New partners

• Six new Partners appointed, including one external expert
• Four Partners move up to the next Partner level
• 28 new Partners in total this year

Roland Berger Strategy Consultants welcomes six new Partners to its international team; four Partners were promoted to the next Partner level. The new Partners work at various offices, from London to Zurich. With these promotions, which became official at the International Partner Meeting in Paris mid-December, the strategy consultancy has expanded its shareholder group by a total of 28 experts since the beginning of the year, thus reinforcing its worldwide presence.

Principals promoted to Partners:

Dr. Christoph Burmester (41) studied physics combined with economics and management at the University of Heidelberg and subsequently completed a Ph.D. at Heidelberg's Max Planck Institute for Medical Research. He worked for Arthur Andersen from 1997 to 2002 before joining Ernst & Young. Christoph Burmester then joined the Financial Services Competence Center at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants in 2004, where he rose to the position of Principal. His consulting work focuses on portfolio restructuring, overall bank management and risk management.

Manfred Hader (41) works at the Paris office, where he advises primarily international companies in the aviation, defense technologies and supply industries. He holds a degree from the European Business School. After holding several positions in various companies in the high-tech industry, such as Marketing Manager and Sales Manager at Olympus and Weco Optik, Manfred Hader joined Roland Berger as a Consultant in 1998. He has been a Principal since 2004. The focus of his work lies on strategy, transformation and business improvement.

Matthias Hanke (41) advises mostly firms from the transportation and logistics segments from his base in the Zurich office. He holds a degree in industrial engineering and management from the Technical University of Darmstadt. Matthias Hanke worked for Roland Berger as a Senior Project Manager from 1994 to 1999, before taking the position of Executive Vice President responsible for network management and strategy at the Basel-based Crossair, later Swiss International Air Lines. He became a freelance management consultant in 2003, focusing on express logistics. He has been back with Roland Berger as a Principal in Zurich since 2006.

Robert Thomson (40) has been working at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants' London office since 2000. He advises clients mainly in the aerospace & defense and aviation industries, including many of Europe's leading companies in these sectors. His consulting activities focus on strategy and mergers & acquisitions. After studying engineering at Cambridge University, he started his career at Rolls-Royce plc, before founding Objective Asset Management, a specialist investment company. He also holds an MBA with distinction from the London Business School.

Christoph Winter (33) studied business administration at the University of Frankfurt/Main after previously having qualified as a banker. He joined Roland Berger Strategy Consultants as a Junior Consultant in the Financial Services Competence Center in 1999. Christoph Winter has been a Principal at Roland Berger since 2003; his work focuses on turnaround management and strategic realignment.

External expert appointed Partner:

Dr. Wolfgang Bernhart (44) is a new Partner at the Stuttgart office's Automotive Competence Center. Wolfgang Bernhart studied production engineering at the University of Karlsruhe and in 1993 he completed a Ph.D. at the Institute for Machine Tools and Operations Technology, also in Karlsruhe. After working as a Project Manager for Diebold Deutschland, he joined a large American consultancy in 1996, where he became Associate Director in 1999 and Co-Head of the Automotive Practice in 2001. In 2002, he joined COVISINT Europe as Key Account Director for DaimlerChrysler. He returned to his former employer in the consulting business in 2003, where he was Director and Head of the Automotive Practice before he left. Wolfgang Bernhart has carried out numerous strategy projects as a consultant, working in particular to boost growth and improve efficiency for firms in the automotive and supply trade.

Partners promoted to the next Partner level:

In addition, Marcus Berret (35, Automotive, Stuttgart), Stephan Danner (39, Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Berlin), Beatrix Morath (38, Zurich) and Dr. Julian zu Putlitz (39, Restructuring & Corporate Finance, Berlin) move up to the next Partner level.