Advisory Board

Udo J. Vetter studied clinical pharmacy at the University of Washington in Seattle. Following university, he worked for five years as a pharmacist at the pharmaceutical company Schering-Plough Corp. (now Merck & Co Inc.), where he was responsible for setting up production facilities in Puerto Rico. Subsequently, he was Vice President for licensing and production at Martec Inc., and President of Vetter Pharm-Turm Inc. Since 1987, he has held various senior management positions at Vetter and has been chairman of the board since 2008. He also established the investment company UV-Cap in 2003. Udo J. Vetter is a member of the supervisory board of Gerresheimer AG and of the expert association ISPE. He was also chairman of the university council of the University Albstadt-Sigmaringen until 2018, and received the title of Honorary Senator. In 2012, Udo J. Vetter became Vice President of the association Die Familienunternehmer in Germany and, in May 2019, was named President of European Family Businesses (EFB) in Brussels.

Bianca Vetter studied marketing management and foreign languages in London and Paris. In the early 1980s, she worked for a series of German and American companies as sales or executive assistant. Afterwards, Bianca Vetter worked in Administration Management for Dornier, Nortel Dasa and NDSatcom. Since 2008 she specializes in furthering technical sports education for young people.

PD Dr. Ute Amann studied pharmacy at the Freie Universität Berlin and graduated from Ludwig-Maximilian-University Munich with a Master of Public Health. After several years in public pharmacies in Germany and New Zealand, she worked as a clinical pharmacist at the university hospitals in Freiburg and Munich, at the Bavarian Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, and also at a company for healthcare data management. Since, she has worked as a scientist amongst others at the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS in Bremen and at the KORA Myocardial Infarction Registry of the Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health. She teaches students of M.Sc. Public Health and M.Sc. Epidemiology as well as students of Pharmacy at LMU Munich. She has been medical advisor at Vetter since 2003 and advises the company on medical-pharmaceutical matters.

Dr. Axel Herberg is a private investor in corporate and real estate investments. From 2010-17, he was a partner with the investment firm Blackstone Group, where he is now a senior advisor. Prior to joining the Blackstone Group, Dr. Herberg spent 10 years as Chief Executive Officer of the packaging specialist Gerresheimer. In May 2015, he was elected as Chairman of the Gerresheimer Group´s Supervisory Board, having been a member since 2014. Dr. Herberg has held a number of senior management posts at Gerresheimer AG since 1992. Prior, he worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company as well as head of strategic planning at Krupp Industrietechnik. Dr. Herberg has a Ph.D. in business administration and has completed an advanced degree in mechanical engineering. He is also a member of the Supervisory Board of Leica Camera AG.

The company and tax law expert Prof. Dr. Christof Hettich joined the Mannheim-based law firm Rittershaus in 1990. There, he specialized in the structuring of companies and was named partner within three years. Christof Hettich is, among other things, member and chairman of the supervisory boards of several listed companies. Furthermore, he is founder and managing director of Dievini Hopp Bio Tech Holding.

Wolfgang Kerkhoff studied business, politics and journalism in Munich and Montpellier, France. As a professional congress organizer since 1984, he organizes medically-focused events throughout Europe for firms and scientific organizations. In 1995, Wolfgang Kerkhoff was the first German to be certified as a congress organizer by the worldwide association MPI. From 1990, he headed up Eurokongress as a managing partner. He has been senior partner there since 2012. Wolfgang Kerkhoff is also a member of the board of the Munich Congress Alliance and President of Asconet International.

Friedbert Klefenz earned diplomas in mechanical engineering and business administration prior to beginning his career in 1981 as a project manager at Siemens/KWU. Between 1986 and 1998, he held various management positions for Pharmaplan/Pharmatec (Fresenius Group) including managing director. After moving to Bosch Packaging Technology he worked as a division head before holding the chairmanship of the divisional board of directors from 2002 to 2016. Since 2017, Friedbert Klefenz has been advising industrial companies and is also a member of several committees, advisory and supervisory boards including Valicare GmbH, Illig Maschinenbau GmbH & Co. KG, and Balluff AG.

With a background as a process automation engineer, Gert Moelgaard worked at Novo Nordisk and Novo Nordisk Engineering from 1982 to 2016. He has held different senior management positions including Corporate Vice President for Pharmaceutical Engineering, Consulting and Strategic Development in NNE Pharmaplan A/S. Since 2016 he has been working as independent senior consultant at Moelgaard Consulting. Gert Moelgaard has been a member or leader of several international committees and expert associations, including ISPE, PDA, ISA and others.

Gunther Strothe graduated with an MA in Economics and an MBA from Freiburg/Br. and Fontainebleau, respectively. From 1976 through 1990 he worked in Germany and the USA as an accountant qualified in both countries for international Accounting Firms. This was followed by managerial functions as CFO at Hugo Boss AG, Investment Banker at Goldman Sachs & Co and, until 2006, Managing Director for Germany with the international Consulting Firm Oliver Wyman & Company. Since 1996 he has been a non-executive member of several boards of companies.