Maria Oestreicher: The number whisperer.
Maria Oestreicher loves numbers and, with her mantra, manages to recognise added value for the company in every financial report, no matter how dry it may seem. She now wants to bring this gift to supervisory boards.
In her active career, Oestreicher has worked for private equity companies as well as DAX companies and international groups. As Head of Corporate Financial Accounting at the ista Group, she was a core team member in four M&A transactions affecting the Group and project manager for a stock market prospectus. Among other things, she was involved in the further development of IT systems, fast close projects and the integration of companies. Prior to this, Oestreicher was Head of Corporate Financial Accounting at Veba Electronis LLC in Silicon Valley.
She describes her time in the United States as particularly instructive, because at the time she and a small number of colleagues virtually created the holding company from scratch in Silicon Valley. “We were the vanguard back then, even buying the computers and coffee cups ourselves. It was an adventure and a chance for me to think outside the box,” recalls the business graduate.
In 2019, Oestreicher ended her active professional career and in 2020, she underwent individual coaching at the Management Alliance to become a ‘Qualified Supervisory Board Member’ and then a ‘Specialised Supervisory Board Financial Expert’. “I am looking forward to contributing my extensive expertise and experience to supervisory boards,” says Oestreicher. She has also been supporting Weltkind eG as an honorary board member since mid-2021.
In our conversation, one thing quickly becomes clear: Oestreicher is not only trying to make the case for the power of numbers, but also for corporate financial reporting and private equity support.
What motivated you to become certified as a qualified supervisory board member?
In my professional career, I have gained a wide range of experience with advisory boards and group-internal supervisory boards. Now I have the opportunity to contribute my extensive expertise to companies from the outside. Gabriele Bornemann from Management Alliance has given me the fine-tuning for this exciting new task with her many practical reports.
In your opinion, what are currently the biggest challenges in supervisory board work?
On the one hand, there are the challenges posed by global crises, which are becoming increasingly complex and fast-moving. These currently range from the Ukraine crisis and inflation to demographic change and climate change.
On the other hand, supervisory boards today are faced with the task of mastering the enormous increase in regulatory reporting requirements. This is a real feat of strength, especially for smaller companies, and a positive challenge for me. The mantra for my challenge is: ‘What good, value-enhancing things can I derive from the reporting requirements?
What is your personal tip for successful networking in the supervisory board community?
For me, specialist events are platforms for getting to know people and building relationships. I find it fascinating that I still have contacts with the networks I built up more than 20 years ago in the USA and with London Business School alumni. I think the Anglo-Americans in particular were simply better networkers back then than we were in Germany. But we have caught up. That’s why I go on the networking offensive with an open mind and curiosity. I have had very good experiences with the Management Alliance business events, for example.
What do you want to achieve and change as a member of the Supervisory Board?
As a Supervisory Board member, I would also like to contribute my mantra and help integrate the collection of data into operational processes. You know, many companies leave one of their greatest treasures unused, their data, instead of giving it content and ultimately added value. And this is exactly where I would like to provide support as a member of the Supervisory Board, preferably in the service sector or retail. I can very well imagine helping smaller medium-sized companies to optimise their financial processes and make them fit for capital markets, especially with my private equity experience. Perhaps I can also use my expertise to help reduce reservations about private equity investors.
I would also like to promote flexibility. Diversity, adapting forms of work to new lifestyles, sustainability – a company today can utilise all of this for its own benefit, just like the data and figures I have already mentioned. However, this is not possible with black-and-white thinking, but with maximum flexibility.