Our TEAM
Christoph Kleinen
Managing Partner, Founder
Christoph Kleinen is a founder of KLEINEN & FRITZE ADVISORS.
He advises leading national and international FMCG providers and online or multi-channel retail companies. He has many years of project experience in staffing top positions in the sectors food & beverages, fashion & sport, luxury, cosmetics, and consumer durables.
Christoph has successfully worked for more than 20 years in recruiting top managers at first and second management levels. He primarily fills positions in general management, marketing & sales, purchasing & procurement, supply chain & logistics. Projects focusing on sustainability & sourcing as well as digitalisation & e-commerce are the current emphasis of his activities. An additional emphasis in the past few years has been on staffing advisory board or non-executive director positions. He also has many years of experience in working with financial investors.
Before founding KLEINEN & FRITZE ADVISORS, Christoph worked for more than 20 years as a Senior Partner of the globally leading recruitment consultancies Heidrick & Struggles and KornFerry. He headed the Consumer & Retail Practice in Germany there for many years. Before moving into recruitment consulting, he spent several years in the Central Purchasing / Category Management department of a leading retail company. He started his career in sales and marketing at KJS, which is now JDE.
Christoph studied Economics and Business Administration at the Universities of Bonn and Cologne and speaks fluent German and English.
Sylvia Fritze
Managing Partner, Founder
Sylvia Fritze is a founder of KLEINEN & FRITZE ADVISORS.
Sylvia has proven expertise in the segments of luxury, fashion, cosmetics and food & beverages etc.
Her clients include market-leading global brands and successful, growth-oriented family companies. Sylvia has supported many of these companies for more than a decade.
Sylvia has specialised in recruiting managers in the b2c segment for more than 25 years. The emphasis of her searches is on roles in marketing & sales, digitalisation & e-commerce, finance and human resources. Her clients appreciate both her de-centred understanding of their sectors and her sustainable and dedicated project support.
Before founding KLEINEN & FRITZE ADVISORS, she was the proprietor of the Sylvia Fritze Recruiting & Consulting agency for many years.
Sylvia studied Business Administration at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main and speaks fluent German and English.
Dr. Hans-Joachim Strüven
Senior Advisor
Dr Hans-Joachim Strüven is a Senior Advisor at KLEINEN & FRITZE ADVISORS.
He supports KLEINEN & FRITZE ADVISORS with his many years of expertise in OTC/life sciences and consumer health.
Achim has worked for reputable international recruitment consultancies for over 25 years. His projects focus on general management, marketing & sales, R&D and operations. He also has many years of experience in working with financial investors. An additional emphasis in the past few years has been on staffing advisory board or non-executive director positions.
Previous to KLEINEN & FRITZE ADVISORS, he was a partner at Heidrick & Struggles and Egon Zehnder International. In an earlier position he worked for the Boston Consulting Group. Before his employment at BCG, he worked for IBM in the USA and Germany.
Achim studied Mathematics and Economics at the University of Heidelberg and holds a doctorate in Economics and a master’s in Mathematics. He speaks fluent German and English.
Nihal Jäger
Principal
Nihal Jäger is a Principal at KLEINEN & FRITZE ADVISORS.
Her activities focus on searching for specialist and management positions in the b2c segment. She successfully fills management positions in finance, tax and legal, as well as in corporate development and professional services.
Nihal works for KLEINEN & FRITZE ADVISORS on a project-related basis. One focus of her current project work is on sustainability/CSR.
Nihal has successfully worked in executive search and e-recruiting for more than 20 years.
She was recently responsible for helping build up a new division at the Frankfurt branch of a specialist recruitment consultancy as the Business Manager. Before this, as a pioneer in e-recruiting, she worked in a variety of national and international finance positions at Monster.com for over 15 years. She started her career at the international recruitment consultancy Odgers Berndtson.
Nihal is a graduate in business administration (Diplom-Kauffrau) from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. She speaks fluent German, English and Turkish.
Anna Freifrau
von dem Bongart
Senior Consultant
Anna von dem Bongart is a Senior Consultant at KLEINEN & FRITZE ADVISORS.
She provides KLEINEN & FRITZE ADVISORS with project-related support in staffing specialist and management positions for both market-leading SMEs and international groups. Her special functional expertise is in category management, marketing & sales, finance and omnichannel retail.
Anna has worked on a self-employed basis for recruitment consultancies specialising in FMCG, food & non-food, and retail for more than 15 years. She began her career in marketing at an insurance company.
Anna studied Business Administration majoring in Marketing at the FH Fulda and speaks fluent German and English.
Susanne Heide
Senior Consultant
Susanne Heide is a Senior Consultant at KLEINEN & FRITZE ADVISORS.
She advises market-leading companies in the Retail & Consumer Goods sector on the recruitment of executives at the first and second management levels. Her focus is on functions in Sales & Marketing, Category Management, Supply Chain Management, Finance and Human Resources.
Prior to this, Susanne Heide worked for many years as an independent consultant for renowned personnel consultancies, where she specialized in research and direct search with a focus on the FMCG, life sciences, fashion, luxury goods, retail and e-commerce sectors. She has also developed and led training courses in the field of research in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Susanne Heide is fluent in German and English.