We are proud to announce the inaugural collaboration between Munich Business School and the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University (USA). This joint conference brings together faculty members, doctoral candidates, and researchers from both institutions to exchange ideas, present ongoing research, and strengthen academic collaboration in the field of Doctoral Business Administration. The event features DBA project presentations from both universities and creates valuable opportunities for knowledge sharing, scholarly dialogue, and future collaboration.
Arrival & Registration - Room 323
Evaluating AI Value: A Strategic Framework for Pharmaceutical Investment Decisions
Johanna Hansen (MBS Cohort 11)
Exploring the impact of Explainable AI (XAI) on the ESG GRI Framework based Reporting with focus on the G Dimension
Said Waly (MBS - Cohort 11)
Onboarding and Job Performance in the Management Consulting Supported by Digital Capabilities
Salvador De la Torre (MBS – Cohort 9)
Enterprise Risk Management and Captive Insurance: Strategy, Governance and Emerging Trends
Tibor Boettcher (MBS Cohort 11)
Strategic Decision Making at Risk in the AI Era
Audrey Pariente (MBS Cohort 11)
Corporate Environmental Responsibility in the German Property Insurance Industry: Drivers and Practices
Constantin Repp (MBS Cohort 10)
Networking Lunch
Welcome & Opening Address
Prof. Dr. David Wagner and Prof. Dr. Jürgen Brock
Leadership in Digital Transformation: A Reflexive, Embedded Multi-Case Study of Organisational Energy Dynamics within the German Financial Services Sector
Kai Kobbelt (MBS Cohort 10)
Business Model Innovation in Shared Services: A Dynamic Capabilities Perspective
Karoline Benzinger (MBS Cohort 5)
Effective Integration of Sustainability into Product Design and Marketing Strategies to Build a Strong Consumer Brand – Evidence from Motorcycle Protective Apparel
Sebastian Lesser (MBS Cohort 9)
KEYNOTE: The Science of Sustained, Desired Change: From Individuals to Dyads, Teams to Organizations, Communities to Countries
Prof. Dr. Richard Boyatzis (WSOM) - open to all MBS students
Infrastructure Failure Propagation in Modular Digital Ecosystems: Evidence from Blockchain Interoperability Exploits
Kris Errett (WSOM)
Leveraging Social Identity Groups in Veterans’ Transition Journeys: A Qualitative Study on Transition and Growth
David White (WSOM)
How Industry 4.0 Implementation Strategy influences Technology Integration and Operational Performance in Manufacturing Firms
Ben Wixson (WSOM)
ROUNDTABLE I: Managing Work-Life-Balance (Kids, Family, Work, DBA)
Moderators: Dr. Christine Menges (MBS), Prof. Dr. Miyeon Jung (WSOM)
ROUNDTABLE II The Ethical Dimension of Scholarship: How Practitioner Scholars Have a Positive Impact on People and Planet
Moderators: Prof. Dr. Christian Schmidkonz (MBS), Prof. Dr. Chris Laszlo (WSOM)
DBA GRADUATE KEYNOTE: The Psychology behind White-Collar Crime: Cognitive and Social Mechanisms
Dr. Mark Sellmann (MBS)
DBA GRADUATE KEYNOTE Exploring New Frontiers. Bridging the world of Academia and Practice for Impact.
Dr. Sherry Sanger (WSOM)
Feedback, Closing Address & Outlook
Prof. Dr. David Wagner and Prof. Dr. Jürgen Brock
Register now to secure your attendance at the DBA Conference.
David Wagner is Professor for International Business and Digital Business, Academic Director for the Doctor in Business Administration (DBA) and Vice Dean for Research at Munich Business School. He teaches, does research, and consults in the fields of digital strategy, digital innovation, and digital transformation. He is the winner of the MBS Teaching Award 2022 and the MBS Research Award 2023.
Jürgen Kai-Uwe Brock, “JB”, is the NTT Professor of Marketing and Associate Director Doctor of Management Programs at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. A business-academia hybrid for 30 years and former CEO and C-suite executive, he has worked in Europe, North America, and Asia. His research appears in leading journals incl. Journal of International Business Studies, California Management Review, Journal of Service Research, and more.
Richard Boyatzis is Distinguished University Professor of Case Western Reserve University. He researches leadership, emotional intelligence, coaching, and neuroscience. Ranked in the top .05% of all worldwide scientists (Scholar GPS 2023 – 2025), his latest book is The Science of Change: Discovering Sustained, Desired Change from Individuals to Organizations and Communities.
Christine Menges is Chancellor of Munich Business School, responsible for strategic leadership and administrative and fiscal management. She brings over 15 years of senior leadership experience at top private and public European business schools, including WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management (Germany) and Anglia Ruskin University (UK). She holds a PhD from the University of St Gallen (Switzerland).
