Dr. Thomas Gauly has advised numerous domestic and foreign companies on transactions, positioning, and crisis situations. Before founding GAULY, he was, among other things, a member of the extended management board of ALTANA AG and spokesman for the Herbert Quandt family. Prior to this, he worked for the Secretary General of Germany’s CDU party, and he served as advisor to the party chairman and German Chancellor Dr. Helmut Kohl.

Thomas has been honored with a number of awards, including the German Corporate Image Award and the German PR Prize in Gold.

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.

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 joining 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, as Senior Vice President, he was responsible for global communications, strategy and marketing for the automotive and industrial supplier Schaeffler. 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.

Helge Hoffmeister heads our Frankfurt office. With 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 various positions in corporate communications at Bertelsmann. In his last position, he served as senior vice president and oversaw 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).

Leske advises clients from the technology sector, among others. She has an excellent knowledge of the international communications sector and contributes her expertise not only to the further digitization but also to the internationalization of GAULY.

As Chief Communications Officer of the international software group SAP, she was most recently responsible for the firm's overall communications. She was in charge of, among other things, the strategic positioning of the company and the members of the Executive Board, in particular the CEO. At SAP, Leske was also responsible for crisis, financial and product communications, employee engagement and change management, and corporate social responsibility.

Before joining SAP in 2014, Nicola Leske spent around 14 years working internationally as a business journalist at Reuters news agency in Berlin, London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and New York.

Graduated from the Henri Nannen School of Journalism, Leske studied political science, American studies and history at the University of Bonn and holds an Executive MBA from Mannheim Business School.

Andreas Martin offers stakeholder management support in challenging situations such as restructuring, strategic reorientation, reputation crises, or 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 affairs of strategic communication - especially with regard to media relations, communication in the event of a crisis and public affairs.

As the head of communication and marketing at Deutsche Fussball Liga (DFL) for many years, he has a great deal of experience in the area of sport business at the interface with business, society and politics.

Before joining consultancy, as a member of the management board, Christian Pfennig was involved in DFL’s transformation into an international sports and media company. Among his many responsibilities, he was also in charge for crisis communication at DFL during the COVID pandemic.

He started his professional career as a journalist at Sport-Informations-Dienst (sid) after he had graduated from German School of Journalism (DJS) and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München where he studied communication science, political science, and sociology.

Based in Berlin, Paolina Hagengruber advises clients in particular on the development and implementation of public affairs and government relations strategies. As a lawyer, her focus is on regulatory issues.

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

She studied law in Passau and Pavia and holds an exam in business administration at the IWW of the FernUniversität Hagen.

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

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

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

Sabine Kahrweg advises and supports clients focusing on transformation, crisis situations, compliance and performance. Another area of expertise is on employee and leadership engagement.

Kahrweg brings extensive experience in strategic communications gained in global companies such as Volkswagen, Siemens and Airbus. From 2006-2016, she let her own communications consultancy, advising companies and foundations with a focus on positioning and mission-critical situations.

Before joining Gauly, Sabine Kahrweg was responsible for international communications as well as global communications on company-wide topics such as sustainability, human resources and compliance, at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse.

Sabine Kahrweg holds a degree in business administration studies from the University for Applied Sciences in Munich (FH Munich).

Markus Rüther has more than 15 years of experience in corporate communications. Since 2004, he has supported companies in internal and external communications 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.

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

Boris Binkowska holds a master's degree in European Studies from KU Leuven in Belgium. He previously studied Governance & Public Policy at the University of Passau.

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 Frankfurt, Philipp Heinz advises clients on strategic communication matters. His focus is on crisis communication and issues management, media relations, and digital communication.

Before joining GAULY, Philipp was a journalist for the news agencies AP and dapd as well as a communication manager and press officer at Sanofi’s German headquarters.

Philipp studied history, journalism, philosophy, and foreign policy in Mainz and Washington before attending the German School of Journalism in Munich.

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. He is skilled in Human Resources in general and specifically in Recruiting, Interviewing and Outplacement.

Benjamin holds a master´s degree in Rhetoric at Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen. He previously studied Slavistics in Tübingen and at 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 Kleine had already worked in communications consulting for several years. Afterwards, as head of corporate communications and press officer, she was responsible for the communications strategy across all disciplines 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.

Dr. Martin Klonowski heads the Brussels office and advises clients in Berlin and Brussels in public affairs and government relations at the EU, federal, and state level with a focus on the energy and automotive industries. He also advises companies in the real estate and finance sectors.

Before joining GAULY, Martin worked for the State of Hesse in Berlin and Brussels for more than 15 years.

He studied Eastern European history, law, and philosophy in Würzburg and Bonn and received his doctorate from the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Bonn.

Elvan Korkmaz-Emre, former Member of the German Parliament and expert politician in the field of digitalization, advises companies, institutions and associations in digitalization, infrastructure, and related topics.

As Member of the German Parliament, she worked in the committees of digitalization and transport. She was also member of the parliamentary commission of inquiry to artificial intelligence. As deputy spokeswoman for digitalization of the SPD parliamentary group she was among others responsible for the topics data strategy and sovereignty, digitization of administration, artificial intelligence, traffic safety and public transportation. Furthermore, Elvan Korkmaz-Emre was in the supervisory board of Die Autobahn GmbH des Bundes and Advisory Committee to the Federal Network Agency.

Elvan Korkmaz-Emre holds a diploma in public administration and worked among others as project manager in urban development in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Because of her professional background she has deep knowledge 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 communication. He has many years of experience in advising family businesses.

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

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

Stephanie Rank advises organizations undergoing change. 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.

Alexander Schmidt focuses on strategic and financial communications including M&A and ECM transactions. He has a strong track record in executive positioning, media relations, and crisis management. Alexander’s credentials include numerous corporates, banks, private equity, and professional services firms.

Since more than 20 years, Alexander shapes financial communications starting his career at one of Germany’s largest asset management firms, Deka. Later, he worked for a stock-listed venture capital firm. Then he switched to the consultancy side and most recently led the German capital markets communications offering of international communications consultancy Edelman.

Alexander studied Literature and History and holds a business degree of Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.