Board 2024 - 2026

Rolf Albach studied chemistry in Bonn and at the Technical University of Munich, where he received his doctorate in 1992 under WA Herrmann in U. Küsthardt's team. After a NATO scholarship in Orsay under J.-J. Girerd, he joined Bayer AG in 1994. After holding management positions in R&D, sales and post-merger integration, he is now developing projects in the field of circular economy, automotive interiors and flame retardants. This also includes supervising dissertations and a teaching position at the FH Aachen. Rolf Albach has a double MBA degree from the WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management (Vallendar) and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (Chicago).

Rolf Albach has been involved in environmental policy on a voluntary basis for 40 years, both with NGOs such as the Local Agenda and the SolarImpulse Foundation and in local and regional politics, for example in the Commission for Regional and Structural Issues of the Cologne District Government, the Administrative Board of the Cologne City Drainage Authority, the Operating Committee of the Cologne Waste Management Company and the Environmental Committee of the Cologne City Council.

For him, the VCW is about creating a community of people with a connection to the chemical industry, beyond chemists, the growth of business chemistry and the integration of chemistry, economics and business with regard to the transformation processes that lie ahead. The cooperation of Divisions, such as a current project between VCW and phosphorus chemistry , is important to him.

Rolf Albach is currently the spokesperson for all specialist group chairs on the GDCh Board and has taken over the revision of the mentoring concept.

Stephan Haubold studied chemistry in Karlsruhe and Hamburg, where he completed his doctorate in 2000 in the field of semiconductor nanoparticle synthesis under Prof. Dr. H. Weller. Immediately afterwards, together with his doctoral supervisor Prof. Dr. M. Haase and a business angel, he founded his first company, Nanosolutions GmbH, which dealt with contract research and the development of nanopigments for security and marker applications. After transferring the company to the Hamburg-based Center of Applied Nanotechnology (CAN) in 2005, Haubold moved to Nanogate AG, Saarbrücken, as BU Head . In 2006, he founded SDH-Consult and supported scientific research groups, including at the Caesar Research Institute, in spinning off their start-ups. After further positions as Executive Director, founder, coach and business plan assessor, Haubold moved to the Fresenius University of Applied Sciences in Idstein in 2016, first as a freelance lecturer and in 2017 as Dean of Studies for Business Chemistry. In 2018, he was appointed Professor of Business Chemistry and MINTrepreneurship, where he has been teaching and researching ever since. His main topics are questions surrounding the founding of chemical startups in Germany, as well as the question of how the chemical industry can be transformed into a sustainable industry without destroying it.

At VCW, Haubold is concerned with inspiring young chemists and promoting start-up ideas arising from chemical research so that the chemical industry in Germany can experience a new era of start-ups, i.e. the necessary transformation is successful. The combination of MINTrepreneurship and chemistry in the academic training of chemists, overcoming start-up barriers at universities and research institutions, and cooperation between established companies and start-ups are at the heart of his work on the VCW Board .

Theresa Ludwig studied chemistry at the Technical University of Munich, where she received her doctorate from the Chair of macromolecular chemistry . Her master's and doctoral thesis in the field of additive manufacturing of heterogeneous catalysts was carried out in cooperation with Clariant. She started her professional career in 2019 at 3M Technical Ceramics as a Specialist Materials Research in the field of product and materials development. In 2021, she moved to Operations as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and obtained certification by leading improvement projects and coaching Green Belts. Since August 2023, she has been working at SCHOTT in the Electronic Packaging division as an Innovation and Business Development Manager.

Theresa Ludwig has been involved in the VCW editorial team since 2020, founded the VCW round table in Kempten, as well as the virtual themed regulars' table Opportunities for All. Outside of the VCW, she is also committed to ensuring that young people gain enthusiasm and orientation for STEM career fields and strives for diversity and equal opportunities in chemistry. With her involvement in the Board, she wants to promote exchange between the generations and understanding of the chemical-pharmaceutical industry among students and young professionals. In order to gain different perspectives on innovation topics, such as digitization, and to discuss their potential and challenges, she would like to promote exchange with other GDCh Divisions or associations in other STEM specialist areas.

