Florian Groene and Christian Wilkens join Strategy& in Germany

Strategy& has hired two new partners in Germany: Florian Groene and Christian Wilkens.

Florian Groene joins the German partnership from the US wing of Strategy&, where he already was a partner. Based in Berlin, he is a leader in Strategy&’s Telecommunications, Media and Technology (TMT) practice in Europe. 

In the US, Groene latterly was head of the firm’s Telecoms Enterprise Strategy practice, responsible for Strategy&’s service offering, thought leadership and business development in the sector. He led client accounts in the mobile and fixed telecoms, Internet of Things, XaaS platform, software, cable, digital media, information technology services and e-commerce sectors.

He specialises in among others strategy development, mergers & acquisitions, strategic partnerships, corporate venturing, digital product and customer experience improvement, digital transformation, cost cutting and operating model development for digital models. Groene has worked across Europe and the Americas, with shorter stints in Asia Pacific and the Middle East. 

The German national has been with the strategic consulting firm for nearly two decades now. After a short spell in venture capital, Groene kickstarted his career at Booz Allen Hamilton, a predecessor of Strategy&. Following the firm’s split into two, Groene continued with Booz & Company (as opposed to Booz Allen) in its Berlin office, and from 2012 onwards, in its New York office. In 2013, Booz & Company was bought by PwC, and today serves as its strategy consulting subsidiary.

Also appointed a partner is Christian Wilkens, who is based in Strategy&’s Frankfurt office. He is part of the Pharma & Life Sciences practice, and brings extensive consulting experience to the role. Prior to joining Strategy&, he was the German consulting leader of IQVIA for two years, one of the globe’s largest service providers to the pharma, life sciences and healthcare segments. 

Before that, he worked over a decade for IQVIA and its legal predecessor IMS Health (which merged with Quintiles in 2016 and became IQVIA in 2017), holding roles of ascending seniority. He has led engagements on topics including product launch excellence, brand optimisation, commercial go-to-market strategies, due diligence, in-licensing, health checks for blockbuster drugs, portfolio assessments and optimisation, as well as market access support. 

“The time I have shared with IQVIA has been a memorable and formative experience in my professional development and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who contributed to my growth. I am thrilled to be joining Strategy&, and look forward to help our clients excel from strategy through to execution,” said Wilkens.

Having broke the news on LinkedIn, Wilkens has received a wave of congratulations on his post, bagging over 500 likes and comments at the time of writing.

Meanwhile, in the Middle East, Strategy& this month added three new partners to its partnership.