Career Biography

Jan started his career at Hengeler Mueller in 1999, focusing on M&A and corporate work, including numerous restructurings of, inter alia, Deutsche Bank, RWE, Mannesmann, Marconi and General Electric.

In 2001, Jan joined EINSTEINet Holding AG, a start-up founded by institutional investors such as Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Dresdner Kleinwort, and Bear Stearns. As sole in-house counsel and company secretary, he was responsible for all legal aspects of the business, including a €120m debt-to-equity swap.

Between 2003 and 2008, he held various positions at Bayer AG in Leverkusen. Among other roles, he headed the M&A team within the Legal Department and worked for two years as executive assistant to the former CFO, Klaus Kühn. During that time, Jan coordinated the €17bn public takeover of Schering AG, negotiated the $590m sale of Bayer’s plasma division to U.S. investors, and managed a group-wide savings programme with realised savings of approximately €260m per annum.

In 2008, Jan took over as General Counsel and Group Compliance Officer of Munich-based KraussMaffei AG, where he implemented a group-wide compliance management system.

After four years, Jan transitioned to ZF Friedrichshafen AG as General Counsel. Between 2017 and 2021, he also held the position of Chief Compliance Officer. During his ten years with ZF, the company expanded its sales from €18bn to €40bn per year. The €10bn public takeover of TRW Automotive in 2015 and the €8bn public takeover of WABCO in 2019 significantly contributed to this growth. In 2022, under Jan’s supervision, ZF succeeded in a landmark decision before the U.S. Supreme Court on the applicability of 28 U.S.C. § 1782 to international arbitration.

Jan’s team comprises 110 people across Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. In 2015, he received the JUVE Award for In-House Team of the Year (M&A). In 2019, he was listed in the GC Powerlist – The Legal 500. In 2020, he was named Corporate Counsel of the Year by Lexology in association with the ACC. In addition, he has been shortlisted by ILO, JUVE and azur for awards in various other years.

He has co-authored two legal commentaries on the German Stock Corporation Act.

Jan is married and has three children.