I am extremely grateful to have been able to experience Apple's corporate culture for more than 27 years. The pioneering spirit, the focus on innovation, the absolute effort to develop perfect products and services, the laser-focused goal orientation in all activities and the corporate values that are lived out in everyday life have had a profound impact on my career.
While I was still studying business administration with a focus on marketing, auditing and environmental economics, I started working in Apple's European environmental department in November 1995 and took over its management in November 1997. It was an absolute privilege to be given the task of setting up the Environmental Technologies department under the VP of Engineering and Design Services in Hardware Engineering at the company headquarters in California in 2000. Integrating ecological aspects as equal parameters into product development was completely new territory for Apple and the entire industry.
A unique opportunity opened up in 2011 with the mandate to develop and lead an Environmental Initiatives organization in 16 locations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, India, Africa and Latin America and, from 2013, to report to a member of the Apple Executive Leadership Team. The use of renewable energies, closing material cycles and establishing communication channels with numerous external stakeholders were outstanding priorities for the Environmental Initiatives Organization.
I am very grateful that I was able to witness two incredibly important developments during these decades. On the one hand, Apple's phenomenal metamorphosis from an innovative niche provider to the absolute trend-setting leader of an extremely dynamic industry. On the other hand, there is the ever-growing realization in almost all of the world's important countries that better climate protection and resource-efficient economic activity must also be promoted through ambitious political measures.
Carrying out pioneering work with courage and perseverance in the context of these two developments, while at the same time building and leading a global organization and successfully implementing extremely ambitious targets, has greatly sharpened my skills in terms of employee management and motivation, entrepreneurial thinking, communication and resilience.