Udo Becker is heading the Corporate Reputation unit and leads the energy practice and crisis services at Hill+Knowlton Strategies in Germany. He is specialised in transnational stakeholder programmes, corporate reputation, financial communications, crisis communications,  internal communications, Executive coaching and media training. He has been working especially for international clients such as Nord Stream, Nord Stream 2, Shell, IKEA, Ford, Statkraft und die Compass Group.

Prior to Hill+Knowlton Strategies he worked for Heyde AG, a publicly listed IT-Services company, as Head of Corporate Communications. Before that he was heading the European Corporate/Technology practice of Edelman Public Relations in Frankfurt. Among his responsibilities at Edelman was consult technology companies prior, during, and post their IPO at Deutsche Boerse.

Right after his studies he worked for Measurex Corporation where he held various management positions in sales and marketing. During his time with Measurex he spent a few years in their headquarters in Cupertino, California, managing the company’s global OEM program, including B2B communications.

Udo has a BSEE of the University of Osnabrueck. The active football referee also holds a number of honorary functions at the Football Association of Hesse, Germany.

Catherine Dächert-Tessier is Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and member of the executive board of Hill+Knowlton Strategies. She joined Hill+Knowlton, the communications and brand consultancy with the longest tradition in Germany and one of the top agencies worldwide, in 2014. ​

Catherine Dächert-Tessier has more than 20 years of experience in finance and administration management in international companies.  ​

Before joining Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Catherine had worked at Cohn & Wolfe for 13 years. As their Finance Director she worked for the German agencies before taking on the role of Finance Director Germany & France. Catherine started her career as administration and finance manager at GE Plastics in Germany. In 1995 she became financial reporting manager at Citibank in Frankfurt and four years later was named financial controller at Young & Rubicam. Two years later, she travelled for one year around the world, mainly to Asia and South America. ​

Catherine graduated from EPSCI (Groupe ESSEC) in Paris and Hanse Polytechnics in Groningen (The Netherlands).

Thomas Wimmer is a member of the executive board of H+K Germany and heads the Berlin office of Hill+Knowlton Strategies. He has 25 years of experience in communications and public affairs consulting for numerous German and international companies and organizations. He focusses on the areas of corporate & public affairs and stakeholder communications and also works for clients aiming to raise public acceptance for specific projects or topics.​

Prior to joining H+K, Thomas was a Partner at the Brunswick Group, a global communications consultancy. Earlier in his career, Thomas worked at Burson-Marsteller in Frankfurt, New York and Berlin for eleven years. ​

Thomas is an experienced professional who has consulted clients from various sectors, among them media and technology, energy, biotechnology, chemicals, mining and raw materials, consulting, agriculture, sports as well as transport and infrastructure.​

He is a founding member of  the „Netzwerk Public Affairs” and actively involved in a number of other organizations and networks. He contributes regularly to trade publications and speaks at conferences and seminars. Thomas studied history, political science and American studies at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, the University of California and the University of Colorado.​

Romina Gerhards is one of Germany‘s leading experts in digital and content marketing. The passionate journalist and agency convert has 20 years of experience in developing customer centric content that drives reach and generates sales. Together with international companies – from both the B2B and B2C sectors – she has implemented many pioneering content marketing projects. She is confident in a wide range of industries – including Beauty + Fashion, FMCG, Technology, Financial Services and Travel + Gastro.​

Romina leads the Content + Publishing Strategy and Digital Planning + Optimisation units at Hill+Knowlton Strategies. With her teams, she advises companies and brands from all industries on topics ranging from the development of content strategies to the digitalisation of sales processes. Previously, she built up the Technology Practice at Hill+Knowlton Strategies.​

Before joining Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Romina Gerhards led Proof, an agency of Bauer Media Group specializing in digital storytelling. Previously, she was a director and management board member at the international communication agency Achtung, where she built the content marketing practice from the ground up. Prior to that, she worked as a journalist with various publishing companies such as Bauer Media Group and Funke Mediengruppe.​

The Queensland University of Technology graduate and Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes alumna holds a Master‘s degree in journalism. She gives keynnote speeches on digital and content marketing and mentors students and young professionals. 

