Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Area
Dr. Andreas von der Heydt is an International Leadership Expert, Executive Coach, and Scholar with nearly three decades of experience building high-performance and entrepreneurial organizations. He's the founder and managing director of AVDH Coaching & Consulting, a certified ICF PCC coach, a Professional Fellow of the Institute of Coaching at Harvard Medical School, and a Senior Lecturer at EBS University. He trained and worked with leading coaches across Europe and the United States, co-founded Amazon Germany's Coaching Program, and was a founding member of L'Oréal's Mentoring Program. His recent work centers on HUMA, a leadership development framework built on Five Core Competencies and Ten Human Power Skills that prepares leaders to thrive in the AI era. Unlike leadership models that treat technology as the central challenge, HUMA argues the opposite: human capability is the defining leadership question of our time. Over the past 25 years, Andreas has helped organizations and individuals around the world achieve growth and lasting success. He has authored books and articles on leadership and coaching, and conducted doctoral research on organizational learning and coaching. His approach is research-backed, personalized, and strongly results-oriented. Earlier in his career, Andreas ran Talent and Leadership Development at Amazon, served as Director of Kindle and Managing Director of Amazon BuyVIP, was a Vice President at Chewy, General Manager Europe at L'Oréal, and served as an executive board member at Tchibo, a leading European coffee manufacturer and omnichannel retailer. With extensive experience across executive management, human resources, sales, and marketing, Andreas has worked in the United States, Europe, and Asia. He brings deep expertise in e-commerce, retail, consumer goods, and technology, paired with a long-standing passion for leadership development. Today he advises CEOs and entrepreneurs and works as an executive coach with senior leaders globally. He also mentors underprivileged groups, driven by his belief in the potential of every individual to grow and succeed. Andreas studied management and economics at Ludwigshafen Business School in Germany, with academic stays in Salamanca and Nagoya. He earned an MBA from Henley Business School and a Doctorate in Education in organizational leadership from Northeastern University in Boston, where his research focused on how organizations learn and perform. A native German speaker, he works in English daily and reads and converses in French, Spanish, and Japanese.
Following my passion for researching and teaching about leadership and coaching, while continuing my main work as a global executive coach supporting senior leaders. Starting in 2026, I will teach the new course “HUMA Leadership,” which I designed and developed based on the latest academic research and my 25 years of experience as a business and people executive, combined with having worked for over two decades as a professional coach with hundreds of leaders worldwide. It’s aimed at developing and nurturing Human Power Skills to help leaders and organizations stay relevant and impactful in an AI and machine-driven era. This is my way of saying thank you for all the support I’ve received over the years, and to give back to today’s and tomorrow’s leaders. More information here: https://www.ebs.edu/ebs-executive-school/offene-programme/fearless-leadership EBS ranks #3 in Germany for Executive Education (Financial Times, Open Programs, 2024).
I’m the founder and managing director of AVDH Coaching & Consulting as well as a certified ICF professional coach (PCC) and Doctor of Education (EdD). My specialties are (1) Executive Coaching, (2) High-Quality Consulting; (3) Advisory Services (Board Memberships, etc.). I´ve been working with leading organizations around this beautiful world in the past 25+ years.
Leading Tchibo‘s international business as well as Tchibo’s global Digital & Online business (DACH and International) as a member of the executive board. In charge of strategic direction, management, and performance.
Member of Chewy's Executive Leadership team. Business leader with multi-billion-dollar P&L ownership. Leading sales, purchasing, category management, marketing, data analytics as well as company-wide strategic initiatives. Key HR sponsor for DEI, recruiting, training & development.
Member of Amazon´s Global HR Leadership team. In charge of leadership development, talent development, recruiting, and people analytics. Leading also key HR technology and product development projects. For the US and globally. Internal leadership coach and think big mentor.
Member of the Leadership Team. Business & P&L Owner. In charge of commercial, marketing, onsite management, data analytics and other key functions.
Leading Amazon´s German shopping club and community with many millions of customers. In charge of all functions like sales, account & category management, marketing, finance, supply chain management, etc. European brand leader.