leading a team. In addition, he founded a digital agency together with his colleagues to pursue his passion for entrepreneurship.

Sertan lives in Neuss and likes to spend his free time doing sports. Cooking and traveling are also among his greatest passions.

Dr Silvan Häs

Dr Silvan Häs gained his degree in economics from the University of Bonn. During his economics of education doctorate programme at University College London he worked with large international datasets on the subject of educational justice as part of a European research network.

After stints in Kenya, Italy and Belgium Silvan currently lives in London. In his spare time he plays handball, piano and board games, or explores the city.

Stefanie Hecker

After her apprenticeship as a tax clerk, Stefanie passed the examination to become an accountant at the IHK in Düsseldorf.  

She has several years of experience in the areas of taxes, financial and payroll accounting as well as the preparation of annual financial statements. 

At ritzenhoefer & company she is responsible for finance and controlling. 

Stefanie is married and lives with her family in the Düsseldorf area. She likes to spend her free time outdoors, on her bike or by the water. 

Dr habil. Stephan Güsken

Dr Stephan Güsken studied physics at RWTH Aachen University. After gaining a doctoral degree at the University of Wuppertal he spent several years as researcher and lecturer, gaining his university teaching qualification in theoretical physics with a specialisation in computer simulations of complex systems and high-performance computing.

He embarked on a career in the IT industry at Collogia Unternehmensberatung, where he supplemented his academic IT knowledge with practical experience in IT architecture. After moving to Postbank AG in the role of head of architecture he orchestrated the Postbank’s multi-channel transformation, and as head of the Service and Interface Centre and head of architecture for the international Banking Industry Architecture Network, he established a sustainable architecture management organisation. After several years as consultant specialising in service-oriented high-performance architectures Stephan now focuses on large-scale IT transformations in the financial sector.

He has two daughters and a son and lives in Wuppertal. His main hobby is his family, followed by jazz music – and he is an active jazz musician.

Thilo Kipping

Thilo Kipping studied economics at Bonn University. He focused on the theoretical analysis of the banking and financial sector during his studies, and he was particularly fascinated by the impacts of regulatory measures on banks’ capacity to act. He gained his first work experience as transaction consultant and management consultant at an international logistics group. Thilo also received a scholarship from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

His avid interest in politics and game theory models prompted him to found a strategic political consultancy firm while still at university. He supported political parties and office holders, from local level to the Bundestag, in achieving their strategic objectives.

Thilo lives in Bonn. He is a passionate drummer who plays with various bands and orchestras in his spare time.

Tobias Kosiek

Tobias Kosiek has an M.Sc. in international business with the specialisations of strategy and innovation from Maastricht University.

During his university studies he also gained experience in strategy consulting, lobbying and banking. Tobias has been a consultant for more than five years now, during which he has successfully closed out numerous large-scale strategy projects at well-known companies.

In his spare time Tobias likes athletic pursuits (e.g. cross fit, marathon etc.) and he has an avid interest in innovative start-up concepts and business models.

Tobias Koßmann

Tobias Koßmann studied business administration at HBRS near Bonn. His major subjects were accounting, management accounting and enterprise valuation.

After more than three years working in the banking industry and two years at an auditing firm, Tobias chose a career in management consulting. He has been expanding his knowledge base in various IT strategy and transformation projects, primarily in the banking and insurance sectors, since 2018. In addition to supporting several M&A projects he has focused on the strategic evaluation of IT project portfolios and systems.

Tobias is a sports enthusiast who lives in Cologne and enjoys spending time with his family and friends.

Dr Udityasinh Gohil

Dr Udityasinh Gohil studied construction technology and construction management at CEPT University in India and at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom. An interest in collaboration, as well as business and technical project management, prompted him to embark on a doctorate in engineering (EngD) programme at Loughborough University.

After graduating he moved to Germany to head the Textile Construction Research Team at the RWTH Aachen University’s Institute for Textile Technology (ITA). Udit is an enterprising individual who founded an innovative start-up in India to manufacture textile-reinforced concrete elements and introduce state-of-the-art German technology into the Indian market.

Udit’s professional projects took him to Asia (India, South Korea, Turkey) and Europe (United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Portugal). He has supervised several M&A, due diligence, core/mainframe transformation and structural/organisational transformation projects at major European banking and insurance institutes.

Udit lives with his wife and two daughters in Aachen. He has a penchant for gourmet foods and loves trying out foreign cuisine and experimental cooking. His hobbies are travelling, playing cricket and listening to music.

Dr Ulf Kleinau

Dr Ulf Kleinau is a mathematician who studied in Magdeburg and Greifswald before writing his doctoral thesis on the mathematical aspects of operations research. After a brief intermezzo as SAP developer he turned to strategic and management consultancy more than 20 years ago. During a seven-year stint at McKinsey & Company he was involved in projects such as the development of a consultancy unit for IT executives, as well as several large-scale transformations. After that he held operational roles at software companies and outsourcing services companies and various management consultancy firms, as a result of which he gained a broad knowledge of IT transformations and the various roles and interests of the stakeholders. In terms of project content, he has focused on issues such as modern bank management and IT management structures.

Ulf lives in the wonderful region surrounding Berlin, where he enjoys the best of both worlds: the big city cultural scene and spending time with his family in the countryside. He feels most at home on the Baltic Sea beaches in Mecklenburg, which is where he was born.

Ulrike Palm

Ulrike Palm is a very experienced management accountant. At ritzenhoefer & company she is accountable for the communication, organisation, finance and legal departments.

Ulrike lives near Düsseldorf. She is married and has four grown-up sons.

Vanessa Poerschke

Vanessa Poerschke studied international management in Germany and the United Kingdom, during which time she was also involved in business development for a FinTec start-up. She graduated with an MBA from St. Gallen University as the top student in her year.

Vanessa relocated to Southeast Asia and the Middle East for one year, where she embarked on her career and gained project management experience in the establishment of international quality standards at local enterprises. Since joining ritzenhoefer & company in 2014 she has been involved in transformation projects and fundamental change processes at large-scale enterprises. She is particularly interested in business innovation, new business models and digital strategy.

In her spare time Vanessa enjoys yoga, health food and vegan living. Her love of travelling and discovering the world have already taken her to four continents and inspired a fascination for foreign languages.