Dr. Karin Thelen

Chief Renewables Officer @ Stadtwerke München GmbH

About

Dynamic, passionate executive & renewable energy leader with start-up and corporate expertise. P&L accountability, more than two decades of experience across life science, energy, utility, pharma and food industry. Strong track record in developing, driving and managing business. Experienced transformational and value-adding leader, creating top-line growth. My passion is inventing new, more powerful, efficient and profitable ways to drive business and turning the insights that emerge into new innovative business ideas. I love to empower my team and help my staff to develop and grow their skills. I am a success oriented and team-minded strong leader. I am energized by challenges, I am eager to achieve beyond what is expected and strive for continuous improvement. I am able to effect change in an organization without disrupting the business. I foster an environment which stimulates open communication, creativity and imagination, and engender a team spirit in solving problems and identifying and capturing new business opportunities. Feel free to contact me if you like to connect.

Country

Germany

City

Greater Munich Metropolitan Area

Industry

Utilities

Skill

Business Development, Enterprise and Start-Up Expertise, Innovation Management, Entrepreneurial Mindset, Leadership, Lean Management, Lab 4.0, R&D, Quality Management, Life Sciences, Business Design & Design Thinking, Biowissenschaften, Forschung und Entwicklung, Geschäftsentwicklung, Management, Molekularbiologie, Projektmanagement, Qualitätsmanagement, Research, Unternehmensstrategie

Experience

Chief Renewables Officer

Stadtwerke München GmbH

2023-7 - Present · 3 yrs 3 mos

München

Managing Director Regional Energy Transition with a strong focus on Climate and Sustainability, Municipal Cooperations, Planning and Construction, Decentralized Renewable Energy and Renewable Heat Generation as well as New Businesses & Ventures

Head of Quality Assurance and Quality Control

Stadtwerke München GmbH

2018-1 - 2023-6 · 5 yrs 6 mos

Director of the Quality Control and Quality Assurance department of Stadtwerke München, a large enterprise with more than 9.700 employees. I am responsible for a heterogenic team of more than 80 people at three different locations. The department comprises of an accredited water laboratory, a certified power plant chemistry laboratory and a certified material and welding inspection unit. My primary activities are to reorganize my department and to develop new structures in personnel, operations, technology and IT-infrastructure in order to increase the efficiency, establish new business opportunities and to reducing costs. Throughout this change process I create a new culture, guide my team with a strong vision, develop my employees, ensure the quality standards and implement a lean management structure. After the successful digital transformation, a harmonization of processes, services and analysis procedures are achieved and innovative new business opportunities will be targeted.

Head of Laboratory

Stadtwerke München GmbH

2012-9 - 2019-7 · 6 yrs 11 mos

Member of the VKU Board

VKU - German Association of Local Public Utilities

2025-3 - Present · 1 yr 7 mos

President

Bundesverband Geothermie e.V.

2023-12 - Present · 2 yrs 10 mos

Curator Fraunhofer Research Institution for Energy Infrastructures and Geotechnologies IEG

Fraunhofer IEG

2024-1 - Present · 2 yrs 9 mos

Member of the Advisory Board

ArchiTangle

2019-7 - Present · 7 yrs 3 mos

The blockchain tech-start-up ArchiTangle is transforming services in the architectural space to the next level by combining its longterm publishing knowledge with a novel blockchain-based archiving platform to enable architects to securely store sensitive documents without any intermediaries. I am happy to support the amazing ArchiTangle team with my advice!