Willis Muganda studied chemistry and received his PhD in the field of physical chemistry (chemistry and physics of biointerfaces) from the University of Siegen. During his studies, he joined the Young Chemists Forum (JCF) in 2014 and was elected chairman of the regional forum in Siegen (JCF-Siegen) in 2015. In 2017, he decided to take on new challenges and was elected to the Federal Board of the Young Chemists Forum. During his two-year term on the Federal Board, he was responsible for International Relations and Promotional Materials. Together with his fellow board members, he has achieved many milestones, including working closely with industry partners such as BASF, Bayer, Evonik, Merck, Altana, Sanofi and ISC3 to advance topics such as innovation, sustainability, digitalization and career development, and increasing financial support for the JCF's activities. In addition, he initiated the establishment of an Equal Opportunities Commission within the JCF, which today plays an important role in promoting equal opportunities within and outside the JCF.

From October 2018 to August 2022, he was Head of the finance team of the International Younger Chemists Network (IYCN). The IYCN has now become an interesting global network for chemists who are enthusiastic about the Sustainable Development Goals and other current topics in chemistry. He is also one of the initiators of the VCW round table in Siegen, which he has been leading together with two other members since 2019, and is planning to set up a new round table in Ludwigshafen due to his new job at BASF.

Since last year, he has been working at BASF as an expert in the search for renewable raw materials, technology scouting and accelerating the sustainability transformation in various chemical value chains. His first term on the VCW Board was a joint success with the entire VCW Board in planning various events and projects that attracted great interest in politics, science and the chemical industry. His goal for further work on the VCW Board is to intensify the dialogue between the chemical industry and the political class. In addition, the VCW space of expertise is to be opened up to all international representatives of chemistry and business by addressing topics that are of great importance for the transformation of the chemical industry not only in Germany but throughout Europe.

Julian Vogel studied business chemistry at the University of Ulm and was awarded the VCW Study Award Business Chemistry in 2019 for his academic achievements. He then completed his doctorate in organic chemistry in the field of “Systems Chemistry” at the University of Ulm with a research stay at Indiana University in the USA. At the same time, he gained practical experience as a working student in the Future Insights department at Merck KGaA. Since August 2023, he has been working as a Proposal Manager in Business Development at Rentschler Biopharma SE. More information on LinkedIn.

In 2016, J. Vogel founded the JuWiChem (Young economic chemists) Ulm local group and expanded it over the next six years as Chair with other students. For two years, he represented the interests of the young VCW members on the JuWiChem national board and was responsible for project management and, as project manager, for organizing the annual conference (JuWiChem Day). After actively participating in several VCW projects, he would like to further expand his involvement on the VCW Board . He is particularly interested in representing student and career-starting members. He wants to make the transition from study to work and, above all, the transition from JuWiChem to VCW easier for members.

Melanie Walther studied industrial chemistry with a focus on technology management and organic chemistry at the Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel. After research stays in Wales and Sweden and various internships in the chemical industry, she is doing her doctorate at the University of Bremen at the Chair of Organic Functional Materials on the functionalization of molecular switches. She is in the final stages of this and is planning to set up a start-up in the chemical industry with two colleagues.

During her studies, she was involved in various student initiatives - from the regional association WiChem Kiel - Business Chemists Kiel eV to the JungChemikerForum JCF and the Young Business Chemists JuWiChem in various positions. After her time as Chair of the JuWiChem federal board, she remained with the VCW in the core team. She was committed to the concerns of the JuWiChems in the VCW and, for example, in the VCW editorial team, advocated broader communication with members and the resulting better networking. During her term of office from 2020 to 2023 as a VCW board member, she pursued these goals and organized various events as part of the team, such as the 2021 annual conference on the future of the pharmaceutical industry or events on the topic of circular economy. In the coming board term, she would like to continue to advance the topics of sustainability/circular economy and place a stronger focus on the role of startups in the chemical industry.

Holger Bengs studied chemistry in Hanover and Mainz and Business Administration in Hagen. He is the founder and managing partner of BCNP Consultants GmbH based in Frankfurt, formerly Dr. Holger Bengs Biotech Consulting. The company, which was founded in 2002, has ten employees, mostly natural scientists, and specializes in the four industrial fields of biotech, chemistry, nanotech and pharmaceuticals (BCNP). The company has had an office in Dresden since 2011 ( www.bcnp-consultants.com ).

