Team

Consulting with experience
Bernhard Seitz vcard-cpBernhard Seitz, PhD (Managing Partner)

was the CEO of Asclepion Meditec in Jena, which he took public and later on merged with the Ophthalmic Business of Carl Zeiss to become Carl Zeiss Meditec. He spent several years with Boehringer Ingelheim and before has been with McKinsey & Company in Munich and Hamburg. He was co-founder of a diagnostics business and equity partner in several high tech medical businesses. Besides this he has international experience as a board member and consults companies in their M&A activities, financing, strategy development and in the process of internationalization.

vcard-cpChristian Weber, PhD (Partner)

has long experience in M&A and strategy development. In addition to 13 years at McKinsey & Company, he led Corporate Development and M&A at, among others, Madaus AG, Mayne Pharma / Hospira and Mucos Pharma / Atrium. Since more than 20 years he gained in-depth knowledge of the German and international healthcare market, especially in the pharmaceutical, consumer and digital health, medical technology and provider segments. He has been active in numerous national and international corporate transactions, primarily in the medium-sized enterprise segment, and has many years of experience as a member of the advisory or supervisory board of companies like CM&D Pharma, Heliad Private Equity, Coparion Venture Capital and as an angel investor at Ocumeda and others.

Volker Marks vcard-cpVolker Marks (Partner)

started his postgraduate career as a sales engineer at Siemens and business development manager at blow-molding machine builder Krupp Corpoplast, both in Hamburg, Germany. The next 12 years he joined global packaging system company SIG Combibloc. Initially in charge as Product Manager he received a company-awarded postgraduate MBA study, worked five years as expatriate responsible for the company’s business extension in Asia and thereafter for corporate strategic marketing in the Headquarters, Switzerland. As Director Sales & Marketing of medtech company Human Med AG, Germany he built up international sales. Since 2008 he was partner of a M&A company.

mitarbeiter-steffen vcard-cpSteffen Barner (Partner)

has a background in law and business administration. He was General Counsel and Head of Human Resources of a German IT company with subsidiaries in the US, Ireland and Indonesia. Afterwards he was involved in a change management project with Daimler-Group. Since 2007 he worked in M&A advisory and has run national and international M&A projects both on buy- and sell-side as well as business development projects and has experience in distressed M&A and equity financing.

Norman Kuch vcard-cpNorman Kuch (Partner, Lawyer, MBA)

worked in the legal departments of several companies like Carl Zeiss, Commerzbank and Krones AG before becoming manager of the legal department of ARRI AG, an international corporation in the media industry. He has long experience in consulting General Management, Boards and shareholder committees with a special focus on midsized, family run businesses. His legal expertise combined with comprehensive knowledge of company processes are the basis for tailored consulting. He managed a significant number of national and international M&A transactions from preparation and structuring of deals, negotiations to signing and closing.

William-T-Kelley vcard-cpWilliam T. Kelley (Los Angeles / Partner)

holds an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University and has more than 35 years experience in the Medical & BioTech Industry. He has held Management and General Management Positions with Cavitron (now Alcon Surgical), Pfizer Hospital Products Group, Nidek (Optical Products-Japan), Asclepion Meditec (Germany) and most recently was Sr. Vice President International for Cynosure Inc., a major supplier of surgical lasers. William T. Kelley is in charge of Contrada Partners’ US-office in California.

vcard-cpMarkus Müller (Project Manager)

studied business administration (M.Sc.) with focus on finance, technology management and marketing at the Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel. Previously, he completed an apprenticeship as a banker and gained practical experience at a Thuringian bank. He gathered experiences in the United States and Canada and through various internships also in strategic and M&A consulting.