Almost 200 guests at New Year‘s Dinner

On Thursday, January 23, 2020, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management welcomed around 200 invited guests from the worlds of politics, business and civic society to the business school’s annual New Year’s Dinner. The event was sponsored by UMS Consulting, a long-standing partner of Frankfurt School.

After a short greeting by Angelika Werner, Vice-President Strategic Relations, Rainer Neske – Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Frankfurt School Foundation and Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors of Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) – spoke to the guests. He delivered a brief review of the activities of 2019 from the viewpoint of the Board of Trustees and underscored the unique nature of the FS community, composed of alumni, partners, sponsors, students and employees. He invited guests to take full advantage of the evening to find out more about Frankfurt School’s latest projects and talk to faculty members, Executive Board members and staff.

Next, Professor Nils Stieglitz, president of Frankfurt School, welcomed the guests on behalf of Frankfurt School and looked back over a very successful 2019. “We’ve set up new degree courses, further expanded our expertise in artificial intelligence and blockchain, and advised financial institutions and NGOs worldwide,” he said in his summary, before diving into a more detailed recapitulation of the highlights – broken down into “Impact”, “Science” and “Excellence”.

Stephan Lunau, Managing Director of UMS Consulting, then introduced the theme of the evening’s panel discussion: the VUCA world. VUCA stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. Joining Stephan Lunau to discuss the impact of these issues on working practices and management styles were Ilse Henne, Chief Transformation Officer at thyssenkrupp Materials Services; Oliver Jaksch, Head of Division, Customer and Process Management at R+V Versicherung, and Magnus Hänsler, Head of Division, Strategic Customer Management at R+V Versicherung.