After completing his training as an agricultural machinery mechanic and further training as a state-certified mechanical engineer, Norbert Hülsmann studied materials engineering at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences and earned a Bachelor of Materials and Microstructural Engineering from Sheffield City Polytechnic, now Sheffield Hallam University. He also holds an MBA in International Management from the University of London. Over the past 20 years, he has worked both domestically and internationally, successfully transforming, reorganizing, restructuring, and building up companies. He has served as CEO, COO, and Managing Director in Germany, Managing Director in England, and President in the USA. In addition, he has assumed responsibility as Co-Managing Director in Poland, Hungary, Turkey, and China, based on the dual control principle. The focus of his previous activities has been on medium-sized companies in mechanical and plant engineering as well as metal processing, where he has worked in family businesses, a PE-led group and a public limited company. After a long career in industry, he became self-employed as an interim manager and consultant on October 1, 2023. His special focus is on strategy and business development, M&E processes with pre- and post-merger activities, and the optimization of entire value chains. Furthermore, he uses his extensive experience to support medium-sized companies on a temporary basis as CEO, COO, or CRO. Companies benefit from his leadership and assertiveness. He has an entrepreneurial mindset and a good balance of analytical and pragmatic thinking. Based on his extensive knowledge of strategy and business development and an end-to-end approach to all value-creating steps, he stands for the successful and sustainable implementation of even critical issues. With his hands-on mentality, he quickly gains the trust of his employees and, when necessary, gets directly involved in projects to drive them forward. Norbert Hülsmann has been an associated partner at F&P since January 1, 2024.