Partners & Managing Directors

Olaf Arndt is a Senior Partner and an expert in complex communi­cations at the interface between industry, government and society. Among other things, he focusses on positioning companies and executives, particularly in crisis situations and phases of strategic realignment. He supports top manage­ment in communicating success-critical topics to policy-makers, the media, opinion-makers and the capital market.

Olaf trained in journalism, after graduating in political science, sociology and history. He draws upon his many years of manage­ment and consulting experience with renowned consulting firms. He co-authored the book “CEO-Kommu­nikation. Strategien für Spitzen­manager” (CEO commu­nica­tions. strategies for top managers), with Egbert Deekeling.

Dr Dirk Barghop is a Senior Partner. He advises companies on executive and employee communi­cations during times of highly complex trans­formation and renewal processes. He specialises in developing strategic commu­nications programmes and designing executive commu­nications processes.

Dirk holds a Ph.D. in historical anthropology and produced a thesis exploring communi­cations among the elite rulers in ancient Rome. Before embarking on his consulting career, he worked in research and teaching at third-level. Dirk is co-publisher of the books “Kommuni­kation im Corporate Change. Maß­stäbe für eine neue Management praxis” (Communications in times of corporate change. Standards for new management practice), “Kommuni­kation in der digitalen Trans­formation” (Communications in times of digital transformation), and he co-authored the book “Change-Kommunikation” (Change communications) with Egbert Deekeling and Susanne Arndt.

Julika Benz is a managing director at our company. She consults companies on complex change processes as well as in strategy develop­ment and communi­cations. Her main focus is on the inter­faces between strategy, HR and communi­cations.

Julika studied business administration and has many years of experience in designing strategy and communi­cations processes in corporate environ­ments. Before moving to H/Advisors Deekeling Arndt, she worked for ten years at the world's largest logistics company.

Bernd Buschhausen is a Managing Director of the company and is in charge of the Public Affairs unit at the Berlin office. He has over 25 years of experience in shaping effective public affairs, govern­ment relations, and political communi­cations for companies, associations, organisations, and govern­ment institutions at the German, European, and global levels. He is particularly interested in the areas of environ­ment and energy, health and nutrition, as well as technology and security policies.

Previously, he was in charge of coordinating Instinctif Partners’ public affairs network as Deputy Group Head Public Policy. Further stations in public affairs consultancy include stints at the global agencies Edelman and FleishmanHillard, for whom he opened and developed their offices in Berlin.

A political scientist, Bernd is one of the leading thinkers in the design of modern lobbying and public affairs approaches at national and European level. Awards include the Digital Public Affairs Award 2010 (Forum Pro Paintball), the European Digital Public Affairs Award 2013 (Thesendialog der Deutschen Geflügel­wirtschaft) and the Digital Marketing Award 2022 (GIZ’s atingi.org).

The Executive Advisor and company founder supports and advises communi­cations experts, CEOs and top managers, especially during phases of comprehensive, large-scale trans­formation. He is one of the most renowned experts in this field.

Egbert graduated in sociology and later became Managing Director at ABC/EUROCOM. In 1995, he founded Deekeling & Fiebig, which later evolved to become the strategic communi­cations consultancy Deekeling Arndt Advisors in Communications. Egbert is co-author and co-publisher of a number of specialist books on the topic of change communi­cations, CEO commu­nications and commu­nications in times of digital trans­formation.

Volker Heck is a Senior Partner and the head of our Frankfurt office. His main focus is on capital market commu­nica­tions for non-financial companies and institutions, managing regulatory and political topics and positioning of top management during phases of strategic realignment.

After graduating with a degree in economics, Volker spent more than 20 years working for energy companies and has broad-based experience of national and inter­national lobbying. He focuses on the area of energy and the environment, having held various senior positions at the RWE energy group for many years.

Natascha Kunath is a Managing Director of the company and leads the Change Communications & Management division. She heads up the Change team and the Design Studio at our Düsseldorf office and is also in charge of the company's People & Culture team. Natascha is a renowned expert in the field of effective implementation of communications programmes and change management for transformation processes in times of growth as well as in restructuring.

Previously, she worked at the communications and innovation consultancy K12 and at the headquarters of the MDAX international industrial and technology company Thyssen Krupp. At the latter, she was responsible for the change management of an international transformation and growth programme in the Industrial Solutions division and, with the Thyssen Krupp Change Academy, she built up a company-wide network of change managers. For the Initiativkreis Ruhr and the buddY state programme in Thuringia, the social sciences graduate accompanied the implementation of educational programmes in the Ruhr area and Thuringia at education Y, whose main sponsor is the Vodafone Foundation. Prior to this, Natascha was a consultant with the former Change & Leadership team at H/Advisors Deekeling Arndt, where she was appointed Managing Director in 2009.

Daniela Münster is a managing director at our Frankfurt office and a member of our Executive Leadership Team. She focuses on advising national and inter­national clients in all matters of stake­holder communi­cations, in particular regarding acute crises as well as prevention and preparation for crisis situations. She has also advised on numerous transactions such as M&As and IPOs and led investor relations mandates. Daniela Münster manages the "International Hub" of H/Advisors Deekeling Arndt and coordinates international co-operation within the H/Advisors Network.

Daniela studied English and History in Freiburg and Dundee, in Scotland. After a PR traineeship and sub­sequent role in PR consulting, she moved to investor relations and capital market communi­cations, supporting a number of medium and large-scale enterprises, both in their mandatory communi­cations and in trans­actions. Previously she worked for a US non-profit organisation.

Cathrin Sengpiehl is a managing director at our company. In her consulting work she focusses on developing communi­cations and sustain­ability strategies as well as agenda-setting to position companies in the socio-political arena.

Cathrin studied history and applied cultural studies at KIT in Karlsruhe and completed a degree in cultural and media studies at HfMT Hamburg. Before joining H/Advisors Deekeling Arndt, she spent six years working as a press spokes­person with a private foundation, and seven years before that at other communications consulting companies. She has experience in strategic media work, stake­holder dialogue, study projects, editorial work as well as sustain­ability communications.