Prof. Dr. Burkhard Schwenker (* April 20th, 1958 in Minden, Germany) is a German business consultant. Since August 2010, he has been the head of the supervisory board of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants after he had served as the CEO of the company. In September 2010, he was additionally appointed the head of the Roland Berger foundation.[1]
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Burkhard Schwenker studied Mathematics and Economics at the University of Bielefeld. He started his professional career as the assistant to the board of management at PWA Papierwerke Waldhof-Aschaffenburg AG. In 1985, he became a member of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants and, after having successfully completed his PhD in Economics, he established and expanded the company’s office in Hamburg.[2]
In 1992, Schwenker was appointed a partner at Roland Berger’s and, in 1994, took over the management of the Center of Excellence in Corporate Development. He was the leader in the 1998 negotiations about the management buyout of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants between Deutsche Bank and the partners of the company. In 2003, Schwenker was appointed the head of the Executive Committee of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, this appointment being renewed for another term by the partners in 2006.[3] The Leipzig Graduate School of Management awarded him the honorary professorship in 2008.[4][5] Together with Torsten Wulf, Burkhard Schwenker has been the Academic Director of the school’s Center for Scenario Planning.[6]
When he changed to the Supervisory Board of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants in 2010, Burkhard Schwenker created a medial uproar by writing a farewell letter to the staff at the company in which he critically reflected upon his time as the company’s CEO.[7][8] He was succeeded by Martin C. Wittig.[9]
Additionally, Schwenker is the initiator of Best of European Business.
Burkhard Schwenker is married and has three children. He is currently living in Hamburg.
Next to his tasks as the head of the supervisory board at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, Burkhard Schwenker is very engaged in various initiatives and organizations. Since September 1, 2010, Burkhard Schwenker has headed the Roland Berger foundation.[10] Each year, the foundation awards scholarships to underprivileged youth. Additionally, Schwenker supports the “Verband deutscher Unternehmerinnen (VdU)” (German branch of the international FCEM) and its key project focusing on the promotion of a stronger presence of women on supervisory boards.[11] He is also a member of the advisory board of the “Deutsche Gesellschaft für Finanz- und Haushaltspolitik e.V.” (German Association for financial and budgetary policy).[12] This association focuses on furthering the education of the German society in terms of financial politics. At the “enable2start”-award initiated as an award for innovative start-up companies by Financial Times Deutschland, Burkhard Schwenker was a member of the jury.[13] He is also one of the trustees of berufundfamilie GmbH, an initiative of the non-profit Hertie-foundation,[14] as well as of Wertekommission e.V.[15]
As a European manager, Professor Schwenker is much consulted expert on economics in national and international media. Besides his publications about professional fields such as strategy, organization and change management, Burkhard Schwenker can also be seen as a promoter of a European-wide, value-oriented and sustainable approach to management. As the head of the supervisory board at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants – the only globally active consultancy rooted in Europe - Schwenker has stood up for a more self-confident Europe for years in his role as the initiator and jury-member of “Best of European Business”.[16] This award acknowledges European businesses and rewards their excellent economic success.
In addition, Burkhard Schwenker acts as council for the Roland Berger Foundation for European business management[17] and as vice-chairman of Atlantik-Brücke e.V., an organization promoting good relations between the United States of America and Germany.[18] He also writes about and discusses European topics as a guest-author of various Business Magazines.[19]
Burkhard Schwenker has always been very active as an author and is the publisher of think: act-CONTENT by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants.[20] In this function, he has written various books about economics- and management-related topics. He has recently published “Europa führt! Plädoyer für ein erfolgreiches Managementmodell” (“Europe shows the way! The case for a superior management model”). This book, published in February 2011 as a part of the rethink:CEO-series, deals with the “Erfolgsmodell Europa” (Success-story Europe). In Schwenker’s eyes, this European management approach based on consistency, local strengths, global cooperations and social as well as sustainable orientation is the successful counterpart to the American leadership-style.[21]
List of publications by Burkhard Schwenker:[22]