As Board Director  and Head of Marketing Communications, Miriam is responsible for providing insight and strategic counsel to a variety of consumer clients at Hill+Knowlton in Germany. ​

Before joining Hill+Knowlton, Miriam spent several years working for some of the leading international PR networks such as Fleishman-Hillard in New York, Ketchum Pleon in Düsseldorf, Grayling in Berlin and Burson-Marsteller in Madrid. She also owned her own PR agency. Miriam has a distinguished 15 year track record in a wide variety of industry sectors planning and executing national and international PR campaigns. Her client portfolio included Gillette, Braun, Carpe Diem Kombucha, Hitachi, Smart, Pizza Hut, Mexico Tourism, LAN Airlines, and ABAMA Golf&Spa Resort. ​

Miriam holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations from Sorbonne University in Paris and earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Strasbourg. She gained first work experiences as a Robert-Schuman-Scholar at the European Parliament in Brussels and working at the Delegation of the European Commission at the United Nations in New York. 

Dr. Andreas Kloevekorn is Managing Director and leads the Technology team. With more than 20 years of agency experience he has consulted clients in various industries, both nationally and internationally. He has worked across communications disciplines with a strong focus on digital and integrated communications.

Andreas started his career during the New Economy era as an Online Editor at Kabel New Media in Hamburg. In 2001, he joined Proximity and consulted clients on digital CRM topics. From 2005 to 2013 he worked at Tribal DDB Hamburg (now: DDB Hamburg), first as a Senior Consultant, then as Client Service Director and Member of the Board, working mainly for the client Volkswagen. From 2013 to 2020 he was at Edelman, starting as Managing Director Digital while working the last two years as COO.

Andreas has studied Modern History, Economics and Economic History in Hamburg, Bonn and Dublin and holds in PhD in Modern History.

André is Managing Director and Member of the Management Team at Hill+Knowlton Strategies, based in Frankfurt/Germany. He oversees H+K’s innovation + creativity agenda in Germany including The Studio, a collective of creative + design hubs around the H+K network bringing to life the communication campaigns we develop for our clients. In this role he works closely with H+K’s Global Chief Creative + Innovation Officer.

Being an industry veteran with 20+ years of experience, André advises on change + employee engagement, crisis and issues management and provides purpose consultancy. His client roster includes large international Fortune 500 and DAX corporations as well as German Mittelstand. In his third role, André leads the business development of H+K in Germany.

Before joining H+K, André Wigger worked for the strategic communications consultancy Deekeling Arndt Advisors, the international PR network Burson-Marsteller, now BCW, and the communications agency Ahrens+Behrent, now A&B One.

Radwan Atwi is Creative Director at Hill+Knowlton Strategies based in Berlin. In this role, he heads the German creative team of H+K. Radwan ensures creative excellence is delivered to all local and international clients.

Radwan has many years of experience in creating outstanding creative communication working for a number of the world’s leading creative agencies such as JWT, Grey, Leo Burnett and Publicis. He has worked in Dubai, Kuwait, Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich, among others. Before joining H+K his last stop was at Vice/Virtue in Zurich.

Over the past 15 years, Radwan accumulated experience in developing creative and innovative solutions and ideas addressing business and communication challenges alike, ensuring culturally relevant solutions suitable for what the audience likes to see, hear and experience.

Throughout his career, Radwan has worked for several different industry sectors and some of the biggest brands in the world such as IKEA, McDonald’s, Mondelez, COOP Switzerland, Renault.

Radwan has studied art and visual communication.

Felix Brecht is Director and Head of Industrials with Hill+Knowlton Strategies (H+K).

His consulting activities for national and international B2B clients focus on energy production and distribution, the raw materials and primary industries as well as the manufacturing industry, especially mechanical and plant engineering. He is experienced in dealing with medium-sized companies and corporations, as well as with associations and academic institutions.

He started his professional career in the communications and marketing department of MAN Group. After positions in internal and external communications, including editor-in-chief at the employee newspaper, he was promoted team leader responsible for the communications of a large business unit, advising executives and top management. After 10 years as a communicator at MAN Group, he moved to the energy industry before becoming head of business unit in a medium-sized publishing house. There he complemented his professional experience with publishing and corporate services and was responsible for three trade journals dealing with energy and industry, such as the renowned magazine “gwf Gas + Energie”.

