Vita

work and life

I am group leader of the Leibniz Research Group on “Wealth and Social Inequality” at the Max-Planck-Institute for die Study of Societies. Previously I worked as junior research group leader at the Technische Universität Berlin and as post-doc at the University of California Berkeley. I studied sociology and management at the Universität Oldenburg and The New School for Social Research in New York and gained my Doctoral Degree at the Freie Universität Berlin.

Education

Dr. phil. in sociology – summa cum laude
Freie Universität Berlin, Department for Sociology, Prof. Dr. Martin Kohli
Jul 2007 – Jul 2012

Visiting Scholar
New School for Social Research, Department for Sociology, New York
Jan 2007 – Jul 2007

Magister – graduated with “very good” (highest GPA)
Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, majors: sociology and business
Oct 2002 – Dec 2006

Work Experience

Group Leader “Wealth and Social Inequality”
Max-Planck-Institute for the Study of Societies
Since Nov 2021

Research Group Leader
Technische Universität Berlin, Department for Sociology, Freigeist-Fellowship “Entrepreneurial Group Dynamics”
Jan 2017 – Oct 2021

Postdoc
University of California Berkeley, Department for Sociology, Academic Hosts: Prof. Heather Haveman & Prof. Marion Fourcade, Berkeley
Jan 2014 – Jun 2016

Research Associate in Political Consulting & Research Agency
GIB – Gesellschaft für Innovationsforschung mbH, Berlin
Jun 2012 – May 2013

Research Associate
Freie Universität Berlin, Department for Sociology, Project: From Generation to Generation – Succession in Family Businesses, Berlin
Jul 2007 – Dec 2010

Part-time Assistant in Business Consultancy
procedo Unternehmensberatung GmbH, Oldenburg
Oct 2002 – Dec 2006

Student Assistant
for Prof. Dr. Gerd Vonderach (Story Hermeneutics) and Prof. Dr. Stefan Müller-Doohm (Habermas Biography)
Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg
Oct 2004 – Dec 2006

Training as Management Assistant in Advertising
Mattfeldt & Sänger Marketing und Messe AG Kempten
Sep 2000 – Jul 2002

Academic Honors (selected)

Outstanding Teaching Award, Faculty VI TU Berlin
2020, Value: 1.500 EUR

FBR Best Article Award in 2018 with Frank Barbera & Rocki-Lee DeWitt, Family Business Review.
2019, Value: 5.000 USD

Freigeist-Fellowship funded by VolkswagenFoundation
supporting the research group “Entrepreneurial Group Dynamics” at Technical University Berlin,
Jan 2017-Dec 2021, Value: approx. 1.000.000 EUR

FOBI-Scholar 2014
with Frank Barbera and Rocki-Lee DeWitt. Funding received by the Family Owned Business Institute at Grand Valley State University to further promote the framework of ‘Intergenerational Innovation’,
2014, Value: 5.000 USD

I am passionately creative, engaged and persistent, a team leader, and productive.
As a mother of two wonderful children I strive to balance work and family life.