“You’ve earned your wings” – KLU Graduation 2025
Friday, 19th of September, was a special day at KLU, packed with joy and pride, as the university’s class of 2025, together with families and friends, celebrated their graduation. The ceremony, which featured guest speaker and CEO of Lufthansa Group, Carsten Spohr, was held at Hamburg’s stunning Elbphilharmonie Concert Hall. Here, within a short walk of the KLU Campus, graduates were presented with their degree certificates, thereby marking significant milestones in their lives.
First welcomed by the Dean of Programs, Professor Alexander Himme, the graduates were then congratulated by KLU President, Professor Andreas Kaplan, who offered them some words of advice for the future.
“When things become unclear or overwhelming, trust in your educational training, trust in your Operations Mindset, trust in your instruments,” he said. “Your values are your compass. The less clear things are, the more you must rely on your values. Whether it’s a technological disruption to adapt to or democracies to defend, your strength will lie in your vigorous, vocal, and visible value system.”
He closed his speech, which included a number of nice references to the aviation industry as a perfect preamble to guest speaker Carsten Spohr, CEO of Lufthansa Group, with: “You have earned your wings.”
Following the right path
In his address, Chairman of the KLU Supervisory Board and Executive Director of the Board of Trustees at the Kühne Foundation, Dr Jörg Dräger, spoke of celebrating the past - this year marks KLU’s 15th anniversary - as wellas looking to times ahead and graduates’ roles in shaping them.
“As a future leader, you step into a sector with immense power to drive change. This ‘Operations Mindset’, shaped by your education here, is what will enable you to navigate complexity and drive meaningful change wherever your path takes you,” he said.
KLU, Dr. Dräger also talked about the pioneering steps KLU is making, with its new Campus of Vietnam now starting classes in the Master's in Global Logistics and Supply Chain program, and the university’s new cohort of Business Analytics and Data Science master students who just began their studies.
Chairman and CEO of Lufthansa Group, Carsten Spohr, meanwhile, thanked the attendees for the invitation to speak at the event and noted: “I see numerous nationalities in this room, and that shows what logistics is all about and what KLU is all about.”
He went on to say: “You are sitting here today because you have taken one decision in the right direction: a career in the right industries."
“The future is in your hands, not just your own future, the future of industry, the future of the corporate environment, the future of the things you’ll be responsible for.”
It was then time for graduate representative Søren Hessellund Jeppesen to take the stage.
“What I found at KLU was a very strong, very vibrant community,” the MSc Global Logistics and Supply Chain Management graduate said of his time at the university. “I found that our differences, attitudes and experiences, made us able to form friendships across borders and cultures.”
Next up the vice president of the Alumni Association, Mykola Kazadayev, spoke of embracing uncertainty and of strong leadership. “The leaders this world needs are those who can balance performance and principles,” he explained.
Award-winning students and staff
After all graduates had come up on stage to receive their certificates and swung the tassels on their hats from left to right, the KLU Best Dissertation Award, supported by the Dr. Friedrich Jungheinrich Foundation, was presented to Dr. Tim Schlaich.
This was followed by the announcement of this year's winner of the President's Medal for Citizenship: Oleksandra Shvets (BSc in Business Administration), who was honored for her outstanding contributions to the KLU community and student life.
Finally, KLU Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior, Christian Tröster, and external lecturer Dr. Peter Schubert were awarded the KLU Best Teacher Awards.
After the ceremony, the graduates and their families gathered outside, hugging and taking photos in the sun.
“I don’t know where my path will go, but I’m living in the moment, really enjoying this,” said Master in Global Logistics and Supply Chain Management graduate Jaanvi Bhatia. “It’s the first time my parents are here in Hamburg. It’s lovely to have them experiencing this with me.”
We are proud of you all! Look forward to seeing you at homecoming in November!
Photo impressions
