Bloomberg commentator and columnist on the future of work

Julia is an award-winning writer, speaker, consultant and Bloomberg commentator and columnist on the future of work.

The author of the acclaimed book The Nowhere Office: Reinventing Work and the Workplace of the Future, she was a founder of the US-led Workforce Institute, chaired the inaugural UK Demos Workshift Commission and now co-hosts the popular podcast “The Nowhere Office”.

Julia is the author of six books, including the award-winning The Simplicity Principle, which was selected as Best Business Book and Best General Self-Help Book for 2020 in the USA, and Fully Connected: Social Health in an Age of Overload, which was shortlisted for Management Book of the Year in the UK.

An acclaimed entrepreneur who founded the networks and podcast business Editorial Intelligence, Julia was awarded an OBE in the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Birthday Honours List in 2015 for “Services to Business”. She regularly consults for and speaks to corporations, governments and change-makers around the world.

Head of the Global Assignments Governance Team, Volkswagen AG

Christian and his team are responsible for the Volkswagen Group’s globally applicable global mobility policy. After studying business law in Lüneburg and Manchester, Christian focused professionally on management and board remuneration. He has been responsible for global mobility issues since 2018, initially as part of an expat assignment in Tianjin, China, and since 2020, as head of the Global Assignments Governance team at Volkswagen AG in Wolfsburg.

Head of Cross Border Mobility, Lufthansa Group

Bianca has been passionate about Lufthansa and global mobility for more than 25 years. In her role as the Head of Cross Border Mobility, Bianca leads the design of cross-border concepts for the Lufthansa Group. Her latest implementations include cross-border remote work in the EU, hybrid assignments and local international transfers. Bianca is also responsible for the corporate assignment policy and for establishing compliance requirements. She is experienced in all fields of global mobility, from consultancy to processes.

Head of Global Mobility Hub, RWE

Aeric has worked in various operational and strategic HR functions over the past 25 years and looks back on almost 20 years of experience in the field of international HR management. He leads the RWE Global Mobility Hub Team of the RWE Group, with RWE Group-wide responsibility for all global mobility topics, from strategy, policy definition and infrastructure to global mobility services. With his team, Aeric is responsible for all international assignments and cross-border working at RWE. He is also responsible for deriving RWE’s mobility strategy from its overall strategy and mapping it into principles, guidelines and regulations.

Global Mobility Leader, Cargill

Guillermo is the global leader for International Mobility at Cargill. His scope covers strategy, policy, service delivery and governance for all cross-border assignments around the world as well as domestic relocations and commuters in North America. He also manages a team of global mobility consultants across regions and oversees other internal and external teams as part of Cargill’s service delivery model. Having spent more than 20 years in global mobility and learning and development, Guillermo has extensive experience in project management, change management and facilitation skills. He has managed global mobility programmes in different industries (for Nokia, Baker Hughes and QatarEnergy) and lived in multiple countries.

Global Mobility Manager/Partner Manager, Siemens

Christiane works closely with Siemens’ external providers on a global level. Her core business is strategic management of these providers and defining provider management standards for the organisation alongside her consulting role.

Having spent more than 30 years in different positions within human resources, Christiane has experienced extraordinary organisational, societal, cultural and technological change. She has worked for Siemens in local as well as global management and expert roles, gaining experiences from multiple perspectives, including in sales, service delivery and headquarter functions. 

In 2012, Christiane joined the Siemens Global Mobility Management (GMM) organisation, which has one of the largest international mobile workforces in the world. Within GMM, she has always served in a global central function with a broad range of responsibilities.

Tax Adviser, Volkswagen AG

Julian has been Tax Adviser at Global Assignments at Volkswagen AG since 2019. In this role, he is responsible for the global tax policy for assignments in the Volkswagen Group and coordinates the group’s global tax provider. Before joining Volkswagen, Julian studied economics at the University of Hanover and was employed as a tax consultant at a tax consultancy company in Hanover.

Global Mobility Research, Teaching Fellow, University of Warwick

Johan is an academic, trainer and consultant, focused on bringing industry leaders together to take critical and collaborative approaches to issues pertaining to sustainable global mobility. His research focuses on knowledge-sharing practices across global mobility. Through the delivery of workshops among leading organisations across the global mobility supply chain, Johan helps leaders collaborate to develop a more sustainable global mobility ecosystem.

Group Global Mobility Director, Worley

Caroline has more than 25 years of experience in delivering solutions for globally mobile workforces. She joined Worley in March 2020 to take on responsibility for the full global mobility programme management worldwide of around 500 assignees and 100+ permanent transfers. She manages a team of highly experienced and dedicated professionals, currently navigating a company-wide transformation to change and improve the way the mobility function supports Worley business operations. Caroline has worked in a variety of industries (financial services, oil and gas, FMCG, consulting) and has worked in many countries, including France, Belgium, Vietnam and Singapore, but recently repatriated to the UK.

