Utz Classen is one of Germany’s most charismatic business leaders and turnround experts.. He has held senior management positions with some of Germany’s most prominent companies, in a number of industry sectors. After studying economics at the University of Hanover and at Oxford University, he began his career with McKinsey. He then moved to Ford Europe, where he was eventually appointed Director of Research and Development at VW, before becoming a Director at SEAT (part of the VW Group). In 2003 he moved to the the publicly quoted Sartorius AG and oversaw a major restructure of the company. He then joined the energy company EnBW, the third largest in Germany, and returned the company to profit. He sold off a number of businesses and achieved an annual turnover of Eur 18bn with a workforce of 18,000 employees. Since 2001 he has been a Professor at the University of Hannover, and was invited by the German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to advise on innovation in Germany industry.