KLU x McKinsey Consulting Day 2026

Prof. Dr. Björn Michaelis is an Associate Professor of Management Practice at Kühne Logistics University. He completed his postdoctoral qualification (Habilitation) in Business Administration at Goethe University Frankfurt and has held positions at Heidelberg University, as well as serving as a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. His research and teaching focus on strategy, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic human resource management, and leadership. Alongside his academic work, he advises companies and brings professional experience from Daimler, DaimlerChrysler Japan, and Kienbaum. He also completed an executive program in private equity and venture capital at Harvard Business School.

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Marie Samland has been a Fellow Senior Associate at McKinsey & Company in Hamburg since January 2026. Since joining the firm as a Fellow in February 2024, she has progressed through the role of Fellow Associate. Previously, she gained consulting experience in People & Change at KPMG Germany and in HR and organizational development at meta five. Her other roles include social media and recruitment at Maastricht University, as well as applied research on student engagement and retention. Her experience spans consulting, human resources and organizational development, research, and communications.

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Lennart Ebert is a Senior Consultant at McKinsey Digital in Hamburg and is pursuing a PhD in Process Dynamics at Humboldt University of Berlin. Since joining McKinsey in November 2022, he has worked in digital consulting. Previously, he worked at Protiviti Germany in technology consulting, data analytics, and Next Generation Audit. His experience includes process mining, data engineering, AI applications, automated reporting, and IT security. While studying at the University of Mannheim, Ebert worked as a research assistant, supporting teaching and an AI project focused on energy. As a scholarship holder with the German Business Foundation (Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft), he helped organize seminars and served for a time as a regional group co-lead. Earlier experiences include an exchange year in California through the German Bundestag’s Parliamentary Sponsorship Programme and a student internship in human-computer interaction at the University of Hamburg.

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Maximilian Leclaire has worked in Strategy & Operations consulting at McKinsey in Hamburg since March 2025. Previously, he held roles at Hapag-Lloyd, SusTec, and RWTH Aachen University, and gained practical experience at Porsche, Voith, and Cooper Standard.

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