Head of People Mobility & Travel, Klarna

Stephanie is the Head of People Mobility & Travel at Klarna, a Stockholm-based global fintech company that provides payment solutions for online and offline stores. In her role, Stephanie focuses on creating a seamless employee experience for those who work across multiple locations and travel frequently. Stephanie’s expertise in new ways of working has been invaluable in helping Klarna adapt to the changing landscape of work. Her decade of experience working in a big-four environment has given her a unique perspective on how to create effective HR policies and procedures that can be implemented across different cultures and legal systems. She is a key player in Klarna’s efforts to build a diverse and inclusive workforce equipped to succeed in today’s global economy.

Kim Abildgaard, Senior Partner, Career Europe Leader, Mercer

Kim has been with Mercer since 2001, holding a number of global and regional positions in the Mercer Career business. Kim has extensive knowledge of client management, sales and business development. While at Mercer, Kim has worked on several M&A deals as well as numerous product management, and transformation and innovation initiatives. Before joining Mercer, Kim worked for IBM as a client manager and as a senior analyst for International Data Corporation.

Kim holds a master's degree from Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.

Partner, Transformation, Mercer

Michael started out studying media management, communication design and technology with a focus on the internet industry. After his move from the creative and digital sectors to consulting, he gained more than 20 years of experience as a management consultant and project manager in national and international strategic HR projects. In addition, he knows the business needs (and realities) from his experience as a head of marketing and recruiting director.

Michael joined Mercer in 2017 through the acquisition of Promerit, a leading German HR consultancy, and today is a partner in Mercer’s European Transformation practice. He is a subject matter expert for people strategies, employer attractiveness and talent acquisition (TA). As one of the leading experts in employer branding and innovative recruiting in the German-speaking region, he has been contributing to the TA community in keynote speeches and articles for many years. His projects have received numerous international awards, including several HR Excellence Awards.

Global Mobility Practice Leader, UK&I, Mercer

Kate is a senior principal at Mercer and the firm’s Global Mobility Practice Leader for the UK and Ireland. Kate has worked in professional services organisations for over 20 years, supporting multinational clients with the management of their internationally mobile workforces. Kate has advised clients with operations worldwide, and across a wide variety of industries including technology, luxury goods, mining, FMCG, life sciences, E&C and professional services firms.

Kate holds a bachelor’s degree in history and English literature from the University of Melbourne, and a graduate diploma in human resource management and industrial relations from RMIT. Kate has lived and worked in Australia, Ireland and the UK.

EMEA Mobility Technology Leader, Mercer

Frederic is a principal in Mercer’s Career business and has more than 20 years of experience in the global mobility industry. Frederic joined Mercer in June 2012. He provides clients with in-depth knowledge of Mercer’s global mobility technology, helping them determine how to get the greatest benefit from these offerings and enhance their international assignment management processes. He is fluent in English and French and has a basic understanding of Italian.

Principal, Mercer

Based in London, Michael is a Principal in Mercer’s Career business with over 15 years’ Global Mobility operations and consultancy experience.

Prior to joining Mercer, Michael spent 6 years at EY where he supported and advised on clients’ mobility programmes, including in-house secondments to Electrolux and Lloyds Banking Group.

In his current role, Michael manages a portfolio of multinational clients providing guidance and support in the areas of expatriate compensation and Global Mobility policy and programme design. He also leads the delivery of Mercer’s Global Mobility client training.

Michael holds a bachelor’s degree in European politics and Spanish from Cardiff University. In addition, Michael also speaks Portuguese, German and French, and is currently learning Dutch.

Global Mobility Solutions Leader – Europe, Mercer Marsh Benefits

Mark is a principal and leads Mercer Marsh Benefits’ Global Mobility team in Europe. Before joining Mercer in 2010, Mark held senior positions at AXA PPP International and International SOS, where he gained more than 25 years of expatriate benefits experience. Mark helps multinational companies understand, review and address the key issues facing their global expatriate health and risk benefits provision — primarily focused on expatriate medical insurance, life/disability risk and medical/security assistance. He also undertakes work on multinational pooling and captive solutions.

Principal – Global Mobility, Mercer

Markus has over 11 years of global mobility experience from different in-house roles in various industries in Germany. In addition to consulting of assignees, in-house HR departments and business functions, Markus has led various strategic projects within HR and global mobility.

