Our Consultants and Associates

We are an interdisciplinary team of experts, partly shareholders (Executive Partners) and partly competence partners (Associate Partners) plus carefully selected associates that have to remain independent due to legal implications connected to their profession. Together, as

The Acornpark Leaderspoint Associates

we provide our first-class individual Acornpark® and Leaderspoint® services. Our unique line-up gives us the necessary flexibility to serve our clients in a custom-fit manner. Our special positioning, with which we support both companies and individuals, demands broad, deep and sometimes only selectively required competence on our part. We have successfully balanced out these requirements for many years, enjoying excellent reputation with our clients.

Profile of Ute Ferber

Senior Advisory Partner

Diplom Kauffrau, Systemic NLP Coach, Profile Dynamics® Consultant

Ute Ferber is a competence partner. She is in charge of Agile Personnel Concepts, Team Building and Change Management. Her cross-industry consulting experience includes in particular change projects, coaching, as well as stress, resilience and health management and team building.

Career: Assistant to the Managing Director, FBZ gGmbH – Research and Consulting Centre for AAC of the University of Cologne; Interim Managing Director, Carpe Diem Kids Academy GmbH; Conference Manager for Information Technology and Finance / Project Manager for Handelsblatt Konferenzen, Euroforum Deutschland GmbH.

Education: Certified Management Trainer, IHK Cologne; Degree in Business Adminstration ("Diplom-Kauffrau"), University of Cologne.

Profile of Klaus Gebauer

Executive Partner

PhD in Engineering ("Dr. Ing."), Welding Engineer ("SFI")

Klaus Gebauer is co-founder and Managing Director of Acornpark. He is responsible for the Practices of Program and Process Management as well as Innovation Management for large corporations and medium-sized companies. His consulting experience predominantly includes change projects, program management, business development and restructuring at technical companies, primarily in the automotive, mechanical and plant engineering, drive technology, train technology, electronics and truck & bus sectors.

Career: Managing Director Technology & Vice Presient Operations and Development, Jenoptik AG / Defence and Civil Systems; Head of Development for Division of Gas-Otto-Engines, Schnell Motoren AG; Vice President Innovations Management, MAN Truck & Bus AG; Director Global Engineering, TRW Automotive / Engine Components.

Education: Doctorate (Dr.-Ing.) at Braunschweig Technical University, Institute for Internal Combustion Engines and Aircraft Engines; Graduate Engineer (Diplom-Ingenieur) in mechanical engineering and Welding Engineer, Braunschweig Technical University.

Profil Donna Hastings

Associate Partner

Donna Hastings handles mandates at all hierarchical levels and is involved in outsourcing projects with corporate clients. Her focus is on texts in English and cultural adaptations of texts to Anglo-American and international standards.

Career: Language & Legal Consultant, Bankgesellschaft Berlin, Berlin; Presenter, Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), Cologne; Language Consultant, Zimmer Kommunikationsagentur, Pahlen & Kraus Software, Berlin.

Education: Juris Doctor, Stanford Law School, Palo Alto; Bachelor of Science in International Business and Management, New York University, New York.

Profile of Thorsten Knobbe

Executive Partner, Managing Director

Dr. phil., Performance Enablement Coach (Betterworks), Scrum Master (Scrum.org)

Thorsten Knobbe is co-founder and Managing Director of Acornpark Experts GmbH & Co KG and the founder of the TK Leaderspoint Group. Since 2023 he has been appointed to adjunct professor of leadership at the IU, Campus Dortmund.

He heads the practices of Leadership Consulting and Career Management, Executive Enablement, Talent Management as well as Change Management. He is particularly interested in research on "people in working life". His consulting experience primarily includes change projects at the process and personnel level, including many technical companies in the automotive, mechanical engineering and plant construction industries as well as technical service providers.

He is also Managing Partner of TK Leaderspoint Group and a digital pioneer as founder of Leaderspoint.de in 1999. He has authored numerous books as well as other publications on career and human resources topics, including in Harvard Business Manager. Since 2023, he has been an adjunct professor of leadership at the IU, Dortmund campus, where he maintains the Acornpark research acrivities and is editor of the bilingual journal Denk- und Thesenpapiere/Memorandums & Scripts (DTMS).

Career: Senior Advisor with a coaching focus at Arthur D. Little; PMM (Peat Marwick Mitchell) Management Consultants GmbH Düsseldorf office, at the time a global recruitment consultancy associated with KPMG. Trainee program and quality management assistant at Rockhi Fasteners.

