about susanne
I empower people and companies to move towards circular economy in a strategic and actionable way.
Hello, I’m Susanne Volz and I am specialised in Circular Economy Innovation.
I think it is save to say that I´m a curious mind that never stops exploring. I want to solve problems as badly as I want to know what´s behind the next hill. As a result, my work draws from a multidisciplinary background of law, finance and economics, as well as over 15 years of experience in environmental sciences and sustainability research.
Having worked with both private and public sector, I have a good understanding of the challenges of the sustainable transformation. Therefore, I´m dedicated to not only providing good theoretical knowledge to my clients, but foremost practical and tangible solutions.
I´m passionate about passing along my findings and experiences. Hence, I develop and facilitate trainings and coachings for board and staff members across all sectors, fields and experience levels. Since many years now, I also have regular teaching assignements at universities.
“Working together with Susanne Volz is a pleasure. She can convince with her expertise and is highly passioned about developing and implementing the Circular Economy concept, but always with a realistic view.”
– Michael König & Carola Menzel-Hausherr, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management
What is important to me:
Expertise
I like to know what I´m talking about. That is why I never stop learning and keep looking for new insights every day. And that is why you can rely on the knowledge I´m sharing with you. When I don´t know, I don´t share. I ask questions instead.
I like that quality in others, too. Therefore, you can expect excellence in every specialist from my network I might ever recommend you to.
As we are just talking about it – I work with a broad European network of (sustainability) specialists, all of which are proven – and rare – experts in their fields.
Multidisciplinary
It is my believe that good solutions need a holistic approach. Therefore, my strategy-focused consultancy work rests on a solid knowledge base about the fundamentals of many disciplins. However, I most certainly do not claim to ‘know it all’. Instead, I undersand which perspectives enrich the solution, and have them included.
Given the current challenge, I actually expect from my clients to also embrace a holistic approach.
Actionability
I love to work on studies, read about the latest academic insights or excite about raised questions that tickle the mind.
In real life, however, it is all about results. Regarding the climate crisis, we even say: winning slowly is the same as loosing.
Therefore, my work is about bridging the gap between academic knowledge and practical implementation.
We got problems. How can we go about to solve them. Quick and effectively. That attitude is what drives my work.
“I’ve worked with Susanne since 2018 developing the approach for Climate-KIC to deliver its circular economy education. Susanne is a superb colleague to work with, knowing when to be a leader and when to be a team player. She has a close attention to detail, making sure that her work and the team’s work is of the high quality expected. She is also able to see the ‘big picture’, making sure that the detail contributes to the overall objectives of the project.
Susanne is able to transfer her knowledge and ideas well. She delivers training sessions confidently and professionally, and knows how to make sure the people she is presenting to understand new ideas. She keeps the room motivated, responding to questions and comments without losing momentum.
When I was project manager overseeing Susanne’s work, I could rely on Susanne for meeting deadlines, even when deadlines were challenging. She is reliable as well as being enthusiastic and energetic.
I recommend Susanne for her considerable knowledge of circular economy and her skilled and eager manner of educating others.“
–Richard Bubb, Project Leader for Climate KIC
Next to my work, there is still some passion left
I am one of the founding members and first chairwomen of the board of Adoptadog e.V., an animal wellfare association founded in 2017.
We work closely with a dog shelter in Croatia. The shelter takes in strays and mistreated dogs and fosters about 600 dogs on a regular basis.
We work with this specific shelter, because they address the sources of cruelty against animals. They work closely with the authorities to foster stronger regulations and collaborate with schools to educate children about animal wellfare issues.
Adoptadog e.V. supports this fundamental groundwork, and also focuses on the placement of dogs into adopting families.
My heroes are the women and men working in the shelter. They are standing brave and relentless in the face of the challenging. Every day. With infinite optimism.
I do the paperwork …
Being a commercial lawer, my duties on the board are doing the legal work and the communication with german authorities.
… and the dirty work.
As my secondary residence, I live and voluntarily work at a dog sanctuary in bavaria. It is home to a free-range pack of up to 18 dogs. Caring for them and the farm means building stuff, working heavy machinery, getting stinky a lot and bitten sometimes. It is also about solving unexpected crisis and making good decisions on the spot on a daily basis.
Besides that, I am one of our truck drivers. I bimonthly travel the 3000 km route to pick up dogs from Croatia and bring them to their new families in Germany.
By the way: do you have a truck driving licence (> 4 tonnes) and want to do some routes per year? We are desperately looking for volunteers …
