Marcus Brans heads our Zurich office and advises clients from the industrial and technology sectors, private equity, family offices and professional services. He will focus on advising clients on M&A, restructuring, transformation, crisis and financial communications as well as C-level consulting, CommTech and litigation PR.

Prior to entering the field of consulting, Marcus Brans spent over 25 years in various management and consulting roles. Most recently, he established and managed an in-house communications consultancy for Triton Funds and its portfolio companies. Prior to that, he was responsible for global communications, strategy and marketing for the automotive and industrial supplier Schaeffler as Senior Vice President. His broad international experience in corporate, capital market and strategic communications is complemented by his experiences at Linklaters, Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling.

Marcus Brans studied management and politics at the University of the German Armed Forces in Munich and holds an MBA from the Universities of Minnesota and Vienna.

Alexander Cordes heads our Berlin office and advises clients on strategic communications as well as financial communications and M&A transactions. In addition, his main areas of expertise include C-level consultancy and communications advice on regulatory and legal issues. Alexander worked as a corporate spokesman for many years. Most recently as Head of External Communications for thyssenkrupp AG in Essen and Head of External Communications Finance & Strategy for Commerzbank AG.

Trained as a lawyer in Münster, Sheffield, and Düsseldorf, he also worked for regional newspapers in Bremen and Münster, the European Parliament in Brussels, and the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce in Mumbai.

In addition to her current responsibilities in management, Sandra Fabian has 20 years of experience in financial communications and investor relations. She has also advised numerous companies on all matters of strategic communications and positioning. Before joining the company upon its founding, Sandra worked for an international communications consultancy and has many years of corporate experience as an IR manager at ALTANA and Fresenius Medical Care.

She holds a degree in business administration and studied international business at the University of Paderborn.

Vanessa Haumberger, Managing Partner, advises clients on public affairs and government relations at EU, federal, and state level from our Munich and Brussels offices. Her focus is on regulatory issues including sustainability and ESG, as well as strategic communications in special situations.

As a public affairs and networking expert, she contributes extensive experience from the aviation, transportation and logistics industries. Before joining GAULY, she worked for Munich Airport for almost 20 years in successive functions, most recently as Head of Policy and Region and Deputy Head of Communications.

Vanessa Haumberger grew up in Brussels. She studied business administration at ISM Dortmund, and holds an MBA from the University of Seekirchen (Austria).

Helge Hoffmeister heads our Frankfurt office. With over 20 years of experience in corporate communications, he advises clients in all matters of strategic communications, with a focus on special situations that are critical to success and reputation. His areas of expertise include crisis communication, M&A communication, reputation management, CEO and executive communication, change management, the (further) development of purpose and values statements as well as digital communication.

Before entering consulting, Helge spent 12 years in successive positions in corporate communications at Bertelsmann, where he last served as Senior Vice President overseeing strategic communications.

Helge studied media management at the Institute for Journalism and Communication Research (IJK) of HMTM Hannover and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA). He holds an Executive MBA from the TUM School of Management (TU Munich).

Andreas Martin offers stakeholder management support in challenging situations such as restructuring, strategic reorientation, reputation crises, and M&A processes. Decision-makers also take advantage of his expertise in financial communication and corporate brand positioning.

Before joining GAULY, Andreas was a principal at Roland Berger, where he managed communications in transformation projects. Prior to that, he headed Edelman’s Corporate Reputation department in Germany as well as the External Communications department at mg technologies.

Andreas is a trained business journalist (Cologne School of Journalism) and holds a degree in economics.

Christian Pfennig advises companies, organizations and associations across all sectors on all issues of strategic communications – especially with regard to media relations, crisis communications, and public affairs. As the long time head of communications and marketing at the German Football League (DFL), he has extensive experience at the interface between business, society and politics.

Before joining the consultancy, Christian Pfennig helped shape the DFL's path to becoming an international media company as a member of the management team and was responsible, among other things, for crisis communications during the Corona pandemic. He is a graduate of the German School of Journalism (DJS) and started his professional career at a news agency after graduating with a degree in journalism from Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich (communication sciences, political science and sociology).

Matthias Freutel is a consultant in strategic communications. He has more than 15 years of experience in media relations, financial and sustainability communications, and reporting, as well as in capital measures and restructuring. Before joining GAULY, he worked at ergo Kommunikation and Edelman Germany.

With a degree in economics and another from the Cologne School of Journalism, Matthias is also a certified analyst for real estate and ESG investments.

Based in Berlin, Paolina Hagengruber advises clients particularly on the development and implementation of public affairs and government relations strategies. A lawyer by training, her focus is on regulatory issues.