Workforce Health Leader, Mercer Marsh Benefits Spain

Patricia is a principal at Mercer Marsh Benefits, leading the Workplace Health Consultancy in Spain. She is a member of the Europe Workforce Health Management Leadership team. The aim is to deliver data-driven health and wellbeing strategies to all kinds of organisations, designing and implementing ad-hoc solutions and services to help them create healthier ecosystems.

Before joining Mercer, Patricia worked on a wide variety of healthcare-management-related projects in several different countries. Providing solutions for the populations in different healthcare systems has given her the experience to be able to implement strategies that enhance efficiency and resource management. Patricia was a regional manager for a private health insurance company in Spain and a medical manager for the biggest Chilean private health insurance company. Her projects in these roles were related to creating better access to sustainable health solutions with the aim of improving quality of life for the target population and promoting health.

Patricia is a Doctor of Medicine and holds a PhD in neuroscience. Her research work in the field of neuropsychiatry covered memory, attention and emotional circuits of the brain. She analysed these areas not only in mental pathology, but also in the normal functioning of mental health status. She has published many articles related to these studies carried out in Germany.

Principal, Mercer

Brigitte is a principal in Mercer’s Career business. She is a certified lawyer and has worked at the Council of Europe, served as a tax adviser at KPMG and worked in the HR and Legal Department of a multinational company in Asia. She has more than 13 years of experience in global mobility consulting, leading several projects in the field of international assignments. Brigitte has advised clients across a wide variety of industries, focusing on assignment policy design and technical solutions.

Partner and Rewards Practice Leader, Europe, Mercer

Seán oversees Mercer’s rewards products and consulting solutions across the region. He has 25 years of experience in the human resources and rewards consulting space, including compensation (executive and broad based), engagement, communications, transformation and digital.

Before taking on his European role, Seán led Mercer’s Southeast US People Consulting practice from 2011 to 2023. Earlier, he held a rewards advisory role with PwC, managing a variety of human resources and compensation projects. He developed PwC’s human capital metrics offering and launched the first survey of its kind in Ireland.

From 1998 to 2007, Seán managed his own boutique compensation consultancy in Dublin. He published a number of highly respected compensation surveys in Ireland and Europe, including Executive Salaries & Fringe Benefits in Ireland, 1999–2006.

Senior Consultant, Global Mobility IT, Mercer

Tasso is a senior consultant specialising in global mobility IT, based in Dusseldorf. In his role at Mercer, Tasso is dedicated to fostering strong client relationships by leveraging technology and guiding implementation projects. Over the course of the past 10 years, he has gained substantial expertise in mobility while working for various organisations. Tasso has a degree in business economics.

Commercial Leader, Mercer

Michael rejoined Mercer in 2019 after a 12-year absence during which he served as managing director of his own business. Throughout this period, he implemented a number of technology solutions. Michael is passionate about the impact digitalisation can have on the success of an organisation. Since 2019, he has helped mobility teams find the correct digital solutions to meet their requirements.

Global Product Owner, Mercer

Slagin is a principal in Mercer’s Global Mobility practice with more than 20 years of senior professional experience, and is based in Switzerland.

Slagin was the project lead and senior adviser on City Attractiveness and Living Standard Assessment for municipalities across various countries, including Ireland, Morocco, Poland, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the US. He is often invited to speak at international and municipal conferences, and he is an active media spokesperson on city attractiveness and quality of living.

Practice Leader for Employee Engagement and Experience, Mercer Europe and UK

Katerina is a business psychologist and the Practice Leader for Employee Engagement and Experience at Mercer Europe and UK. She has deep international experience in the design and development of employee feedback and engagement programs and helps HR and C-suite executives drive business performance and goals. She leads employee research programs for a wide range of global clients in the FMCG, manufacturing, high-tech, financial services, retail and luxury goods sectors. She is also a regular public speaker on the topic of employee listening and talent management.

Senior Consultant – Global Mobility, Mercer

With more than 20 years of experience in Global Mobility, Christof has worked for more than 17 years in various positions of global mobility management in a multinational company. During his in-house work, he has led co-sourcing initiatives, revised and implemented the global mobility policy and provided technical support for the introduction of a Global Mobility Shared Service Centre. Prior to joining Mercer, he had global responsibility for policy design and governance as well as relocation and assignment management services.

Global Mobility Product Solutions Leader, Mercer

Yvonne leads Mercer’s European Mobility practice and works closely with Mercer’s regional mobility leaders. In her role, she helps multinational companies resolve international assignment management issues and challenges.

With more than 20 years of experience, Yvonne has been instrumental in driving and supporting Mercer geographic regions, particularly in EMEA and APAC. She played a key role in the development and design of international compensation solutions for a number of leading firms in Europe and Asia. Yvonne is a regular speaker at Mercer’s expatriate management seminars and conferences.