Biography
Alfred studied economics and philosophy in Munich and Oxford. After academic work as a lecturer at Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, he worked as a consultant at McKinsey. In 1985 he joined Allianz, the leading insurance group in Europe. After some years as a department head of the Group holding company, Alfred took over as Managing Director of Allianz South Africa and Namibia, witnessing the transformation of South Africa from short distance. After returning from Africa, he was first appointed as head of Allianz North Germany and then as Board Member of Allianz Insurance AG for Industrial Business.From 2002 to 2017, Alfred was a member of the Executive Board of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, Europe's leading organization for contract research in the natural sciences and engineering. In addition to his responsibilities as CFO and CIO, he took care of the business issues of Fraunhofer start-ups as well as research partnerships in the southern hemisphere. The University of Stellenbosch appointed him as an extraordinary professor.
From 2018 to 2025, he was president of Munich Business School. He has intensive experience as member and chairman of supervisory boards in diverse industries and in private equity. Since 1980, he has been married to Michaela. They have two adult sons and two grandchildren.