St Gallen, Switzerland
Most organizations don’t fail because of lack of ideas. They fail because complexity is either ignored — or simplified too early. I work at the intersection of R&D, engineering and strategy in pharmaceutical packaging, where decisions have to hold up against technical constraints, regulatory reality and execution. Good decisions require understanding before judgment. If I don’t understand why someone disagrees, I am not ready to decide. Organizational effectiveness is not a design exercise. It is consistent, often uncomfortable work over time. Knowledge work does not scale through control, but through connectivity. “Need-to-know” environments fail in complex systems. My role is to build organizations that are able to think — not just execute. This means: – enabling informed, fast decisions without oversimplification – treating people and leadership as core system components – translating customer needs into solutions that actually work in reality Some of the most important decisions I have made were uncomfortable — especially in people development. Betting on individuals before outcomes were obvious shaped the system more than any process. My background in chemical engineering and research still shapes how I approach problems. But I had to unlearn the idea that there is always a “right” solution. Understanding motives — not just arguments — changed how I lead and decide. I am interested in organizations that remain capable of judgment under uncertainty — without collapsing complexity into false clarity.
Leading global R&D and Engineering across pharmaceutical primary packaging. My focus is not on managing functions, but on shaping how decisions are made under complexity — across product development, engineering and customer interaction. Core contributions: – Reframed early customer engagement Built capabilities to translate vague or incomplete customer requirements into structured feasibility assessments — reducing misalignment and late-stage friction. – Connected development and industrialization Removed typical handover logic between development and operations. – Made decision-making under uncertainty explicit - instead of hiding it behind processes. Established structures and principles that allow faster, better-informed decisions without collapsing complexity into oversimplification. – Invested in people as system drivers Made deliberate, sometimes counterintuitive people decisions, prioritizing long-term organizational capability over short-term predictability. – Aligned innovation with strategic intent Shifted focus from opportunistic project selection to a more coherent, strategy-driven portfolio of development activities. Background: Global responsibility for R&D and Engineering organizations, spanning product development, process engineering and industrialization.
- Design, construction and start-up of chemical and pharmaceutical prodcution plants. - Responsible for schedule, budget and performance. - Project coordination between Business, R&D, Engineering, Operations, QA and Safety.
- Development and supervision of CO2-related projects - Process Design - Supervision of gradaute students
Research and project coordination in the fields of: - Heterogeneously catalyzed oxidation reactions - X-ray absorption and IR-spectroscopy - Operando spectroscopy - Reaction and reactor engineering - Applications of supercritical fluids Teaching (Bachelor and Master level) Supervision of students