Hering Schuppener EN – Corporate reputation & CEO communications

We help companies leverage communication to enhance their reputation, and hence secure their long-term commercial success. We work with our clients to devise and implement communication strategies based on the company’s overall strategy, while consolidating its reputation in the long term. Clients benefit from our many years of experience in integrated positioning and topic development, as well as our profound understanding of opinion-forming processes and stakeholder needs.

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Alexander Geiser Managing Partner

Active in Frankfurt am Main

+49 69 9218 7474

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Alexander Geiser is Managing Partner at HERING SCHUPPENER since 2003. He advises clients on the development and implementation of their communication strategies and is also specialized in the communication of M&A as well as CEO changes.   Alexander has advised on more than 100 domestic and international transactions. Between 1996 and 2001, he worked within the HERING SCHUPPENER Group in the field of corporate strategy and development in Düsseldorf, London and New York. Alexander studied business administration and politics at the Western University in Canada. He completed post-graduate studies at INSEAD in 2000, and Harvard University in 2016. In 2014, he was appointed to the group of Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum (Geneva).

Folker Dries Partner

Active in Frankfurt am Main

+49 69 92187426

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Folker Dries works from the Frankfurt office and focuses on advising clients particularly on issues relating to corporate and CEO positioning and financial communications. Folker is also HERING SCHUPPENER’s media trainer.  Prior to moving into consultancy, he spent 17 years working as a business journalist; in his last role, he headed the Financial Markets Department of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) in Frankfurt. Before that, he was the newspaper’s Wall Street correspondent in New York. He started out in journalism at the Börsen-Zeitung as a correspondent in Munich, London and New York. Folker holds a diploma in economics. He studied at the University of Würzburg.

Ralf Hering Principal Partner

Active in Düsseldorf

+49 211 43079 0

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Ralf Hering is Principal Partner & CEO and in charge of the HERING SCHUPPENER Group management. He mainly advises clients on issues related to corporate and brand positioning as well as on crisis and restructuring processes. From 1985 to 1994, Ralf served as the CEO of ABC, former German market leader during his tenure, and Euro RSCG (today: HAVAS), heading first the domestic operations and, as of 1989, also the international activities. After founding HERING SCHUPPENER in 1995, he additionally served as Chairman Europe of the GCI Group (Grey) between 1998 and 2000. Ralf started his career at the Cologne Trade Fairs and FILA Central Europe. Ralf studied business administration at the University of Cologne and graduated from the Harvard Business School’s Executive Education Program. He is chairman of the supervisory board of Syzygy AG, Bad Homburg, listed at Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Jan Hiesserich  Managing Director

Active in Frankfurt am Main

+49 69 921874 63

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Jan Hiesserich advises clients mainly on M&A, CEO reputation and on corporate strategy mandates. He works in the Frankfurt office. Previously, Jan advised international clients on numerous M&A and financial communications mandates, working from the London and Madrid offices of the leading consultancy firms Maitland and Llorente & Cuenca. Jan is the author of the book “Der CEO-Navigator” (Campus, 2013) and co-author of the book “Der CEO im Fokus” (Campus, 2015). He studied international relations, political science, finance and leadership at the Wharton and Harvard Business School and at the universities of Bonn, Prague and Warwick.

Communications strategy

In an age of volatility and disruption, companies need to give their stakeholders a clear orientation. Lucidly formulated objectives, a viable strategy and – first and foremost – convincing communication have never been more important than they are today.

We help our clients translate their strategy into clear and convincing messages, thus securing the confidence of the relevant stakeholders. We take responsibility for the systematic planning and management of all communication activities, and for measuring their success. If we are involved in developing the strategy jointly with the company’s communicators, our extensive experience enables us to formulate recommendations for subsequent adjustments to improve the prospects of success.

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CEO positioning

The CEO is often the public face for the entire company. And the trend towards conflating a company’s track record and reputation with its chief executive’s every move continues apace. More than ever before, executives find themselves in the spotlight, under close observation by the media and the public.

We advise and assist executives and senior managers, helping them sharpen their personal profiles on the basis of the company’s strategy and clear topic management. Our long-term positioning approach centres on carefully analysing the current profile and crafting an optimized target profile. This forms the basis for the preparation of a detailed communication strategy for the CEO. The outcome is the compelling positioning of the CEO, which makes a major contribution to securing the backing of clients, employees, shareholders, and other interest groups for the company’s objectives.

Beyond analysis and the development and implementation of strategy, we offer a number of training modules that help CEOs pitch their arguments to various target groups: journalists, political stakeholders and capital market participants. We introduce them to the rules of dealing professionally with differing expectations and help them to make a self-confident impression in a dialogue with their target groups.

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Corporate communications

Companies can no longer achieve long-term commercial success solely by mastering value creation and positioning themselves successfully in the market. Familiarity with the various stakeholder groups, understanding their needs, and being able to enlist their cooperation by means of effective corporate communications have become equally important success factors.

We help our clients develop a consistent communication strategy and identify and process possible positioning themes. We conceive multi-disciplinary communication measures that help achieve the cooperation of relevant target groups in the long term, and we assist our clients with their implementation using all available channels.

Together with our clients we identify the opportunities and threats that emerge from public debate. We mobilise media and the wider public in support of our clients’ concerns. We identify possible hindrances to communication and counteract them effectively and efficiently.

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Communications controlling

No company can create sustained value on its own. It needs the support of its employees and customers, suppliers and subcontractors, investors and politicians. The contribution made by sound communications is to convince these stakeholders that their interests coincide with those of the company. Measuring and documenting this contribution helps companies appreciate the strategic value of communication and to embed it within their own management systems.

We help communication specialists to prepare executives for increased communication requirements, advise them on decision-making and provide operational support. Part of this means translating the corporate strategy into reputational objectives, organising the work streams involved, monitoring its progress, interpreting results, and preparing reports to assist subsequent decision-making.

We jointly develop a long-term, effective communication control system, thus creating the foundation for communication to be acknowledged as a sustainable driver of value.

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Prof. Dr. Christopher Storck Managing Director

Active in Düsseldorf

+49 211 430 79 250

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Christopher Storck works in the Düsseldorf office and heads the Communication Performance Management division. He advises corporate clients in finding, formulating and communicating strategies, building and protecting corporate reputation, organizational development, managing and shaping communication departments.  Parallel to that Christopher is professor for strategy and communication management at the Quadriga University in Berlin. He is also a steering committee member at the Communication Controlling task force of the International Controller Association and serves as a scientific advisor to the German professional associations of press officers and compliance managers. Christopher is a certified business coach of the EBS University for Business and Law in Wiesbaden.

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