Paolina previously worked in the German Bundestag for more than ten years.

She studied law in Passau and Pavia and also has a degree in business administration from the IWW of the FernUniversität Hagen.

Markus Rüther has more than 15 years of experience in corporate communications. Since 2004, he has supported companies with internal and external communications in connection with developments including M&A, restructurings, or crisis communications.

Markus worked as a journalist and is a Certified Investor Relations Officer (CIRO). He holds a Master of Arts in history and political economy and studied in Eichstätt-Ingolstadt and at Xavier University in Cincinnati.

Saskia Scharowsky advises domestic and international clients on strategic and communication matters, as well as in special situations critical to success. Her focus is on crisis and litigation communications, strategy communications and the strategic positioning of companies and executives.

Saskia recently worked for one of the world's leading sporting goods manufacturers, where she was responsible for planning external communications for the Management Board and the company.

Saskia holds a master’s degree in marketing management from the Rotterdam School of Management and previously studied International Cultural and Business Studies and Business Administration and Economics at the University of Passau.

Boris Binkowska advises clients on strategic communications with a focus on public affairs, government relations, M&A, restructuring, and crisis communications.

Before joining GAULY, he served as personal assistant to CDU party chairwoman and Federal Minister of Defense Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer from 2017 to 2022, where his responsibilities included strategic communications and public relations. Later, he worked in strategy development for security policy in the German Federal Ministry of Defense. He began his career as a policy advisor at the CDU party headquarters.

A reserve officer of the German Bundeswehr, Boris holds a master's degree in European Studies from KU Leuven in Belgium, before which he studied Governance & Public Policy at the University of Passau.

Marius Bittner advises national and international companies on all strategic communication issues, particularly in special situations such as board changes, strategy updates, restructurings, M&A transactions and crisis situations. Marius also advises clients on the proactive positioning of companies and individual executives. At GAULY, he is also responsible for the areas of Comm Tech & AI as well as media analysis and monitoring.

Before joining GAULY, he gained practical experience in various companies in the fields of communications and marketing, including Deutsche Bank.

Benjamin Hildebrandt is an experienced Human Resources expert with a demonstrated track record of working in the management consulting and professional services industry. After starting his career at two different headhunting companies, Benjamin decided to pursue his career inhouse, earning first impressions at Publicis.Sapient followed by a manager role at KPMG’s recruiting team in Frankfurt. His skillset covers Human Resources in general, and Recruiting, Interviewing and Outplacement in particular.

Benjamin holds a master´s degree in Rhetoric from the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, having previously studied Slavistics in Tübingen and at the University of Warsaw.

Anna Lena Kleine advises clients from various industries on all aspects of strategic communications. Here her focus is on reputation management as well as the positioning of companies and their leading people.

Before joining GAULY, Anna Lena had already worked in communications consulting for several years, after which was responsible for the communications strategy across all disciplines as head of corporate communications and press officer for a private bank with an industrial background. Her field of activity also included internal and external communications for company-wide strategy projects and change management.

Anna Lena Kleine graduated with a degree in media economics from the Rheinische Fachhochschule in Cologne.

Elvan Korkmaz-Emre, former Member of the German Parliament and an expert on digitalization policy, advises companies, institutions and associations on matters of digitalization, infrastructure, and related topics.

As the deputy digital policy spokesperson for the SPD parliamentary group, Elvan was a member of the Digital Agenda, Transport, and Digital Infrastructure committees and the Artificial Intelligence Study Commission, where she was responsible for topics including as smart city/smart region, data strategy/sovereignty, digitalization of administration, artificial intelligence, road safety, and public transport. She also sat on the supervisory board of the German government’s Die Autobahn GmbH and on the advisory board of the Federal Network Agency.

Before Elvan Korkmaz-Emre, who holds a degree in public administration, became a member of the Bundestag in 2017, her work experience included a position as project manager in urban development in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Thanks to her background, she is very well versed in legislative and executive processes.

Based in Frankfurt, Steffen Müller advises clients on issues such as reputation management, the communication of M&A transactions, and crisis communications. He has many years of experience in advising family businesses.

Before joining GAULY, Steffen worked for various pharmaceutical and chemical companies including Merck and Altana.

He studied business administration and is a graduate of the Cologne School of Journalism.

Stephanie Rank advises organizations going through change processes. She specializes primarily in internal communication and interaction formats. Stephanie has many years of experience in advising corporate groups and medium-sized companies.

Before joining GAULY, she was employed at cc:langen GmbH.

She earned her diploma at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, where she studied sociology, business administration, and economics.