Post by Juan Alberto Puentes Puertas

📍 My journey at NORD/LB began on August 3, 1987 – as an apprentice at Aegidientorplatz 4 in Hanover. After completing my training and my studies, I returned to the bank in 1996 as a trainee and went on to take on many different roles across the Group. My time at NORD/LB now comes to an end on 31 December 2025. 🤝 What I have valued most over all these years is trust. Trust to take on responsibility, to tackle new topics, and to keep developing – even when it was not the comfortable path. 🌍 Among the roles that shaped me most were my responsibilities as Head of the Executive Board Office, Head of Organisation & Process Management, 2.5 years as COO of the New York Branch 🌍, and my time as COO of NORD/LB Luxembourg Covered Bond Bank. Most recently, I had the privilege of founding the Business Management & Operations division and transforming and modernising it under the motto “At the heart of the bank.”🚀 🧭 My management philosophy has been influenced, among other things, by a sentence Sven H. Korndörffer once shared – and that I still carry with me today: “Human and highly competent.” Dear Sven: thank you – for guidance and orientation. When I look back, there is one thing above all: gratitude. 🙏 Gratitude for outstanding colleagues and management teams colleagues, loyal business partners and companions along the way – and for friendships that have grown over the years. Precisely because we experienced not only good times, but also crises, pressure and uncertainty, I have deep respect for what we achieved together: taking responsibility, persevering, finding solutions – and moving the bank forward step by step. 🙏 I would also like to express my special thanks to the people who supported and mentored me: Burkhard Gebauer, Dr. Gerhard Holterhus, Dr. Ulf Meier, Hinrich Holm, Christian Jagenberg, the much too early departed Christian Veit, Olof Seidel, and Thomas Buerkle. Thank you for your trust – I hope I was able to repay it through commitment and integrity. To the current NORD/LB management team led by Jörg Frischholz , I wish continued success and a steady hand for the future. 🍀 ✨ A new chapter now begins for me: from 1 January 2026, I will be starting as an independent consultant and coach with JAP² Consulting & Coaching (www.jap2-consulting.de ). I’m looking forward to new encounters, new challenges and new learning curves – and to sharing more about this next step here on LinkedIn.