Thomas Sattelberger

About Thomas Sattelberger

Thomas Sattelberger, born in 1949, has nearly four decades of experience in management and human resources. After completing a dual study program in business administration and nearly 20 years of management work at the former Daimler-Benz AG, he moved to the board of Lufthansa Passage Airline and then served as Chief Human Resources Officer at Continental AG from 2003 to 2007. From May 2007 to May 2012, he held the same position at Deutsche Telekom AG. He is regarded as a leading German HR manager.

In 1997, he founded the Lufthansa School of Business, the first corporate university in the German-speaking world. He shaped the globalization of human resources at Continental AG as well as major transformation projects at Deutsche Telekom. For example, he introduced the 30% women quota in leadership positions, which also set the ball rolling in society. Additionally, since 1995, he has been a vehement critic of MBA education modeled after the Anglo-American system and is the author and editor of more than 10 books on strategic human resource management and corporate transformation.

He is currently engaged in various civic and political projects and serves as the chairman of the board of the Zeppelin University Foundation and the BDA/BDI initiative ‘Creating MINT Futures’. He is also a fellow of the International Academy of Management, vice president of the European Foundation for Management & Development, and chairman of the supervisory board of Faurecia Automotive.