H. Bengs has been a member of the Vereinigung Chemie und Wirtschaft (VCW) for ten years and has been part of the core team for six years. He represents industrial biotechnology thematically. This resulted in interdisciplinary lectures in December 2005 in Frankfurt at Infraserv Höchst and in April 2008 in Leipzig at c-LEcta GmbH, which were very well received. Since May 2009, on his initiative, regular VCW round tables in Frankfurt and other cities for informal exchange.

Achim Ilzhöfer has been accompanying the position as global circular economy manager at Covestro Deutschland AG in Leverkusen since October 2017. In the course of his 17-year Career in the Bayer Group, before moving to Covestro, he held various positions and management responsibilities in the areas of plant engineering, innovation management, and university marketing and headed Bayer AG's global climate and resource efficiency program. Dr. Ilzhöfer studied mechanical engineering and materials science at the University of Karlsruhe (TH) and the INSA Lyon (F), completed his dissertation at the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center, received his doctorate at the University of Karlsruhe (TH) and completed a post-doc at the Joint Research Center of the European Commission in Ispra , Italy.

Achim Ilzhöfer holds the position as global circular economy manager within the Covestro Deutschland AG since October 2017. During his 17-years previous employment relationship within the Bayer AG he held various leadership positions in Engineering, Sustainability and Innovation. As program manager of Bayer's global climate program he developed and implemented emission mitigation and resource efficiency strategies. He started his career after his PhD studies within the Joint Research Center of the European Commission in Ispra, Italy. Ilzhöfer holds a Diploma in mechanical engineering and material science from Karlsruhe University and he studied abroad at INSA Lyon, France.

Andreas Konert ist Diplom-Kaufmann und CEMS Master International Management. Er studierte Betriebswirtschaftslehre an der Universität zu Köln und der Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam. Nach seinem Abschluss 2006 arbeitete er zunächst als Strategie- und Marketingberater, bevor er 2009 als Leitender Angestellter zum Chemiedienstleister und Standortbetreiber Infraserv GmbH & Co. Höchst KG wechselte. Er übernahm dort das zentrale Marketing- und Produktmanagement Team und verantwortete mehr als 10 Jahre lang Themen wie Markenentwicklung, strategisches und operatives Marketing, Business Development und CRM und wirkte an den Strategieentwicklungsprozessen mit. 

2019 gründete er ETWAS NEUES Konert Consulting + Ventures mit dem Ziel, mit seiner Erfahrung B2B-Unternehmen neue Wachstumschancen zu erschließen. Als Interim Manager begleitet er darüber hinaus den Veranstalter der Weltleitmesse ACHEMA sowie den industriellen Data Analytics Spezialisten coac GmbH in ihren jeweiligen Wachstumsphasen. Daneben verfolgt er eigene Gründungsprojekte und engagiert sich ehrenamtlich. 

Thorsten Kritzer, a trained publishing clerk and Marketing specialist since 2002, has been a chemistry fan since September 2003 at the latest. At that time, he began his Career as a product manager at the leading industry newspaper CHEManager. As a segment manager for chemicals / pharmaceuticals / food, he is now responsible for the areas of advertising, Marketing and networks.

He has been a VCW member since 2011. In 2013 he became a member of the core team and was involved in the organization of the events "Social Media in the Chemical Industry" (2013) and "Circular Economy - Idealistic vision, regulatory nightmare or your next big opportunity?" (2018) significantly involved. As part of the VCW Marketing team, he helped design the VCW's new appearance.

Christian Küchenthal began his professional Career in 2012 at the oldest chemical-pharmaceutical company in the world - Merck - in Darmstadt. There he held various positions in the areas of innovation management and business excellence until he took over the research management of the Performance Materials site in Jerusalem for Merck in 2016. Since 2018 he has headed the start-up Smart Consumables in the Merck Life Science division, which develops and markets digital products for the highly regulated laboratory sector.

He studied chemistry at the University of Giessen, where he received his doctorate in organic medicinal chemistry, and then completed a Master of Business Administration degree at the Collège des Ingénieurs in Paris, Turin and Munich.