Miyeon Jung is an Assistant Professor of Marketing, Design and Innovation at Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University. Her research focuses on digital marketing, digital healthcare, and AI ethics, utilizing field experiments and econometric methods. Her work has been published in the Journal of Marketing and Production and Operations Management, and featured in Harvard Business Review and The Wall Street Journal.
Christian Schmidkonz is a professor and Academic Director of the Master in International Business program at Munch Business School. He authored books on “Conscious Business,” “Happiness in Business and Economics,” and in the field of “China Business Studies.” He co- founded the “Global Alliance for Conscious Business Education”
Chris Laszlo, PhD is Professor at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management. His first book, The Sustainable Company, was published in 2003. Author of four other books on sustainable business, all published by Stanford University Press, his research has been published in a wide range of journals such as Organizational Dynamics, Business and Society Review, The European Financial Review, and The Engaged Management ReView.
Karoline Benzinger leads the Digital Advisory department at Siemens Global Business Services and is globally responsible for advising customers on digital solutions. Over the past decade, Karoline has successfully built and scaled high-performing teams in the field of AI, Analytics & Cybersecurity. She has held international leadership assignments in India and the Czech Republic.
Tibor is the CEO of Volkswagen Insurance Company, the captive insurer of the Volkswagen Group, based in Dublin. He has over 20 years of international experience in insurance, reinsurance, strategy, and finance, with senior leadership roles across Europe and China. Outside his professional role, he has a strong personal interest in aviation.
Kris Errett is a PhD in Management student and Fowler Center Fellow at Case Western Reserve University. His research examines what happens when decentralized financial systems fail—and how those failures shape adoption decisions. He is a Senior Director at ITC Management Group and has spent 25 years leading technology delivery and portfolio strategy.
Salvador De la Torre is a doctoral researcher at Munich Business School. His research focuses on organizational onboarding, digital transformation, and employee outcomes, with particular interest in how digital practices shape performance, engagement, and long-term development. He combines professional experience in consulting and currently works in the mayor Germany organization in the sector of security technology.
In the pharmaceutical industry, my path has taken me from supply chain management to global procurement and now into AI - where I’m driving initiatives that boost efficiency and help teams work better together worldwide. Pursuing a DBA on AI value measurement allows me to quantify innovation’s impact and apply research driven strategies to create long term organizational benefits.
Kai has over 24 years of experience in management consulting, transformation leadership, programme and project management, and executive coaching. He has successfully turned around failing initiatives in complex organisational settings. His DBA research explores how leadership, sensemaking and organisational energy can be used to create momentum and enable large-scale digital transformations to succeed from the outset.
Sebastian is focusing on sustainable brand management and consumer behavior. His research explores how sustainability can be effectively integrated into product design and marketing strategies to enhance brand image and purchase decisions, with a particular emphasis on the motorcycle protective apparel industry.
Tanita is researching the intersection of leadership, technology (AI), and organisational culture. Alongside her doctoral studies, she works at Microsoft, focusing on customer success, innovation, and fostering inclusive workplace transformation.
Audrey Pariente is an AI and Communication Strategy Expert in the semiconductor industry and a doctoral researcher at Munich Business School. Her research examines how artificial intelligence shapes strategic decision-making and the cognitive foundations of leadership. She combines senior experience in European Union institutions with leadership roles in the technology sector.
Constantin works as a Line of Business Manager in the German property insurance sector. His research focuses on Corporate Environmental Responsibility (CER) in property insurance, examining institutional and stakeholder drivers, practical barriers, and effective implementation approaches.
Sherry Sanger is Executive Vice President of Strategy & Marketing at Penske Transportation Solutions, leading global strategy, innovation, digital solutions, and sustainability initiatives, and has held several leadership roles. Previously with GE, she worked in financial and market analysis. She holds multiple advanced degrees and serves as an adjunct professor and advisor at Case Western Reserve University.
Dr. Mark Sellmann is Head of Corporate Ethics & Compliance at RENK Group, with global responsibility also for governance, forensic investigations, and data protection.
He previously spent ten years in Big Four advisory roles and holds a DBA focused on the psychological mechanisms behind white-collar crime.
Said is a Strategy Advisor at Cognizant, based in Frankfurt, focusing on AI adoption in Finance and HR and contributing to the Responsible AI Offering Hub. He is currently pursuing a DBA, with research focused on Explainable AI (XAI).
Dave is a career U.S. Army special operations veteran and doctoral student studying how social networks, belonging, and social identity shape veterans’ post-service transitions and well-being. His research examines why similarly trained veterans experience divergent outcomes, and how community-based relationships and institutions can support healthier identity reconstruction and flourishing.
Ben Wixson is a practitioner-scholar at CWRU researching digital manufacturing technology implementation. He is a Design & Innovation, Fowler Center, and Nonprofit Fellow at Weatherhead, a Group Manager at The Morse Group, and an adjunct professor at Kettering University. His prior graduate studies are in Business Analytics at Cornell University, with undergraduate Economics studies at the University of Michigan–Dearborn.
Elsenheimerstraße 61
80687 München Germany