Felix Brecht studied communication sciences at the RWTH Aachen University. As a communicator he has a profound understanding of technical contexts. Privately, he is a fan of professional cycling and keeps himself fit by running.

Jan is based in Hill+Knowlton Strategies’ Berlin office and an expert in the areas of corporate & public affairs, media relations, issues management and stakeholder engagement. He serves clients from sectors such as defense and technology and provides senior counsel and strategic advisory for clients from the energy industry. ​

Prior to H+K Jan worked at German Energy Agency (dena). Earlier in his career, he was a staffer and consultant for the chairman of a political party and a public affairs consultant at an owner-managed consultancy in Berlin.​

Jan studied political sciences at the University of Münster in Germany and at Luther College (Decorah, IA, USA). He has spoken at various conferences and seminars on topics such as online democracy and crowdsourcing.

Sara Ketzer is Director at Hill+Knowlton Strategies, based in Düsseldorf/Germany.

She supports and advises clients from medium-sized companies and listed corporations in the context of organizational and cultural transformation. Her consulting focus includes the development and implementation of corporate mission statements, internal strategy and change communication, executive communication as well as the design of processes and measures for employee engagement.

Sara moved in 2016 from Deekeling Arndt Advisors in Communications (DAA), a leading strategic communication consultancy focused on change communications and corporate and public affairs.
Before joining DAA, Sara worked both on agency and corporate sides, including RWE, Vodafone and Ketchum Pleon. In behavioral research projects she dealt with questions of how to gain managers‘ and employees‘ acceptance for corporate changes and developed approaches to support transformational leadership behavior and employee involvement.

Sara holds a Master of Science degree in Communication Sciences from the University of Twente, located in The Netherlands. There she specialized on corporate and organizational communications.
Previously she graduated in marketing communications at Düsseldorfer Akademie für Marketing und Kommunikation e.V.

Sara Lübking advises national and international clients on all aspects of corporate communications and public affairs. Her expertise includes corporate brand positioning, media and stakeholder relations, event and campaign organization as well as executive positioning. In addition, she consults on crisis and restructuring projects and internal communications.

With a strong focus on the industrials and energy sectors, her client portfolio spans from energy and industrial technology companies to automotive, metals, construction, and packaging.

Prior to joining Hill+Knowlton Strategies more than a decade ago, Sara supported the agency part time, gaining experience in media relations, media trainings, event organization and administration. During her studies, she further obtained valuable insight into political relations, campaigning and public affairs through her work for the non-profit, non-partisan political research organization Project Vote Smart in the USA.

Sara studied American Literature, Media and Psychology as well as Social Ethics at Philipps-University of Marburg and Fresno Pacific University, CA, USA. She is native German, fluent in English and has basic knowledge of Spanish and Norwegian. Outside of work, Sara is an avid traveler and photographer.

Claudia Müller advises clients on the national as well as international level, mainly in corporate communications and public affairs. Her sector expertise includes the energy sector, and the IT, automotive, construction as well as pharma industries.

She supports clients in all aspects of external and internal communications – from media relations to corporate publishing, stakeholder engagement, event organization, crisis communications and reputation management, change management, and employer branding.

Claudia is part of H+K’s German Better Impact team which helps clients build long-term, sustainable and impactful strategies.

Claudia studied English and Spanish at Humboldt University Berlin and Universidad Complutense in Madrid. Prior to joining Hill + Knowlton, Claudia Müller has worked at a Berlin-based advertisement agency and for German polling firm TNS Emnid.

Christine Schulze-Grotkopp is Director Public Affairs at the Berlin office of Hill+Knowlton Strategies. She has more than 15 years of experience in political communications. Her focus is on clients in the healthcare and digital sectors.

Christine gained a diverse set of experience in the field of public affairs during her previous professional positions in the German Bundestag, a digital association and a state ministry. As a research assistant and office manager at the German Bundestag, she primarily dealt with issues related to digitalization. Christine gained experience in business and advocacy as Senior Manager Public Affairs at the German Games Industry Association. Most recently, Christine lead the Minister’s Office at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in Schleswig-Holstein for a period of five years. She has a lot of experience in project management and advocacy in the multi-level political system.

Christine studied Political Science, Public Law and Political Science at the Ruprecht-Karls University in Heidelberg (M.A.).

Photo-Copyright: Dennis Conrad