Kerstin Günther facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Kerstin Günther
Born	1967 (age 57–58)
Nationality	German
Alma mater	Wrocław University of Technology, Weatherhead School of Management
Occupation	business executive
Known for	Deutsche Telekom AG, Magyar Telekom, Helmholtz Zentrum München GmbH

Kerstin Günther (born 1967) is a German business leader. Since 1991, she has held many important roles at Deutsche Telekom, a large telecommunications company. From 2013 to 2017, she was the chairwoman of Magyar Telekom, a part of Deutsche Telekom in Hungary. She has also been a member of important decision-making groups for companies like Euronext N.V. and Deutsche Wohnen SE. Since 2019, she has been the Chief Financial and Technology Officer at Helmholtz Zentrum München. This is a big health research center in Germany. In this role, she manages money, legal matters, staff, and all things related to technology and digital systems.

Early Life and Education

Kerstin Günther was born and grew up in East Germany. She went to the Wrocław University of Technology in Poland. There she studied electronics and finished her degree in 1991. She remembers that only about 2% of the students in her program were girls back then. Later, she continued her studies at the Weatherhead School of Management in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1999, she earned an MBA, which is a special business degree, focusing on finance.

Career Journey

Kerstin Günther started her career in 1991 at Deutsche Bundespost. This was the German postal and telecommunications service at the time. When it became a private company called Deutsche Telekom in 1995, she took on leadership roles. She spent 12 years working in other countries. These included Hungary, where she was a Senior Vice President for wholesale business. She also worked in Slovakia, focusing on strategy and external affairs.

In 2003, she came back to Germany. She became a co-managing director for human resources. This was for Deutsche Telekom's first shared service center. In 2004, she became the first woman to lead an Infrastructure Branch in Frankfurt/Main. Here, she managed all technical and operational parts of the company. She had a team of about 3,000 engineers working with her. She also held leadership jobs at T-Home in Bonn.

Leading Technology in Europe

Since March 2012, Kerstin Günther has been a Senior Vice President for Technology in Europe. This means she is in charge of technology and IT for Deutsche Telekom in 12 different countries. She also works on a big project that covers all of Europe. In 2014, a newspaper called Die Welt reported that she was responsible for about 20,000 employees in these countries. This was just below the main board level of the company.

Innovating Health Research

In 2019, Kerstin Günther became the Chief Financial and Technology Officer at Helmholtz Zentrum München. This is one of Germany's top health research centers. She helps to change and digitize the center. This means bringing in new technologies and digital ways of working.

Kerstin Günther has a good sense of humor. She once described the European telecommunications industry. She said it was like "the center of a healthy sandwich." She meant it was always under pressure from outside forces. These forces include the market and big tech companies like Google, Apple, or Amazon. In 2014, Deutsche Telekom made a digital agreement with the Hungarian government. She joked that this alliance was like "the sandwich to protect the healthy salad."

Besides her native German, Kerstin Günther speaks Polish and English very well. She can also have conversations in Russian and Hungarian.