Since 2012, Lisa-Katherina Schutter has been a senior executive assistant to one of the global business unit heads and member to the division board at Continental. Lisa- Katherina has had 14 years experience as an executive assistant in the international top management and C-suite level of the automotive supplier industry, starting her career back then at McKinsey. In the last eight years she developed from a classic excellent PA to an internationally requested global trainer for lean administration, and she holds a degree in professional systemic coaching from the University of Applied Sciences in Wiesbaden, Germany.

After giving lean admin trainings throughout Germany, China and Mexico for Continental, Lisa-Katherina founded her own consulting and coaching business in Frankfurt, L-K Lean Digital Office Consulting & Coaching. In 2015, she started speaking at various international company and assistant events, including now for Vonlanthen Group!

Lisa-Katherina’s passion ever since then has been “Lean Lifestyle” and she applies it in all ways. Related to her job as PA she says: “The time and energy that I save with simply living and working lean I have always put into exploring new areas and trends. LLL – Life Long Learning and Continuous Improvement are my personal key success factors and recommendations to every assistant! Always stay on track.”

In a world where tasks and responsibilities in a global office and working for an international top manager has changed tremendously, combining the challenges and options of the new digital world, the new established mindset of NewWorkStyle, the collaboration possibilities with Office365 and her deep, profound knowledge and expertise in Of- ficeKaizen and Lean Administration is what makes her successful and what increases the value-add for her manager and the global team.

Knowledge management and best practice sharing is what Lisa-Katherina stands for, heading a global team of 20 assistants.

“Sustainability is the goal. People tend to jump too quickly on solutions but forget about reflecting on the root cause and later on wonder why problems re-occur again and again. Structured problem solving, systematically identifying and eliminating waste in the office, making it visible and measurable and thus increasing the value add for oneself and the team is crucial,” she said. This spirit and insights are the basis of her keynote that she shares with us in Dubai. Stay curious! Get tickets and experience Lisa-Katherina LIVE on stage.

Zubair Ahmed is a seasoned technologist having served the banking industry in challenging leadership roles over the last two decades. A Harvard alumnus with 27-plus years of IT and financial industry experience, he enjoys been customer facing and engaging businesses in strategic use of technology. Zubair excels in enterprise transformation and has led and produced compelling results in creating business innovation at the grass-roots level of the organisation. As the chairman of the UBF IT committee, Zubair leads the technology agenda for banks, enabling collaborations and advisory with the regulators.

Zubair is a celebrated author of the book “Power to Kids”, which serves as a guide to applying quality and management principles to parenting. He’s actively involved with a number of non-profit causes across the region. As an ardent speaker and a life coach, Zubair is regularly featured in numerous conferences around the world.

In the fintech space, Zubair has served as a mentor and coach in several initiatives internationally. A regular contributor to publications, his work has been published in magazines such as CIO Applications, The Fintech Times (UK), CXO Strategies and Insight World, to name a few. On the personal transformation front, Zubair has developed several models for achieving fulfillment, content and higher productivity, at a personal and professional level.

Patrick Jephson is a consultant, journalist, broadcaster and New York Times bestselling author based in Washington D.C. His byline has appeared in every major UK newspaper and international titles as varied as TIME magazine, People, The Spectator, Paris Match, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the National Catholic Reporter. He is a published authority on corporate and personal branding, addressing conferences worldwide as well as events at the US State Department, the American University and the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. He also writes, presents and advises on factual and drama programs, appearing on every major US network as well as international platforms. He is currently a technical consultant to the award-winning Netflix series The Crown.

He is founding partner in JephsonBeaman, a boutique communications consultancy specialising in international high-profile, sensitive and UHNW services. With more than 25 years’ experience in the government, luxury and family office sectors, Patrick’s portfolio has included globally-admired brands as well as national agencies and NGOs. He has also worked on reputation and legacy briefs with European, Middle Eastern and Asian families, including royalty.

Patrick owes much of his practical administrative and communications experience to Princess Diana, who chose him to be her equerry and only private secretary/chief of staff. He served the Princess for eight years (1988-96), responsible for every aspect of her public life, worldwide humanitarian initiatives and private organisation. Under relentless media scrutiny, his tenure covered the period of Princess Diana’s greatest popularity as well as the constitutional controversy of her separation from Prince Charles.

Patrick was born and raised in Ireland and holds a master’s degree in political science from Cambridge University. As an officer in the British Royal Navy, he served all over the world before being selected for royal duty. In March 2015, he became a naturalised citizen of the United States.

Anne McDougall is the Director of Innovate Through Training and Development. She is a trainer, author, and motivational speaker, specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations.

She works across all industry sectors and her client base ranges from the European Commission in Europe to the Banking and Oil Industries of Middle East, Africa, China and Malaysia.

With twenty-five years’ experience in Organizational Development and Training, Anne’s international consulting has given her a broad experience of working with many different nationalities. Her ability to adapt to different cultural ethics, political and business attitudes and methodologies increase the authority she brings to her work.

Her courses inspire people to be the best they can be and offer simple toolsets to improve skills and attitude. Anne is the author of two books and has written a variety of articles and blogs over the years.

Anne has a Masters’ Degree in Learning and Development from Sheffield University in the UK, an LGSM from Guildhall School of Music and Drama London and a CELTA qualification from the University of Swansea in Wales.