Rosenberg-
Team Heads

Dirk T. Schmitt is advising companies on their communication strategy as well as on crises and mergers & acquisitions (M&A). Dirk has advised on more than 60 domestic and international transactions and was most recently chief representative of a Dax 30 company. As managing director of an international strategic communications consultancy, Dirk advised large corporations on communication in politics and media, as well as with investors and other stakeholders. Dirk studied political science in Mannheim and Munich, and later business administration at the University of St.Gallen (HSG) and Toronto. He has received numerous awards, including the “Press Office of the Year” accolade from the Federal Association of German Press Officers, and has held honorary positions in associations, foundations and academic societies.

Dr. Alexander Falkenberg has conducted private equity, M&A and financing transactions with a volume of more than USD 30 billion. Alexander was Chief Investment Officer at a private equity firm with a portfolio value of more than USD 3 billion. Previously, he worked in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse First Boston. Alexander holds a PhD from the University of St.Gallen (HSG), an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh and a ‘Diplom-Kaufmann’ (German business administration degree) from the European Business School, Oestrich-Winkel.

Philipp T. Meyer has more than 15 years of experience in marketing and communications. Before founding Rosenberg Strategic Communications, Philipp spent eight years building one of the first and most successful branding studios in the publishing and media industry with ‘F.A.Z. Manufaktur’ at Germany’s ‘Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung’ newspaper. He has developed over 90 concepts in communication for renowned clients such as BlackRock, UBS, HSBC, Sanofi, LANXESS, UNO and the German state of Saxony. Before that, Philipp worked in brand management for an internationally operating consumer goods company in Switzerland, among other activities. At Rosenberg Strategic Communications, he is responsible for strategic marketing communications consulting, advising companies on their positioning in special situations. Philipp studied business administration with a focus on marketing at the universities of Münster, the University of St.Gallen (HSG) and in the USA.

Alexander Schmidt has more than 20 years of experience in strategic communications. In various positions at well-known communications consultancies, he has supported listed companies, private equity and owner-managed companies. He advises on communications relating to corporate finance issues as well as restructurings and turnarounds. Alexander Schmidt is also well versed in issues management and crisis communication. He studied literature and history and holds an Executive MBA from the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.

Entrepreneur, CEO, consultant, strategist: Rainer Westermann designs mission-critical communications and manages reputation risks for his clients in Germany, the US and Canada.
Litigation communication, crisis prevention and management, and executive communication are his specialties. Rainer has repeatedly swapped the perspective of the consultant for that of the responsible decision-maker - for example, as head of communications at Infineon Technologies or as a board member of LHS Group, Atlanta, a NASDAQ-listed software company. As CEO Germany of Burson-Marsteller, he repositioned the company. In Toronto, he built up the corporate communications and investor relations department for Fleishman-Hillard Canada.

Rainer's expertise is in demand: He is board member of Reputation Advisors International, and since 2021 he has been Chairman of the Board of the Life Sciences Acceleration Alliance e.V., Munich, as well as a member of the Advisory Board of the TUM Institute for LifeLong Learning and a lecturer at the TUM School of Management.

As head of communications in the aviation industry and as press spokesperson for an industrial holding company in the Dax, he advised executive and supervisory boards on complex communications issues: from media relations and crises to change and executive communications, and public affairs. In these roles, as well as an economist and speechwriter for an international strategy consultancy, his journalistic background was of great benefit to him. Thomas spent more than twelve years as a political and business editor at the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the Handelsblatt publishing group (Wirtschaftswoche).

Andrea Schmitt has spent more than 25 years in executive communication, specialising in project and event management activities for major financial institutions such as Deutsche Bank, Citibank and Targobank. She has operational experience in leading large teams, process management and optimisation, and has stewarded company in-house training and coaching projects. Over the last 12 years, she has focussed her energies on both large-scale gatherings in public spaces and events for employees and executives. Further to this, she also works in internal communication for a service provider in the banking sector. Andrea currently manages a social welfare facility on a voluntary basis, and previously lived in Asia for several years where she assisted social projects for an international women’s network.

