Annette Thum

An expert in leadership development, organizational change, and executive and team coaching, Annette Thum has designed and implemented innovative leadership development projects, created team events, lead change-processes.  

Annette has coached over 500 executives worldwide and thrives working within a corporate environment across different industries and regions. She strongly believes in cross-sector collaboration. Her style is direct and supportive, and her pragmatic approach helps her in identifying new effective client solutions. Annette also has an expertise with NGOs and governmental organizations in helping them bring different parties together. She has supported various health centers in Rwanda with trainings on management and leadership and recently returned from Ethiopia, where she facilitated an emergency-planning meeting with 100 participants for the UN World Food Program.

In addition to a master’s degree in International Politics, Economics, and American Studies, Annette holds a PhD in Leadership and Corporate Social Responsibility. Annette is a CORE™ Certified Executive Coach and has been certified in conflict settlement as well as various psychological certifications (e.g., in Gestalt, NLP, Coaching and Systems Thinking) from Harvard University and is familiar with different assessment instruments (e.g., MBTI Step II, FIRO-B, CDP, Hogan Suite and various 360 Feedback Profilers). 

She serves on the faculty and as a coach for Duke Executive Education. She has worked in over 30 countries and lives with her partner and his children in Berlin. A native German speaker, Annette is fluent in English and has familiarity with both French and Spanish.