Christian Hövelhaus, born in Essen in 1962, received his Master’s Degree in business administration at the Universities of Münster, St.Gallen and finally Cologne. His professional career started at E.ON, he then worked in consulting and in the RWE Group in leading positions, before becoming a member of the executive board of RWE in Warsaw, Poland from 2001 until 2006. Back in Germany he joined the board of natGAS AG in Potsdam until 2014, responsible for energy sales and services in Europe. Since 2014, Christian has developed his companies mainly in the IT and energy sectors – especially as Founder and CEO of ESFORIN SE in Essen. During his career, Christian has lived and worked abroad in the United States, Paris and Warsaw for more than 10 years and attended Executive Programs at IMD and INSEAD. Intercultural competencies, interdisciplinary thinking and thinking out of the box are crucial for him. His passions include traveling, diving, playing golf, and contemporary art.