Dominic Stenzel brings more than 20 years of communications and leadership experience in the consumer goods industry and the German armed forces to the table. In a wide variety of roles, he was responsible for the entire spectrum of internal and external corporate communications and also represented companies as a press spokesperson. Dominic advised executives and their organizations primarily in the areas of positioning as well as crisis and other special situations. Most recently, he led the DACH region communications team of global tire manufacturer Goodyear as press spokesperson. Dominic studied communication sciences with a focus on public relations and integrated communication at Danube University Krems.

Sophie Roth brings to Rosenberg SC her experience in corporate communications from positions in e-commerce logistics and industrial production. During transformations, change projects and crisis situations she advised leaders, developed communication strategies and put them into practice.
Her work focuses on the people affected by the special situation and their needs in order to create communication strategies with added value.
Sophie Roth studied French, English and business administration at the University of Mannheim, as well as in Finland and France.

Gertrud M. Hack has been advising banks, financial service providers, organisations and companies from industry on strategic corporate communications, financial and capital market communications and special situations since 1996. As Head of Corporate Communications, Vice President and Press Officer at JPMorgan in Frankfurt and London, she gained expertise in all facets of capital market and crisis communications. She has more than 25 years of international experience in CEO positioning, coordinating theme setting, generating content and communications management in change projects such as reorganisations or transformations - both on the corporate side and as a managing director on agency and consultancy areas. Gertrud studied business administration and foreign trade with a focus on international marketing and management, business administration and economics in both England and Germany. She supports start-ups in their market presence and positioning. She volunteers for various associations, ladies-in-business mentoring and social institutes.

Matthias Dezes has more than 25 years of experience in corporate communications. A trained business journalist, he advises on the strategic positioning of both individuals and companies as well as helping clients deal with crises, issues and off-market transactions. In some client engagements he acts as an external press officer. Before starting his own business, he was a spokesperson for the internationally active Citibank as well as in two international business law firms and has advised clients from the finance, mobility and energy sectors in an international strategic communications consultant capacity. Matthias studied political science, American studies and constitutional law in Bonn and Seattle. He was a lecturer in public relations at a renowned private university for many years and is the German state of Hesse’s Regional Director of the German Public Relations Association (Deutsche Public Relations Gesellschaft [DPRG]).

For seven years, Carsten was with the Federal Criminal Police Office. He helped building up the personal security group of the former MG Group, was an authorized representative and later managing director of the security divisions of Brink's Inc, Gegenbauer and Piepenbrock. He worked for Control Risks in Berlin and London, and is head of security for the ILA International Air Show in Berlin.
As business economist (VWA) he thinks and acts entrepreneurially, especially as managing partner of DRB Deutsche Risikoberatung GmbH. He has been at home in the world of Security - Associations for two decades: as vice president of the Berlin-Brandenburg Association for Security in Business and on the federal board of the "Alliance for Security in Business" (ASW), where he regularly exchanges ideas with the federal security authorities. He has made a name for himself as co-author of the ASW guide on eavesdropping defense and heads its competence center.

Bernhard Weissberg lives in Switzerland. He started his career as a local journalist for the Berner Zeitung and the Bund before founding and managing the private radio station Canal 3 with other journalists in Biel. After moving to the Ringier publishing house, he was editor-in-chief of SonntagsBlick and Blick, founded and launched the free evening newspaper "heute" (now Blick am Abend) and was a member of the Group Executive Board.
Since 2009, he has been advising medium-sized and large companies in Switzerland on communication issues, writing speeches and moderating public and non-public discussions. Bernhard has two children, loves American football and is a passionate Golfer.

Tony Brechbühl works internationally as a leadership trainer and advises companies on change processes with regard to the further development of leaders, employees and teams to trigger and anchor positive behavioural changes. Tony has worked for an international company with management positions over many years in the USA, the United Arab Emirates, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. He studied business administration at the University of St.Gallen (HSG) and spent a semester at Tulsa University in the USA as part of an exchange programme. He holds various honorary positions in associations and academic societies.

Alexandra Bohn develops new media products for publishers such as Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Condé Nast. She works for leading German publishers Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Zeitverlag, Süddeutsche Zeitung Verlag, Axel Springer and Burda as a writer, editor and managing editor for print and digital formats. Alexandra advises companies on sustainability trends and ESG strategies and moderates conferences with different stakeholders. She has a network of active contacts in the media industry, fashion industry and creative scene in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and internationally that has grown over more than 15 years. She shares her expertise as a speaker, trainer and lecturer and is involved in association work on a voluntary basis. Alexandra studied Visual Communication in Potsdam and holds a Master of Public Policy from the Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance in Berlin, with Prof. Dr. Peter Eigen, founder of Transparency International, as her mentor.

