Coach Profile: Dr. Thomas Gebhardt

Educational Background

  • Systemic consultancy for organisations at "Simon, Weber and Friends" (Prof. Fritz Simon, Torsten Groth), Berlin
  • Systemic Coach at artop GmbH - Institute at the Humboldt University Berlin, certified in accordance to the regulations of the German Association for Executive Coaching (DBVC); Status as "DBVC Professional Coach"
  • Numerous trainings and short-term courses, among others on "Leading from the future as it emerges" ("Presencing") with Prof. Otto Scharmer (MIT), on the basics of hypno-systemic consulting with Dr. Gunther Schmidt (Heidelberg) and on intercultural communication, team leadership, rhetoric and questioning techniques, project and conflict management
  • Guest researcher at the Brookings Institutions, Washington, D.C. (1997)
  • Dr. phil., Sociology, Free University of Berlin, Interdisciplinary Research Training Group "Democracy in the USA" at the John-F.-Kennedy Institute for North American Studies, Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hans Joas (1997)
  • Master of Arts (M.A.) in Sociology, New School for Social Research, New York (1993); Scholarhip holder of the German Academic Exchange Service (1991-1992) of the Heinrich Böll Foundation (1992-1993)
  • Humboldt-Universität, Berlin, Sociology, B.A. equivalent (1988-1991)

Professional Experience

  • Head of "Executive Education / Public Policy and Management" at the UP Transfer GmbH at the University of Potsdam with responsibility for program development, acquistion, team leadership, training and coaching (since 2005)

  • Selected projects:

    • Executive development program for Forschungszentrum and Project Management Jülich (PTJ) Jülich (starting 2021)
    • Top Executive Coaching, Federal Employment Agency, BA (since 2020)
    • Top Executive Coaching at the German Armed Forces (since 2019)
    • Lead Coach for the projects of the Fellows of the Carl Friedrich Goerdeler-Kolleg for Good Governance (2014-2020)
    • Individual and team coachings for executive civil servants on behalf of the German Academy of Public Administration (BAköV) and the German Foreign Office, AA (since 2015)
    • Coaching Curriculum for Senior Leadership Trainers, National Institute of Public Administration, Jakarta, Indonesia (on behalf of GIZ, 2015-2016)
    • Short-term study programs and tailormade training courses for executives (since 2005 - references)
    • "Executive Training in GeoGovernance" with the framework of the "Potsdam Research Cluster for Georisk Analysis, Environmental Change and Sustainability", PROGRESS (2011-2014)
    • "Executive Master of Public Management" (EMPM) at the Hertie School of Governance (HSoG), Berlin in cooperation with the University of Potsdam (2008-2013)
  • Coordinator of the postgraduate degree program "Master of Public  Management" (MPM) at the University of Potsdam (1999-2005); 369 graduates from 72 countries since 1999
  • Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Social Policy Research (ZeS), University of Bremen (1996-1999)
  • Fellow of German-American Young Scholars' Institute, Harvard University and University of Bremen (1994-1995)
  • Freelance journalist for various weekly and daily newspapers and for the MDR broadcasting company (1990-1993)