Former executives & organizational psychologists. One team.
Every advisor at FocusFirst was a senior leader responsible for international organisations. Our psychologists bring the science of human behavior to every engagement. Based in Frankfurt. Operating across 4 continents.
Founder, CEO, Senior Advisor
Former Head of Global E-Commerce at DAX40 Merck KGaA. 2× Entrepreneur of the Year. Author of 7 books including "Energized Transformation" and "The Focused AI Captain." Keynote speaker for executive audiences up to 2,500 people. 20+ years leading transformations from inside the corporate machine. Beyond FocusFirst, René is CEO and Founder of an investment firm and an AI-native mobile app company. His latest book "The Focused AI Captain" became a Top5-Amazon-Bestseller in 2026.
Associate Partner, Organizational Psychology
MSc in Psychology (University of St. Andrews) and MSc in Management (Católica Lisbon). Over ten years in management consulting across functions, industries, and geographies. Accompanies C-level executives and senior leaders at Global 500 companies in their strategic change projects and organisational developments.
Senior Advisors
Former C-level executives and senior leaders. Now dedicated transformation architects.
Every Senior Advisor works with FocusFirst on a per-engagement basis — selected specifically for your transformation, operating under our award-winning PEAK® method. No bench. No overhead. Just the right expertise at the right time.
David Jeans
Senior Advisor
26 years at Merck, SVP. Expert in leadership, communication, and stakeholder engagement.
Katherine Starks
Senior Advisor & Coach
30+ years in financial services. Former CEO, Bank of New York Mellon Frankfurt.
Sandra Cameron
Senior Advisor & Coach
20+ years in automotive and machine vision. Former CMO, ISRA Vision (SDAX).
Mui Hwa Ng
Senior Advisor
24+ years in finance, energy, chemicals, and pharma. Former CHRO of Fortune Southeast Asia 500 companies.
Dr. Christoph Hüls
Senior Advisor & Coach
28+ years in health care and life sciences. Former VP at Merck KGaA, CEO Protagen AG.
Dr. Michael Kurr
Senior Advisor
20+ years building global business services. Led 350+ FTE organisations in large pharma.
Ali Boujataoui
Senior Advisor & Coach
15+ years of leadership including executive roles at Bosch (Regional President Africa). ICF-certified coach.
Thomas Mickeleit
Senior Advisor
35+ years in communications. Former Director of Communications, Microsoft Germany.
Cinny Little
Senior Advisor
30+ years in digital transformation leadership. Expert in data storytelling and OKRs. Ex-Forrester.
Ümit Yaldiz
Senior Advisor
15+ years in life sciences and chemicals. Former Group CEO, Pulcra Chemicals.
Akhil Eswaran
Senior Advisor & Coach
30+ years in technology consulting across 15+ countries. Expert in IT transformation. Former MD at Accenture.
Darius Mathias Ghiai
Senior Advisor & Coach
15+ years in leadership development and organisational psychology & change. Former HR Executive at Merck.
Experts & Coaches
Supported by a team of 15+ specialised experts and coaches across change management, agile transformation, communications, project management, and organisational design. Certified in PEAK®, SAFe, Scrum, OKR, and systemic consulting.
Dr. Astrid Benker
Change & Project Management
Susann Kunz
Leadership & Agile Transformation
Elisabeth Tafelmeyer
OKR & Scaled Agile
Tobias Heeger
Strategic Communications
Gerlinde Jayme
Learning & Development
Tim Shaw
Programme Management
Dr. Petra Kring-Kardoš
Strategy & Transformation
Susanne Ringen
Organisational Design
Dr. Matthias Finke
Digital Communication
Natalie Schmitz
Change Management
Anne-Cécile Graber
Multilingual Facilitation
Sarah Kidane
Change Communication
Curious whether we're the right fit?
Book a 20-minute intro meeting with René. No pitch deck. Just a conversation about your situation.
Book 20 min with René