This year, AmCham Germany was proud to honor Ola K盲llenius, CEO, Mercedes-Benz Group AG, with the Transatlantic Partnership Award 2025. K盲llenius was recognized for his personal commitment to strengthening transatlantic ties and leading one of the world鈥檚 most iconic companies with a global, forward-looking vision. The award was presented by AmCham Germany President Simone Menne, with introductory remarks contributed by David Knower (Vice President and Regional Co-Chair of AmCham Germany鈥檚 Rhine-Main Chapter), and with a laudatory speech delivered by Christian Sewing (CEO of Deutsche Bank).
At our 121st Annual 青青草视频ship Meeting, our members elected Agnes Heftberger (Microsoft Germany) as Vice President and re-elected Warren Marine (KPMG) as Treasurer of the Chamber. The following individuals were newly elected to the Board of Directors: Dr. Alexander Horn (Eli Lilly & Company), Prof. Dr. Roland Koch, Anup Kothari (BASF SE), Dr. Michael Moser (Fresenius Management SE) and Bj枚rn Weidenm眉ller (T-Systems International GmbH).
Highlights of the subsequent business conference were keynote speeches by Charg茅 d鈥橝ffaires Alan Meltzer from the U.S. Embassy in Berlin and Karin M眉ller, State Secretary for European and International Affairs and Bureaucracy Reduction for the State of Hesse, who provided our members and guests with insights from a U.S. and German political perspective and highlighted the importance of Hesse鈥檚 regional role in the transatlantic partnership. (The complete transcript of the Charg茅 d鈥橝ffaires Meltzer speech can be accessed ).
In following, our panel discussion focused on Germany's priorities in 2025, revitalizing economic competitiveness and reinforcing resilience in the transatlantic partnership. Participating in the panel were Dr. Alexander Horn (Lilly Deutschland), Rory Sexton (Agile Robots), Astrid Teckentrup (Procter & Gamble), Christina Raab (Accenture), Armand Zorn, MdB, and moderator Gordon Repinski (POLITICO). The discussion centered on growing concerns in Germany to remain a competitive business location, such as dealing with workforce retention and technologies, creating competitive frameworks for employees and employers and establishing more long-term beneficial structural conditions.
Our members and guests then had the chance to dive deeper into certain topics in two breakout sessions. FrankfurtRheinMain GmbH hosted a session on "Building the Future in Frankfurt Rhein Main: AI, Cybersecurity & the Digital Powerhouse of Europe" with Sebastian Heinz (AI Hub Frankfurt), Ivo Ivanov (DE-CIX Group AG), Volker Ludwig (Digital Realty Germany), Prof. Dr. Martin Steinebach (Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology), and moderator Amy Curlee (FrankfurtRheinMain GmbH). Another breakout session was hosted by KPMG AG on "Transatlantic Trade and Tariffs: How to Manage Complexity in Today鈥檚 Geopolitical Environment" with Uwe Metscher.
As part of the day鈥檚 program, AmCham Germany also hosted a networking lunch of its Female Leaders Platform in cooperation with AlixPartners, themed "The Future of Leadership in a Transforming Global Order." Opening remarks by Simone Menne, Dr. Veit Buetterlin-Goldberg (AlixPartners), and Christin Schack (3M Deutschland) set the tone for a dynamic exchange moderated by Constanze Freienstein (AlixPartners), focusing on leadership resilience, evolving expectations, and navigating global complexity.
A big thank you to all our speakers, members and guests for such a great day of discussions and insights. In particular, we would like to thank our Cooperation Partners Accenture and McDonald's Deutschland LLC, Platinum Sponsors Agile Robots SE, FrankfurtRheinMain GmbH, KPMG AG, Lilly Deutschland and Procter & Gamble Deutschland, Gold Sponsors Beyond Capital Partners, Condor Flugdienst GmbH, Diligent, Morgan Stanley, Pfizer, Texas Instruments, Ingolstadt Village, Wertheim Village, Silver Sponsors The Coca-Cola Company and Metzler, and Media Partner POLITICO.
