Team

Sascha Schmidt (41) has relevant research and practical experience. He studied business and management at the University of Essen and the University of Zurich, where he also gained his doctorate. Following the invitation of the Business and Management studies faculty, he was Visiting Scholar at Harvard Business School before joining the management consultancy McKinsey. After working for several years with McKinsey, Schmidt took over management of the ICS research programme at the University of St. Gallen and embarked on his professorial qualification process at EBS. After successful completion, he returned to the world of practice. As managing director, he successfully established the Swiss company a-connect, a network of independent professionals, in Germany. As associate lecturer he has enjoyed close connections with EBS for a number of years.

In April 2011 Sascha L. Schmidt founded the Institute for Sports, Business and Society (ISBS). In 2012, Schmidt was appointed professor of the endowed Chair "Dietmar Hopp Stiftungslehrstuhl für Sport, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft".

Renate Imoberdorf has a science degree from ETH Zurich, with focus on plant biochemistry. She then joined the management consultancy McKinsey in Zurich and worked with corporations on their corporate and business strategy issues. Her clients were located in Switzerland, in Italy, Germany and the US. After several years of project management, she switched into a freelancing role and continued working for McKinsey and a small boutique consultancy. In 2009 she started working with Sascha Schmidt and contributed to build up the German presence of the innovative consulting company a-connect. Renate joined ISBS in October 2012 as project manager and is responsible for building up the institute and for leading projects.

Sports is a key theme for Renate. During school and studies she played basketball in Switzerland’s NLA. Today she enjoys outdoor activities, climbing and fitness.

Dominik Schreyer studied politics, communications, business and economics at the Universities of Düsseldorf, Auckland and the Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen. Despite winning promotion into the football district league, a career as member of the German football team was not an option and since February 2011 he has concentrated on his doctoral studies in the field of sports marketing.  His research activities focus on the contribution of a top athlete's or sports association's "social media activities" toward image building and the evaluation of resulting forms of financial remuneration.

Florian Buenning graduated from Passau University with a degree in Media und Communication Science, with an emphasis on political communications and journalism. He then moved from the Southeast of Germany to Cologne, in the West, where in January 2012 he completed his Master’s degree from the Department of Sports Media and Communication Science at the German Sport University. There, he majored in Sports Marketing & Communications and Brand Management. Since February 2012, Florian works at ISBS and conducts research on the value of strategic partnerships in the area of sports and branding.

Florian spends most of his free time on basketball- and tennis courts across Europe. Unfortunately, as an athlete, he was not able to attract sponsorship outside his immediate family.

Andreas Bergmann received his Master’s degree (M.Sc. with honors) in Business Administration from the University of Regensburg. During his studies abroad in USA, Canada, China and Australia he gained valuable experiences, including in his areas of focus: Strategic and International Management.
Since April 2012, he concentrates on his doctoral studies at ISBS with a focus on “Human Capital in Sports” where he will work on the development of educational concepts for top athletes.

For leisure, Andreas is an active player, coach and advisor at Tennisclub Ergoldsbach and moreover is engaged in social organizations.

Steffen Merkel studied Business Administration at the European Business School and EDHEC Business School Nice. During his studies, he moreover spent a semester abroad at the Stockholm School of Econmics. Thereafter, he joined the Frankfurt office of the Boston Consulting Group, where he mainly advised clients in the banking and energy sectors.

Since 2013, he analyses youth development programs as part of his job as scientific employee at the ISBS. Although he stopped playing football in the early stage of his career, he was able to celebrate the advancement to the "Gruppenliga" with his Tennis team.

Verena Jung completed a dual German-French degree in European Business Studies at Reims Management School and the European School of Business in Reutlingen. After starting her career in the automotive industry in Japan, she went on to join the management consulting firm McKinsey. Since September 2010, she has supported the establishment of ISBS in the position of research assistant and is concerned with research into innovations in sports and the career paths of top athletes. As an athlete, she won the German Vice Championship 2000 with the team of the Handball Association of Württemberg and gained promotion into the 3rd division of the German Handball League with SG Mainz-Bretzenheim in the season 2010/2011. She has several years of active experience in tennis tournaments and currently plays for TSC Mainz in the major league in Rhineland-Palatinate.

Daniel Högele studied business administration at the European Business School and spent exchange semesters at the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and in the MBA program of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. After completing his studies, he joined the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company early 2009. Since June 2011 he has been - as an external doctoral candidate at the ISBS - investigating the social and economic impact of football superstars. Although he has personally never quite reached this status in football, he had enthusiastically been playing tennis and basketball during his schooldays and could celebrate proper achievements like the promotion to the major district league with his tennis team as well as the award for Most Inspirational Player of the Varsity Basketball Team during a high school year in California.