Alumni

Dr. Nils Geib was a research associate within our professorship from 2020 to 2024. His research focused on the topics of nonprofit management and leadership. In June 2024, he completed his PhD on the topic of “Leadership Continuity at Stake—Succession Management in Nonprofit Organizations.”

Dr. Carolin Saltzmann was a research associate within our professorship from 2020 to 2023. Her research focused on the management and marketing of blood donations as well as health marketing in the context of our research cooperation with DRK Blutspendedienst Nord/Ost. In April 2023, she completed her PhD on the topic of “Relationship Marketing in Blood Donation: Donor Recruitment, Retention and Recovery.”

Dr. Saltzmann subsequently worked as Head of the Civil Protection Research Unit at the German Red Cross National Headquarters in Berlin. 

Dr. Peter Schubert was a research associate within our professorship from 2017 to 2021. His research focused on topics of financial and stakeholder management in nonprofit organizations. In July 2020, he completed his PhD on the topic “The Overhead Debate in Nonprofit Finance: Conceptual and Empirical Extensions to the Nonprofit Starvation Cycle.”

In August 2021, Dr. Schubert moved to Berlin as a project manager at ZiviZ gGmbH, which is part of the Stifterverband community.

René Burfeindt was a part-time research associate within our professorship from 2020 to 2021. He conducted research in the field of social innovation and nonprofit management. During his part-time employment at the university, he continued to work for the DRK management (Hamburg mediservice gGmbH).

In June 2021, Mr. Burfeindt transferred to the DRK General Secretariat in Berlin, where he headed the National Aid Society division.

Dr. Meikel Soliman was a research associate within our professorship from 2017 to 2019. In March 2020, he received his doctorate on “Taking a Behavioral Science Approach to Understand Blood Donation Behavior—Empirical Evidence and Implications for Blood Donor Marketing.”

Dr. Soliman subsequently assumed a position as a postdoctoral researcher and lab manager at Leuphana University Lüneburg.

Dr. Aaron Kreimer was a research associate within our professorship from 2016 to 2019. In December 2019, he received his doctorate on “Management of Refugee Integration: Exploring Multiple Dimensions of Refugee Well-Being.”

Dr. Kreimer subsequently worked as a consultant for health promotion at the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds.

Dr. Carolin Waldner was a research associate within our professorship from 2016 to 2019. In November 2019, she received her doctorate on “Reputation Formation of Nonprofit and Social Entrepreneurial Organizations: Towards A Stakeholder Perspective.” Her doctoral supervisor was Prof. Dr. Jurgen Willems, who was responsible for the DFG project NPO Reputation at the University of Hamburg.

From 2020 to 2022, Dr. Waldner worked as a PostDoc at the Chair of Sustainability Management at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. She subsequently became Assistant Professor for Sustainability at the ESCP Business School in Berlin.

Prof. Dr. Jurgen Willems worked as a postdoctoral researcher within our professorship from 2013 to 2019 and as such was responsible for the project “Reputation Management for Nonprofit Organizations,“ funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). In January 2019, he successfully completed his habilitation with a lecture on public servant stereotypes: cognitive associations about public service professions entitled “Leadership, Performance, and Reputation: A multi-paradigm and multi-method empirical view on the public and nonprofit sectors.” The synopsis as well as the articles of the habilitation can be found here.

In spring 2019, Professor Willems was offered a professorship at the Vienna University of Economics and Business.

Dr. Jutta Bodem-Schrötgens was a research associate within our professorship from 2014 to 2017. In March 2017, she received her doctorate on “The Next Generation of Philanthropy—Social Investments as a Paradigm Shift in Nonprofit Financing.”

Dr. Bodem-Schrötgens subsequently worked as project manager for McKinsey.

Dr. Larissa Sundermann was a research associate within our professorship from 2013 to 2016. In September 2019, she received her doctorate on “Nonprofit Donor Relationship Management—An Evaluation of Blood Donor Relationship Marketing Strategies.”

Dr. Sundermann subsequently became Head of Study Management in Economics at the HSO School of Economics and Information Technology in Zurich.

Dr. Annika Becker was a research associate within our professorship from 2013 to 2016. In August 2016, she received her doctorate on “The Public’s Trust in Nonprofit Organizations.”

Dr. Becker went on to work as a lecturer for Strategy, Organization and Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations at the Institute of Business and Regional Economics IBR of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Switzerland.

Dr. Marius Mews was a research associate within our professorship from 2011 to 2014. In April 2014, he received his doctorate on the topic of “Managing Reputation, Incentives and Target Groups — Empirical Research on Nonprofit Blood Donation Organizations.”

Dr. Mews went on to work in funding and research for PIKSL - In der Gemeinde leben gGmbH.

Dr. Sigrun Leipnitz was a research associate within our professorship from 2010 to 2014. In October 2013, she received her doctorate on “Nonprofit Marketing Research—Insights and Strategies for the Recruitment and Retention of Blood Donors.”

Dr. Leipnitz went on to work as a donor research consultant at DRK-Blutspendedienst Nord-Ost (German Red Cross Blood Donation Service North-East).

Dr. Viktoria Holland-Cunz, née Schuchardt, was a research associate within our professorship from 2010 to 2013. In January 2013, she received her doctorate on “Strategic Cause-Related Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility Partnerships.”

Dr. Holland-Cunz subsequently became Head of CEO at Henkel, Düsseldorf.

Dr. Christian Scherhag was a research associate within our professorship from 2009 to 2012. In April 2012, he received his doctorate on “Evaluating Relationship Fundraising Strategies of Nonprofit Organizations.”

Dr. Scherhag went on to work as Head of International Affairs at Hamburg Aviation.

Prof. Dr. Isabella-Marie Nolte was a research associate within our chair from 2009 to 2012. In March 2012, she received her doctorate on “Management von Public-Nonprofit-Partnerschaften im Katastrophenmanagement.”

Dr. Nolte subsequently assumed a position as a professor for the Department of Public Management at the Harz University of Applied Sciences.