Dr Manuel C. Solbach advises companies during growth and transformation periods as well as in restructuring projects with a special focus on market, sales and business plans. With more than 25 years of international operational experience in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry (at MSD and BASF), Manuel can be found in crisis situations providing tried-and-tested leadership skills. As managing director of a management consulting and investment boutique, Manuel advises business leaders and shareholders of medium-sized companies on restructuring, market positioning and M&A transactions. Manuel studied economics with a focus on strategy & organisation at the University of St.Gallen (HSG) and in Minneapolis, eventually gaining his doctorate in marketing and sales management at HSG. He lectured for many years at the University of Applied Sciences in Ludwigshafen, has been involved for more than 10 years as a jury advisor in HSG’s MBA program and, since 2010, has co-organised HSG‘s Alumni Networking Conference in Germany.

Dr Rainer Lampe is building on his experience in industry, most recently as commercial director at Fresenius in Italy, Rainer has been developing and supporting transformation programmes for over 25 years. As founder and senior partner at Transformation Partner, a boutique consultancy in Frankfurt, his core competencies include holistic change programmes (development, growth and restructuring) and managing change teams. Rainer complements this with the ability to fill internal competency gaps for clients through headhunting. He is also involved in start-ups with a focus on the health, IT and service sectors. Rainer studied economics and law in Freiburg, business administration at the University of St. Gallen (HSG) and gained his doctorate in management consulting at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. He has supported the University of St. Gallen for over 10 years and launched the think tank ‘Zukunft-Fabrik.2050’. He is also an ambassador for ‘Frankfurt Forward’ at the Corporation of Frankfurt Economic Development.

Andreas Beckmann has been working as an analyst for political, economic, media and social issues (political due diligence/public affairs consulting/research-analysis-strategy communication) in Berlin and Brussels for 15 years. His clients include public affairs agencies as well as clients in the corporate sector, especially institutional investors from Germany and abroad. In recent years, his work has focused on macro-political stability, the private-housing sector in Germany, energy policy and the energy market, the automotive industry and various M&A and special situations. Andreas studied political science, public law and English at Pennsylvania State University and in Kiel.

Florian Neitzert supports companies in sustainability (CSR reporting, ESG management, sustainable finance), risk management (enterprise risk management, early crisis detection) and financial communication. In 2018, he successfully completed his business studies degree at the University of Siegen and has since taken on a doctorate at the University of Cologne‘s Department of Business Administration and Banking. Florian Neitzert is the author of more than 15 publications. His work has received awards from both academia and current practice.

Caroline Biallas specialises in internal and external communication for companies operating on an international level, writes journalistic-style articles and carries out interviews of all kinds. Among other activities, she develops media and PR strategies, acts as a press spokesperson, creates image texts for annual reports, is responsible for social media channels and designs company in-house newsletters. Before Caroline started her own business, she worked for several years in the editorial departments of the German financial publications ‘Handelsblatt’ and ‘WirtschaftsWoche’; she was responsible for the daily content on the ‘Handelsblatt Live App’, worked at the Business & Markets newsdesk and managed the online presence of ‘WirtschaftsWoche’. Caroline's entry into journalism came after a two-year traineeship at the ‘Schaumburger Zeitung’ newspaper. She then studied at the renowned Institute for Journalism at the TU Dortmund University and Political Science at the Ruhr University Bochum.

Dr Harald Seisler is a lawyer and also worked as a notary from 2000 to 2009. In the course of his work as both a lawyer and notary, he has mainly dealt with commercial and corporate law as well as copyright and press law. As early as 1986, he was elected one of the managing partners of the Frankfurt law firm Boesebeck, Barz & Partner. During his almost 10-year tenure, the partnership experienced enormous growth and opened offices in Berlin, Dresden, Warsaw, Vienna and Zagreb. In the course of the merger with the large British law firm Lovells, he was Regional Managing Partner and member of the International Executive Committee from 2000 to the end of 2008, most recently responsible for all of Lovells’ offices in continental Europe. Since May 2009, he has been working as an independent consultant on strategic corporate management issues and coach and has engagements within supervisory bodies.