Institute for Trade and Innovation

Institute for Trade and Innovation

Program Lecturers

Unit Leaders

Dr. rer. soc. HSG Dirk Drechsler is full Professor at Offenburg University lecturing Risk Management and Compliance. His research mainly focuses on resilient business models, digital business risks, compliance, economic crime, data analytics and working capital management. Professor Drechsler worked as a senior external and internal auditor at KPMG and ista international/Charterhouse Capital Partners. Prior to joining Offenburg University, he was Head of Internal Audit with additional responsibilities as enterprise risk manager, working capital controller and data protection officer at FUCHS Petrolub. He earned his PhD at the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) and studied international economics with a reference to Japan at the Universities of Duisburg (Equivalent to BA in Economics), Doshisha/Kyoto (Language and Culture Certificate) and Tübingen (MSc in International Economics).

Dr. Rebecca Harding is Visiting Lecturer at Offenburg University teaching Digitalisation with a focus on Fintech and Insuretech. She is also the Chief Executive and Founder of Coriolis Technologies, a FinTech company using AI and machine learning to provide data and analytics to the trade finance community. Her academic background is in the interface between economics, innovation and entrepreneurship. Dr. Harding was formerly the Executive Director of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor at London Business School. She has written extensively on trade, innovation and entrepreneurship but has for the last ten years focused on her business career which includes senior roles at Deloitte, the British Bankers Association and the Work Foundation as well as private consultancies. She founded Delta Economics and Equant Analytics, has advised the UK’s Treasury Select Committee on UK productivity, and is a Director of the German British Forum.

Dr. Chris Jeffs is Visiting Lecturer at Offenburg University teaching courses on Strategic Management as well as Innovation and Design Thinking. He has authored books, chapters and research papers on strategic and innovation management, design thinking and international business. Chris is also Associate Professor in Strategic Management at Grenoble Ecole de Management (France), a Strategy Expert on the eMBA at IMD in Switzerland, and a Senior Examiner at the Chartered Institute of Marketing. In addition, Dr. Jeffs is Owner Director of Form Strategies, a company that specialises in executive coaching and facilitating strategic innovation. He also serves on the Advisory and Decision Committee of the Mohammed Bin Rasheed Innovation Fund in the United Arab Emirates. Dr. Chris Jeffs completed his MBA and Doctorate (Northumbria University, UK) on the topic of knowledge transfer and organisational innovation.

Andreas Klasen is full Professor of International Business and Head of the Institute for Trade and Innovation (IfTI) at Offenburg University, Visiting Professor at Northumbria University (UK) and Senior Honorary Fellow at Durham University (UK). His research focuses on trade policy, export finance, innovation and economic development. He also advises multilateral development banks and governments on benchmarking, market analysis, strategy and process improvement. Until 2015, he was a Partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers and PwC’s Economics & Policy leader, serving also as Managing Director of the official German export credit and investment insurance agency. Professor Klasen was educated at the University of Wuerzburg and the University of Hanover (1st and 2nd Legal State Exam), at Northumbria University (LLM and DBA) and the University of St Andrews (MLitt).

Dr. Simone Krummaker is Fellow in the Institute for Trade and Innovation (IfTI) and a Visiting Lecturer at Offenburg University teaching courses on International Financial Markets as well as Insurance Markets and Regulations. Her research focuses on insurance and risk management, in particular on corporate demand for insurance. Dr. Krummaker is also Senior Lecturer in Insurance at Cass Business School, City, University of London (UK) and a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Risk and Insurance, Hannover (Germany). Previously, she worked as Senior Lecturer in Finance at the University of Westminster, at the University of East Anglia London and as Senior Researcher at the Center for Risk and Insurance and Associate Lecturer at the Institute for Insurance Economics, both at Leibniz University of Hannover (Germany). Dr. Krummaker holds a doctoral degree (Dr. rer. pol.) and a high level German University degree (Diplom Ökonom) from Leibniz University of Hannover. She is also a certified insurance professional (Versicherungskauffrau, Chamber of Industry and Commerce).

Dr. Lars Ponterlitschek is Visiting Lecturer at Offenburg University. As Head of Finance & Risk and Member of the Management Board of Swiss Export Risk Insurance (SERV), Lars is responsible for risk and portfolio management at the official Swiss export credit agency (ECA). He is also responsible for the departments Risk Assessment, Claims & Recovery, Legal & Compliance as well as Finance & Controlling. Dr. Ponterlitschek gained vast underwriting and project finance experience at the German ECA Euler Hermes and SERV before assuming his current role. Lars has a PhD in economics and was a Visiting Lecturer at HAW, Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften in Hamburg, where he taught macroeconomics.

Nadja Scheurer is a Visiting Lecturer at Offenburg University teaching courses on Underwriting and Portfolio Management. She acquired profound underwriting experience of corporate risk and project finance transactions at the German export credit agency (ECA) Euler Hermes. Ms. Scheurer was also assigned as an ECA specialist to the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg where she arranged offshore wind transactions gaining experience in structuring layered funds in the renewable energy sector. She also worked at a large logistics company in Germany where she was responsible for managing the Eastern European subsidiaries arranging capital measures as well as debt financings. Nadja Scheurer holds a Master in Economics from the University of Leipzig.