Ariane Derks has been appointed new managing director of Land der Ideen Management GmbH (formerly Marketing für Deutschland GmbH). The company conceptualizes, organizes and communicates all activities of “Germany – Land of Ideas”.
Derks replaces Holger Lösch, Member of the Management Committee and Head of Marketing and Communications of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), who has led the company provisionally since 2009. Lösch stays affiliated to the initiative as Managing Director of the society “Deutschland – Land der Ideen e.V.”. Furthermore, he chairs the GmbH’s Supervisory Board which from now on also involves Christofer Habig, Managing Director, Global Head of Brand Communications & Corporate Citizenship, Deutsche Bank AG, and Wolfgang Niedermark, Vice President Communications & Governmental Relations BASF Group.

Ariane Derks has been working for the initiative since its establishment in 2005. As a coordinator of the private and public sector, she has fostered project development within the network of partners. Derks studied International Business, holds a Master of Business and Engineering degree and has led master studies for entrepreneurs and managers at Steinbeis-Hochschule Berlin, cooperating with various national and international universities such as St. Gallen University (Switzerland). Additionally, she qualified in the fields of CIP, communications and visualization, corporate strategy and culture. Together with other successful managers, she published the book “Unternehmensführerschein” (The Entrepreneur’s Driving License) and has been admitted to the German Encyclopedia of Speakers 2010. In 2009, she established the Steinbeis Transfer Institute for Location Marketing where the topics of location marketing and nation branding are addressed in a practice-oriented manner.