Do you remember, Melanie?

I did my vocational training with RWE Energy as an industrial clerk while studying in the evenings to complete my Bachelor’s degree at the FOM. I was able to write my thesis in New York, while working for a weather broker in the World Trade Center. My current job title is IT Domain Lead, which means my team and I provide help in Business Support domains – mainly the Risk and Back-Office departments –  with apps and IT landscapes. The Project Management team and Project Management Office (PMO), on the other hand, support IT projects across all RWEST IT areas.

I am more or less a child of RWE, as this year marks my 25th anniversary with the company [broad smile]. I began my career in Wesel, then moved to Essen and was one of the first employees of RWE Supply & Trading GmbH. I started as a team assistant, but always wanted to move into a leadership or management role, so I am very happy with my current position.

RWEST has given me a great deal of variety over the past 25 years. I have been in IT for the last six years, but before that I worked on the business side and was able to spend two lengthy periods abroad – in Houston (Texas). We had just set up a new company there and I was able to be part of the entire process, which was really exciting. On my second on-site deployment about ten years ago, I spent almost five years in Houston, along with Hendrik Niebaum and Andree Stracke, helping to integrate the newly acquired shareholding of Excelerate Energy into the RWE Group. Over and over again I have had the opportunity to tackle new challenges. So my job has very much made me who I am over the years, not just in business terms but also in a personal sense. Over the years I have met an incredible number of fantastic colleagues and l look upon Houston as my second home now, where I still have a great group of friends I visit on a regular basis.

My PA (personal assistant). We work incredibly well together as a team, she takes a big load off my shoulders and helps me wherever she possibly can. In the seven years we have worked together, I have encouraged her to get involved in many projects and extend her area of responsibility, which has become wider and wider over the years, and I trust her 1,000 percent. A team-building exercise of a different kind was our goal of taking part in the New York Marathon together. We achieved that goal and it further cemented our already close working relationship.

Without a doubt that was my time in Houston. The company there was very small (70 employees). For those of us, who were sent out from Germany, this meant going “back to our roots.” My first years at Trading were similar – we knew everyone on site by name and we had a very wide and varied area of responsibility. So I was not just responsible for Back-Office Continental Power there, but also for Finance, Treasury, Accounting and Legal. That was really fascinating and I can well imagine doing something like that again one day.

Last year, we at IT focused extensively on staff professional development. We have a Talent Programme in this company, so it was about extending our role framework, making job descriptions more specific, thinking about how we could further develop our employees and, in our role as managers, also keep an eye out for new talent and invest time in developing them. We really put the spirit of the Future Talent Programme into practice, so I am naturally proud of that.

Everyone makes mistakes and we can all learn from them. In fact, mistakes are essential to our ongoing development. But I really don’t like it when people moan about something yet don’t try and change anything, or when they complain about things behind peoples’ backs. Openness should always be the first step towards resolving any problems with the job, other colleagues or departments and working to find a solution. So lack of honesty is something that really brings me to boiling point.

I would love to travel more. I am a very sociable person, so almost every day I meet up with friends and go out a lot. You won’t find me at home very often. Slowing down is just not my thing. And patience – to the dismay of many of my colleagues – is unfortunately not one of my strong points either [grins].

It is my wish that RWEST will not lose any of its dynamic spirit and continue to attract people who embrace this corporate culture. Employees are an asset to any company and I will be happy if we can maintain our speed and power.