In addition to his work at Merck, Christian Küchenthal teaches innovation management at the Universities of Gießen and Hamburg and is also active as a coach and business angel investor in the German start-up environment.

His involvement in the German Chemical Society is varied. He founded and led the JungChemikerForum Gießen, was JCF national spokesman, board member of the Association for Chemistry and Economics, GDCh local association chairman in Darmstadt and a member of the GDCh board. He is currently a member of the VCW core team and on the advisory board of the GDCh mentoring program CheMento and the August Wilhelm von Hofmann Foundation.

Dr. Ulrich Küsthardt studierte Chemie an der Universität Frankfurt/Main und promovierte in Metallorganischer Chemie an der TU München. Nach post-doc Aufenthalten an der University of Arizona und Stanford University begann er seine berufliche Laufbahn 1993 bei der Unternehmensberatung A.T. Kearney.

Seit 1997 arbeitet er bei SKW Trostberg, später Degussa und heute Evonik Industries AG im Divisionscontrolling, Marketing und unterschiedlichen Geschäftsführungen. Seit 2015 ist er Chief Innovation Officer der Evonik und somit für den Bereich Corporate Innovation verantwortlich.

Dr. Küsthardt ist seit 1981 GDCh-Mitglied, war von 2006 bis 2008 Vorsitzender des Vorstands der Mineralfarbenindustrie e.V. und ist seit 2015 Mitglied des Vorstands der Evonik Stiftung und SusChem sowie Mitglied des VCI-Fachausschusses „Forschungs- und Bildungspolitik“.

After studying chemistry and doing his doctorate in Karlsruhe, Andreas Otterbach started his career in 1987 as a research laboratory manager at BASF SE. Working in industrial organic chemistry and process engineering laid the foundation for his subsequent activities as a project manager for the construction of chemical plants and as operations manager at the BASF site in Schwarzheide.

At the beginning of 1997 he took on strategic tasks in Marketing and technology for BASF in Brussels with global responsibility in the polyurethane area. At the beginning of 2007 he returned to Ludwigshafen, where he headed the Investment Valuations unit, which deals with the economic valuation of investment, strategy and research projects at BASF, and at the end of 2009 switched to the Care Chemicals division. After being responsible for production in Europe, Andreas Otterbach was Senior Vice President responsible for global technology in the Care Chemicals division until the end of 2015. Today he lives in retirement and deals with questions about value chains, energy as the basis of our prosperity and sustainability, climate protection and alternative courses of action in a social context.

Carsten Schaffer studied chemistry in Chemnitz and Münster and received his doctorate in 2004 from the Westphalian Wilhelms University on innovation management in the chemical industry. He then started at Merck KGaA. There he had functions in corporate auditing, in-house consulting and business development chemicals. He is currently working for Merck in Shanghai, where he is in charge of Strategic Business Development for the Performance Materials division. He has been active in the "Chemistry and Economy" association since 2003 and was on the Board of the section from 2006-2011 and chairman from 2010-2011. Dr. Schaffer was spokesman for the Jungchemikerforum Münster and is involved in the Alumni Initiative of the Jungchemikerforum for the further networking of the young chemists. In addition, he is a speaker in the GDCh advanced training program "Certified Project Manager" and is the technical director of the "Certified Business Chemist GDCh (®)" program.

Dr. Kevin Stella studied chemistry at the University of Duisburg-Essen with a guest stay at the University of Liverpool (England). In his doctorate at the University of Duisburg-Essen, he deepened his knowledge of surface properties and surface processes. He received his doctorate in 2011 on "Electronic dissipation processes during chemical reactions on surfaces".
In order to expand his knowledge of chemistry with business knowledge, he completed an international Master of Business Administration at the renowned Collège des Ingénieurs in 2012. In accordance with the motto ?Learning Through Action?, he also completed a junior consultant project at Infineon Technologies AG in Regensburg.

After a stopover at Competence E (KIT), where he used agile working methods for the first time to develop lithium-ion technologies and use them in electric cars, he has been with Robert Bosch GmbH since 2016. As a product integrator in assembly and connection technology, he now supports various innovative products in the automotive environment. In addition, he establishes the agile way of working in various facets in his environment and works as an agile team coach. With the help of new, even unconventional methods, Bosch is positioning itself to respond even better than before to new customer requirements and increasingly volatile markets.

