RE-START:

Rainer Beaujean, born in 1968, started at Deutsche Telekom after studying business administration and became CEO of the internet provider T-Online in 2004. He then changed industries several times, working for a crane manufacturer and a packaging specialist. In 2019 he joined the Munich-based TV company Pro Sieben Sat 1, in March 2020 he became CEO and is now changing the strategy, back to the core business, is the motto.

Sophie Boissard sees herself as a companion in the life of the modern man. A graduate of the University of Ena, she has worked for French politicians, then for the SNCF railway group. Since 2016, she has been head of the nursing home operator Korian. This is perhaps the most difficult task, because it is about the last stage of a person's life. She knows about the bad image of the industry. She wants to change that.

Carla Kriwet, born in 1971, studied business administration and then worked at Linde, Drägerwerk and Philips. There she was most recently a member of the Group Executive Board, based in Boston, before moving to BSH-Hausgeräte, now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bosch, as the new head of the company. Kriwet is also involved with Save the Children.

He leads a unicorn at the reins: Hanno Renner, born in 1990, is the boss and co-founder of Personio. The industrial engineering graduate built the start-up, which has developed an operating system for HR management, especially for SMEs, with four colleagues in Munich in 2015. In 2019, a consulting firm predicted a billion-dollar valuation, unicorn status in founder-speak, within two years. In January 2021, this goal was achieved. The next is to become an SAP for HR professionals.

Born in 1966, he has been at the helm of the Lufthansa Group since 1 May 2014. The industrial engineer and Airbus A320 captain began his career in management in 1994. Before becoming CEO, he headed the flight business under the Lufthansa brand for three years. Spohr is responsible, among other things, for setting up the low-cost division Eurowings. Getting Lufthansa through the Corona pandemic, in which air traffic temporarily collapsed, is his biggest task to date.

Ralf Wintergerst, born in 1962, has been CEO of Giesecke + Devrient since 2016. He has worked for the group, which specialises in banknotes, smart cards and IT security, since 1998. Giesecke + Devrient produces around five billion banknotes a year in 80 to 100 currencies around the world. Wintergerst holds several offices in cyber security and is a member of the executive committee of the digital association Bitkom. The business economist practised karate as a competitive sport in his younger years; he was German champion several times and became European champion in 1990. "In karate you fight alone, in your job you fight together," he says.