Education: Performance Enablement Coach (Betterworks); Betterworks OKR Master (endorsed by John Doerr); Professional Scrum Master I, Scrum.org/Ken Schwaber; Doctorate (Dr. phil.) in communication sciences, University of Siegen; Second State Examination at a study seminar for vocational colleges (Hagen/NRW); First State Examination after studying languages, business administration, didactics and educational psychology, University of Siegen and Aston University.

Profile of Mirko Jens Luebke

Senior Advsiory Partner

Dipl. Oec., MBA, General Management Program | Harvard Business School
Marshall Goldsmith SCC Certified Coach

Mirko Jens Luebke is a Senior Advisory Partner. He supports Acornpark across industries and topics based on his experience as Principal of Luebke Consulting and as a Management Consultant ofMcKinsey & Company.

Career: Founder & Principal, Luebke Consulting; Managing Partner, BDGI - Business Development Group International (Düsseldorf, Athens, Birmingham); Management Consultant, McKinsey & Company (Düsseldorf, Chicago).

Education: SCC Certified Coach, Marshall Goldsmith; LCOR Leading Change and Operational Renewal, Stanford University Graduate School of Business; General Management Program, Harvard University/Harvard Business School; MBA, The University of Birmingham; Diplom-Ökonom, Bergische Universität Wuppertal.

Profil of Michaela Moser

Senior Advisory Partner

Dr. rer. pol., Diplom Kauffrau, Certified Mediator,

Michaela Moser is a Senior Advisory Partner and supports Acornpark in her role as Professor for Human Resources at IUBH Internationale Hochschule. She focuses on topics related to her scientific research on new leadership models, agilization of enterprises and establishment of leadership skills.

Career: Professor for Human Resources, IUBH Internationale Hochschule; Professor in the Department of "Training Soziale Kompetenzen", Europäische Fachhochschule; Head of Controlling, HOCHTIEF Facility Management GmbH; Managing Director, HOCHTIEF ViCon GmbH; Member of the Management Board “Service Center”, HOCHTIEF AG; Head of the Corporate Tax Department, Pilkington Deutschland GmbH; Tax Assistant, Deloitte & Touche.

Education: Coach, IFAP-Institut, Geprüfte Mediatorin; PhD, Cologne University; Diplom-Kauffrau (Master of Business Administration), Cologne University.

Profil Claudia Peuser

Associate Partner

Claudia Peuser handles career consulting mandates at all hierarchical levels and is also active in outplacement.

Career: Managing Director, Personalberatung Riemer, Oberhausen; HR Consultant, Barfeld & Partner GmbH - Internationale Managementberatung, Mülheim an der Ruhr; Deputy Head of Communications & Operations, Assistant to Overall Management Music & More, Perleberg Verlags GmbH, Bochum.

Education: Diplom-Sozialwissenschaftlerin (university degree in social sciences), Ruhr University, Bochum.

Profil Mario Schuster

Senior Advisory Partner

M.A., MBA, Dipl.-Ing., OKR Master Betterworks

Mario Schuster is Senior Advisory Partner. He supports Acornpark across industries and topics in the area of Sales & Performance Management and Objectives & Key Results (OKR). He has been working in HR, engineering and IT services for more than 20 years and is currently establishing the partner management subsidiary of leading automotive engineering services firm Bertrandt AG.

Career: Managing Director Bertrandt Technology Consulting GmbH; Managing Director Hays Technology Solutions GmbH; Managing Director Splu Experts GmbH (ManpowerGroup); Regional Manager FERCHAU GmbH; Branch Manager Brunel GmbH; Branch Manager Gulp Solution Services GmbH.

Education: OKR Master, Betterworks University; Master of Human Resources Development, Technical University of Kaiserslautern; Master of Sales Management, Ostfalia - University of Applied Sciences; Diploma in Mechanical Engineering, Kiel University of Applied Sciences.

Profil Jürgen Zweerings

Associate Partner

Jürgen Zweerings handles mandates at all hierarchical levels and manages outsourcing projects with corporate clients.

Career: Managing Director, Gemeinnützige Altstoffverwertungs GmbH, Aachen; Luisenhospital Aachen.

Education: Diplom-Pädagoge (university degree in pedagogy), RWTH Aachen University.