As part of the GDCh, he was in the Young Chemists Forum for several years, including as chairman (08-10) and deputy. Chairman (07-08) of the Jungchemikerform Essen-Duisburg active. During this time he was also one of the leading organizers of the 11th JCF Spring Symposium in Essen with more than 400 participants from 30 countries.

He has been a member of the VCW since 2013 and is involved in the core team at various events. Among other things, he was a lecturer at the GDCh-VCW autumn course "Challenges in the chemical industry" and gave lectures on e-mobility, storage systems, market volumes and possible innovation approaches for the chemical industry and developed scenarios with the course participants. He was also involved in the VCW's new look as part of the VCW's Marketing team. In 2019 he initiated the VCW conference "Tanker or Speedboat? Agile Management in the Chemical Industry" and transferred it to doing with a good team. With a view to the future, he is particularly interested in interface topics, innovation topics and learning different industrial sectors.

Katharina S. Uebele ist Unternehmensberaterin in der chemischen Industrie und langjähriges aktives Mitglied der Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker. 

Sie ist Gründerin der Jungen WirtschaftschemikerInnen (JuWiChem) - das Jugendnetzwerk der VCW - und leitete diese für zwei Jahre als Vorsitzende. Das Team etablierte neue Veranstaltungskonzepte, warb VCW-Mitglieder und erschuf eine deutschlandweite Community für Studierende & Promovierende an der Schnittstelle zwischen Chemie und Industrie. Nach mehrjährigem Gast-Sitz im VCW Vorstand als JuWiChem Vertreterin, wurde sie gewähltes Vorstandsmitglied der VCW für die Amtsperiode 2018-2021. Des weiteren sitzt sie seit 2019 im Kuratorium der Nachrichten aus der Chemie. 

Seit 2020 ist sie gewähltes Vorstandsmitglied der Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker und hier in Kommissionen zur Bachelor-Studienempfehlung, den GDCh-Preisen, des GDCh-Veranstaltungsbereichs und der lebenslangen Bindung von Industrie-Mitgliedern aktiv. 

Beruflich ist Katharina als Unternehmensberaterin tätig und sammelte Erfahrungen bei PwC und DuPont Sustainable Solutions. Sie fokusiert sich auf Beratung in der chemischen Industrie auf dem Gebiet Operations, digitale Lösungen und Sustainability. Dabei ist sie für Projekte in Middle East, Asien und Europa im Einsatz gewesen. Weitere Informationen über LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katharina-uebele

Sie studierte Wirtschaftschemie an der Christian Albrechts-Universität Kiel (B.Sc.) und der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster (M.Sc.) mit einer Spezialisierung in Green Chemistry & Sustainable Industrial Technology von der University of York (UK). 

Dr. Joachim von Heimburg is an independent Innovation Architect, Executive Advisor and Board Member helping companies to improve their innovation processes and create sustainable business value by innovation. As founder and Managing Director of jvhinnovation gmbh, a boutique consulting firm on innovation and industrial R&D, he designs and implements business development, R&D and innovation strategies, processes and structures and makes them operational driving the business. This he supports by creating an environment fostering an innovative spirit and entrepreneurial activities.

Joachim’s expertise is based on his deep understanding of innovation and his profound expertise in industrial R&D, Product Development, and Consumer Research acquired during his long and successful career at Procter&Gamble. As International Director for Innovation & Knowledge at P&G he created and led the organizational and culture change from traditional R&D to Open Innovation systems (Connect & Develop) in Europe/Middle East/Africa. From 2010 to 2012 he was General Manager Innovation and Corporate Program at SABIC, one of the leading global chemical companies. In this new position working for SABIC’s top management he laid the foundations for a more innovate SABIC.

He has extensive multi-cultural working experience in 7 countries. He holds a Ph.D. in theoretical physics of the University of Marburg, Germany and studied economics at the University of Frankfurt, Germany. He is an individual member of EIRMA (European Industrial Research Management Association) and a certified Innovation Standards Professional (PDMA). More on his LinkedIn profile www.linkedin.com/in/jvhinnovation

Within VCW Dr. von Heimburg wants to promote Open Innovation and the development of young professionals for management and leading positions in industry, science and research.