Alumna Isabel Büchner: From KLU to DHL - Building a Career with Purpose
From KLU’s classrooms to DHL’s global network, Alumna Isabel Büchner (MSc Global Logistics, Class of 2013) has built an impressive career step by step. After joining DHL directly after graduation, she has worked in a variety of roles and steadily advanced within the company. Today, she serves as Business Performance Manager, combining her passion for logistics, international teamwork, and data-driven insights to improve processes and empower colleagues. Isabel’s story is one of persistence, growth, and applying an ‘operations mindset’ in everything she does.
Name: Isabel Büchner
Degree: MSc Global Logistics & SCM, Class of 2013
Position, Company: Business Performance Manager, DHL Supply Chain
Best about my degree program:
My time at the KLU not only provided me with valuable insights into the logistics world through guest lectures by industry speakers from global companies, but also through practice-oriented case studies. It also gave me the opportunity to gain an overview of the diverse fields and career opportunities that logistics has to offer. Moreover, the international setting encouraged myself and my peers to broaden our perspectives and helped me appreciate the diversity of people and perspectives that define our industry today.
Best about my job:
What I enjoy most is the international nature of our business but also and the opportunities for development. By international, I don’t just mean our global customer base, but also the interconnected logistics processes behind them. Supply chains continue to fascinate me to this day. Although I started “just” as a member of the customer service team, I soon became involved in onboarding new clients and now I am responsible for our site reporting. With every step along this path, I was able to expand my skills. Entering the company this way proved to be the right decision, proving the saying: “A career is not built by a single leap upward, but by the steps one is willing to take.”
How KLU helped me get there:
Even though my current position itself has little to do with logistics, I am still working in a logistics company. My education at KLU has helped me to keep the “big picture” in mind, to better understand processes and decisions, and to put interrelations and market developments into context. It has also made it easier for me to interact with international customers and to navigate the diversity within the company itself.
How do you incorporate an "operations mindset" into your daily work:
I would say that even in my current field of reporting, having an operations mindset means going beyond completing tasks - it’s about using data to create value. I focus on turning data into insights that help us understand performance, predict future developments, and identify bottlenecks. My goal is to make information clear and accessible so colleagues can improve processes and make better decisions every day.
