Thomas Sternkopf - Interim Manager

Organisation: International energy provider in a regulated market environment with around 900 employees.

Responsibilities: Responsible for managing and prioritizing a company-wide transformation and initiative portfolio in the energy sector. Directly involved in the governance and decision-making logic of the organization with a focus on governance, IT management, prioritization and implementation of strategic initiatives across business and IT areas.

Results:

• Introduced a company-wide portfolio management system for structured prioritization and management of strategic business and IT initiatives.
• Established clear governance, decision and control mechanisms to sustainably improve execution capability across the entire organization.
• Integrated HR, capacity and organizational management into an overarching management logic to enhance transparency and decision quality.
• Directly supported executive management by moderating and structuring strategic decision-making processes at both executive and supervisory board levels.

Organisation: Municipal infrastructure group with around 4,500 employees and 38 subsidiaries.

Responsibilities: Overall responsibility for the management of a company-wide transformation program in the municipal energy and infrastructure sector (DVVision). Aligned and managed the transformation across multiple companies with a focus on organizational structure, IT management, governance and cross-functional collaboration. Directly involved in managing and further developing the organization in close coordination with the executive board and top management.

Results:

• Established a cross-company program and control structure for the sustainable implementation of the transformation in a complex, multi-company environment.
• Significantly improved transparency, controllability and prioritization of initiatives across organizational units.
• Realigned governance, decision-making and coordination processes to increase implementation speed and result quality.
• Stabilized a complex transformation environment through clear structuring, prioritization and management-level control.

Scope of responsibility:

• Built and led an organizational unit with 60 employees
• Managed 5 managers and developed a successor
• Reported directly to executive management

Organisation: Statutory health insurer with around 2,500 employees.

Responsibilities: Responsible for managing IT and transformation initiatives in a highly regulated insurance and healthcare environment. Aligned and developed governance, management and organizational structures while considering regulatory requirements and complex stakeholder landscapes. Worked closely with management and specialist departments to ensure the implementation capability of strategic initiatives.

Results:

• Established robust governance and management structures for the sustainable implementation of IT and transformation initiatives in a regulated environment.
• Improved transparency, decision-making capability and prioritization under regulatory conditions.
• Stabilized complex transformation projects through clear structuring, management and coordination between IT, business units and management.

Scope of responsibility:

• Entire organization with 2,500 employees
• Reported directly to the executive board

Organization: Global industrial insurer of the Allianz Group with around 4,400 employees in over 30 countries

Responsibilities: Stabilizing and managing a global transformation program to modernize finance, data, and IT architecture and to harmonize international reporting and control structures.

Results:

• Managed an international transformation program with several hundred participants to implement a global SAP HANA data warehouse platform supporting IFRS17 readiness
• Restructured the program and governance architecture to improve transparency, prioritization, and manageability of global initiatives
• Harmonized finance, risk, and business data structures to support international reporting and control processes
• Introduced a scalable delivery model based on internationally distributed development and implementation teams
• Stabilized a complex multi-vendor program and established clear decision-making and escalation structures

Scope of Responsibility:

• Global program environment with several hundred participants
• Managing international program and project structures in Europe, the USA, and Asia
• Direct collaboration with global finance and IT leadership units of the Allianz Group
• Budget responsibility in the hundreds of millions

Organization: Global logistics and mail group Deutsche Post DHL Group with over 450,000 employees worldwide.

Responsibilities: Overall responsibility for a board-level transformation program to harmonize the global system and process landscape and to economically reorganize international delivery and service provider structures.

Results:

• Managed a global delivery organization with over 500 employees to implement international transformation and system harmonization initiatives
• Restructured the global supplier and contract landscape and negotiated international IT service provider contracts (including IBM, SAP)
• Introduced clear governance and control mechanisms to economically manage global delivery structures
• Harmonized internationally distributed development and implementation units
• Facilitated and structured strategic decision-making processes between the global board, regions, and implementation partners

Scope of Responsibility:

• Contract and budget responsibility for global IT service provider agreements totaling around €500 million
• Managing an international program organization with over 500 participants
• Direct reporting line to the Global Chief Transformation Officer, CIO, and CFO

• Multiple positions as an experienced specialist and manager in renowned gastronomy and hotel establishments in Germany and Switzerland