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Managing Board

Dean: Prof. Ulrich Thonemann, Ph.D.

studied industrial engineering and management at the Universities of Berkeley, Paderborn and Stanford. He gained his Ph.D. at Stanford University in Management Science and Engineering. After that, he worked for three years as an assistant professor in Stanford, after that for three years as a consultant with McKinsey & Company in Cologne. He started his academic career in Germany at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, before joining the University of Cologne. Here, he heads the Chair for Supply Chain Management & Management Science at the WiSo Faculty. In his role as First Vice Dean he was first responsible for the internationalization of the WiSo faculty, after that he set up and developed the Business School of the University of Cologne. Since April 2019, Professor Thonemann is Dean of the Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences of the University of Cologne.

To the website of Prof. Ulrich Thonemann, Ph.D.

Vice Dean: Prof. Dr Nicole Naeve-Stoß

Nicole Naeve-Stoß studied business education/teaching at vocational schools at the University of Hamburg. She received her doctorate in business education from the University of Hamburg in 2013. She then worked as akademischer Rat at the University of Göttingen and as a professor at the University of Siegen. In 2017, she moved to the University of Cologne, where she holds a professorship in business education.

Her research focuses include subject-oriented curriculum and teaching development, teaching-learning processes in vocational education, teacher training, innovation processes in vocational education, and university didactics.

Nicole Naeve-Stoß is co-editor of the journal bwp@ - Berufs- und Wirtschaftspädagogik - online.

To the website of Prof. Dr Nicole Naeve-Stoß

Vice Dean of Research: Prof. Michael Krause, Ph.D.

  • 1992 - 1993 Graduate Studies in PhD Programme at University of California at Berkeley (Stipend by German Academic Exchange Service, DAAD)
  • 1989 - 1994 Diplom in Economics (VWL) at Rheinische-Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität, Bonn
  • 1994 - 1999 Ph.D. Programme in Economics, Yale University, New Haven, U.S.A.
  • 1999 - 2005 Assistant Professor of Economics, Tilburg University, Netherlands
  • 2003 Visiting Assistant Professor, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, U.S.A.
  • 2005 - 2010 Visiting Scholar and/or Lecturer at Goethe University, Frankfurt (2010), Tel Aviv University, Israel (2009), Tokyo University, Japan (2008), Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, U.S.A. (2005), and Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, U.S.A. (multiple years)
  • 2005 - 2013 Senior Research Economist at the Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt
  • Since 2013 Professor (W3) of Macroeconomics at the Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences, University of Cologne

To the Website of Prof. Michael Krause, Ph.D.

Vice Dean of Academic Career: Prof. Dr Marita Jacob

Prof. Dr Marita Jacob studied Social Sciences, Mathematics and Economics at the Justus-Liebig-University Gießen, at Westminster University London and the Freie Universität Berlin. Since May 2011, Marita Jacob has been a professor of Sociology at the Institute of Sociology and Social Psychology (ISS).

Her research work is devoted to social inequalities in the life course, especially educational inequalities and employment market issues. Further, Marita Jacob is involved in the promotion of interdisciplinary empirical educational research. Her research work has been published in leading sociological journals (e.g. Social Forces, European Sociological Review, Research in Social Stratification and Mobility). Topics addressed, includes the influence of social background on educational decisions and pathways, and the correlation between education and fertility as well as labour market entry and unemployment. 

To the website of Prof. Dr Marita Jacob

Vice Dean of Studies: Prof. Dr Michael Overesch

has been Vice Dean of Studies at the WiSo Faculty since April 2019. He is Professor of Business Taxation at the University of Cologne since 2013. Before working at the University of Cologne, Prof. Overesch was Professor of Business Taxation at Goethe University in Frankfurt (2011 - 2013). His research interests lie in the influence of taxation on the decision making of companies. A research focus is tax planning of international companies. He examined cross-border profit shifting activities and optimal tax investment and location decisions of international companies in numerous publications.

The lectures of Prof. Dr Overesch teach basic tax knowledge and its involvement in business decisions. 

Prof. Dr Overesch studied economics in Osnabrück and Mannheim and graduated in Business Administration at the University of Mannheim. He completed a doctorate at the University of Mannheim. After that he worked at the department of business taxation of Prof. Ulrich Schreiber at the University of Mannheim and at the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW). He also worked as a guest researcher at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

To the website of Prof. Dr Michael Overesch

Managing Director: Gerold Gnau

is the Managing Director of the Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences. Thus, as a member of the Managing Board, he supports the development and implementation of the faculty strategy.

Together with the various service areas and the Dean's Office team, he is responsible for an efficient and effective student-centred administration that supports teaching and research and provides tangible added value for students. In addition, he is in charge of all commercial matters of the faculty in coordination with the dean.