Since 2021, Johannes Schmidt-Schultes has been self-employed, running ppp Career Development Coaching as a professional service for (aspiring) leaders looking to profitably develop their leadership personality and advance their leadership skills and competence. Johannes completed a comprehensive and highly practical Co-active Coach training at the renowned and internationally recognized Co-active Training Institute (CTI) in the USA; he is now preparing for certification as a Professional Coach, which will be followed by international accreditation. This triple step – training, certification, accreditation – guarantees the highest professionalism, quality, and integrity of his coaching and establishes a methodically conceptual foundation, which particularly distinguishes Johannes as an Executive Mentor Coach. Johannes has more than 30 years of professional experience, which he has gathered internationally and in various industries as a board member, managing director, supervisory board member, and advisory board member. Before deciding to take a new direction in his career as a Senior Executive, he was the Group CFO of the Hong Kong-listed fashion & lifestyle brand ESPRIT, which he successfully steered through a self-administration protective shield procedure during the Corona pandemic. Equipped with this very special experience, he then worked for the London-based restructuring boutique THM Partners (now ALIX Partners), on whose behalf he supported companies operationally in complex, usually existential situations as Interim CFO, CRO, or General Authorized Officer. As a board member and Group CFO before ESPRIT, Johannes was responsible in the "Industrial Production" sector at London-based BMI, Europe's largest manufacturer of roofing and waterproofing materials, and at the listed SEMPERIT AG in Vienna, a leading manufacturer of industrial rubber products. At Klöckner & Co, Europe's largest trader of steel and metal products, he was also responsible for the finances of the Eastern European business in Vienna. For APLEONA, Europe's leading service provider for industrial facility management, he accompanied the completion of the sale of the construction activities and the establishment of an efficient financial organization in Frankfurt am Main. Johannes also has extensive experience as a financial executive of renowned telecommunications companies: For Deutsche Telekom, he was responsible for the finances of T-Mobile UK (now EE) and previously of maxmobil/T-Mobile Austria (now Magenta Telekom), before serving for 4 years as Deputy Group CFO of Australian Telecom TELSTRA in Melbourne, responsible for the performance management of the entire group. Johannes studied economics at Leibniz University Hannover, ASTON Business School (Birmingham, UK), and the University of California at Berkeley. Following his diploma, he was a research assistant at the Seminar for Accounting and Auditing at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich under Prof. Dr. Dr. Wolfgang Ballwieser, where he obtained his PhD in 1996. In parallel to this university assistant position, he worked as a freelance consultant for Bain & Company. In addition to his role as Executive Mentor Coach, Johannes makes his experience available to companies and organizations as an Interim Executive, Senior Advisor, and Non-Executive Director. He is also an Assistant Professor at the Chair of Financial Management at the University of Hohenheim. Johannes is married, has two sons, and lives and works in Vienna and Hanover. He spends his free time outdoors, being an enthusiastic endurance athlete and triathlete who has completed numerous middle and long-distance competitions and prefers to prepare for them with daily training sessions in the Canary Islands. Additionally, he volunteers as a truck driver for the Hannöversche Tafel.