Lars Gerdes holds a degree in business administration and has extensive experience in managing and restructuring IT departments, as well as in defining and implementing IT strategies. His focus is on the cost-effective, service-oriented use of IT systems that is aligned with corporate objectives, while fully integrating the respective employees and their development prospects. For him, consistent make-or-buy decisions, the optimization of workflows and the use of new technologies are just as important building blocks for success as the human factors that aim at employee motivation and the willingness to learn of everyone involved in the success. Lars Gerdes has over 15 years of SAP experience and has continuously expanded his expertise, from application and module consulting in the areas of logistics and finance to comprehensive, process-oriented, and integrative approaches. Extensive project management knowledge and experience in international environments, acquired during his professional career, round out his profile. In particular, his many years of experience in managing IT organizations and projects at application companies in the media and logistics sectors are of benefit to him, as they always allow him to see things from the customer's perspective.