OUR TEAM
SABINE AMEND - CEO
Sabine Amend is the founding CEO of ti communication USA, Inc. She is responsible for the overall business management, strategic initiatives, and partner relationships. Having previously worked in consulting firms in Europe, lived and worked in Asia, and with a decade-long track record as a business owner of a boutique consulting firm in the US, she nurtures change, performance and learning capacity in ti communication clients as well as within the ti communication network.
An experienced consultant herself, she has led change processes for organizational culture shifts, international M&A integration, global leadership development initiatives, and intercultural effectiveness programs in Fortune 100 companies, mid-size businesses, and growth-stage companies. Industries served include automotive, energy, pharmaceutical, professional/financial services, semiconductor, and specialized manufacturing.
Her current areas of practice include global executive coaching, living systems thinking and practice for organizational effectiveness, change / learning process design, and thought leadership to bridge practice and research for applied innovations in organizing and leading.
Her academic background includes doctoral research in Embodied Leadership, a graduate degree in European Marketing Management, and an undergraduate degree in Chinese studies; she has served as part-time faculty to adult graduate students in business schools and communication programs since 2001.
She resides in Portland, OR, and travels nationally and internationally throughout the year.
CYNTHIA RADFORD
The mantra, “May you live all the days of your life.” (Jonathan Swift) colors Cynthia’s mindful approach whether facilitating intercultural boardroom dialogue or trekking through a snowstorm on Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Cynthia Radford is a seasoned international consultant who works with leaders around the world to cultivate leadership capabilities for mobilizing and energizing diverse teams.
Cynthia has worked with leaders from more than 35 countries and a variety of organizations since 1998. She specializes in cohesion and alignment work for multicultural senior leadership teams. She's designed and facilitated custom leadership and team workshops throughout the US and abroad including Argentina, Canada, Brazil, Switzerland, Colombia, Malaysia, Germany, China, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, France and the UK.
Cynthia holds an instructional design MS and certifications in a number of instruments including the IDI (Intercultural Development Inventory) and the HBDI (Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument.) Colleagues and clients kindly describe her as passionate, knowledgeable and a "breath of fresh air.” Prior to launching her consultancy Cynthia was an Organization Development Manager for a multinational company, responsible for worldwide leadership development.
Cynthia also serves on the board of directors of Dining for Women, a grassroots giving circle dedicated to transforming lives and eradicating poverty among women and girls in the developing world and educating global citizens.
Key training, coaching and consulting aspects:
ROBERT SCHULLER
“It’s not enough to know how to ride – one must also know how to fall.” – Mexican proverb
Robert Schuller grew up in Germany in an intercultural environment, as his mother is Canadian and his father comes from Romania. This fact can partly explain, why interculturality is - not only from a professional point of view - one of his main areas of interest.
He holds a master degree in Intercultural Communication, Sociology and Social Psychology from the Ludwig-Maximilian university in Munich. Apart from that he is also a certified Executive Coach from the International Coaching Community in London.
After returning from a work stay in Asia, Robert moved to San Luis Potosi in Mexico, where he has now been living since 2008. During this time, he provided intercultural services in various parts of Mexico for several international companies So far, people from Germany, the Netherlands, France, Ireland, Russia, the US, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Colombia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, China, and South Africa have received his intercultural training and consulting services.
The personal experiences he has made in Mexico, together with his theoretical expertise, make him a real expert for intercultural consultancy and trainings about Mexican culture.
Key training and consulting aspects:
DR. MICHELLE
CUMMINGS-KOETHER
“Learning should be fun for everyone involved.”
Dr. Michelle J. Cummings-Koether was born in the USA and grew up in both the USA and Germany. She also lived in Canada and England for extended periods of time. She has been a senior trainer and consultant in the intercultural realm since 2007. Furthermore, she successfully completed advanced training as a certified business coach. She studied communications and intercultural communication in the USA, England and Austria. Michelle has a wealth of business experience in executive management, customer consulting and support and in marketing and sales.
Key training and consulting aspects
RUTH SCHAEFER
“Knowledge and tranquillity took turns cultivating each other, and harmony and order emerged from the inborn nature.” (Zhuangzi)
Since 1996, Ruth Schaefer is working as trainer, coach and consultant in the intercultural area. She has many years of experience in designing and implementing training courses for specialists and managers, project managers and executives, and as senior coach and senior consultant for these target groups. Growing up in Germany, she studied Sinology, Business Economics and American Studies in Munich, Taipei, Beijing and Honolulu and is a certified commercial correspondent. Ruth gathered professional experience in Beijing and Taipei and still travels to China, other regions of Asia and the USA due to her various fields of work.
Key training, coaching and consulting aspects
RAOUL MICHAEL KOETHER
"We cannot change the wind, but we can adjust the sails." (Aristotle)
Before he graduated in marine technology at the Technical University of Berlin, Raoul Michael Koether studied law, history and political economics. As a Certified Project Manager he has collected experience in various business sectors, such as automotive, energy, and chemical industries, as well as telecommunications, IT, mechanical engineering and financial services.
Working as a Project Consultant for Deutsche Bank Polska and Management Coach for intercultural communication, among others, he was able to gain comprehensive intercultural knowledge. His focus is mainly on Great Britain, the USA and Belgium, where he also spent some time of his life. Apart from sales trainings, project management seminars, intercultural workshops and trainings, Raoul Koether is specialised in preparation and follow-up coachings of Impats/Expats. Based on his commitment to political and social issues on various organizational levels, he has acquired exceptional competences in communication, mediation and negotiation.
Key training and consulting aspects
JANAKI NARKAR-WALDRAFF
“With realization of one’s own potential and self-confidence in one’s ability, one can build a better world." (Dalai Lama)
Janaki Narkar-Waldraff, a native of India, is an intercultural and OEL (Outbound Experiential Learning) senior trainer who has completed studies in psychology (B.A.) and German language and literature (M.A.). She has been providing consulting and training to international companies in India and Germany since 2004. Due to her professional experience, she possesses profound knowledge of the working and living cultures of both countries. In her capacity as a trainer and consultant for intercultural competence and communication, team building and leadership programmes, she contributes to successful collaboration between India and Germany.
Key training and coaching aspect
VIVIAN MANASSE LEITE
"If you are not able to explain something to a 6 year old, you are likely not an expert on the subject.” (Albert Einstein)
Vivian Manasse Leite was born in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro and studied law at the State University of Rio de Janeiro. She obtained a master’s in international law at Washington University in St. Louis, USA. The skilled jurist began her career in 1986 in Rio, and moved to Munich a year later, where she worked in several renowned law offices. After a two-year engagement as an instructor at Red River College in Winnipeg, Canada, she has been working as an intercultural management instructor for Brazilian and foreign MBA students at São Paulo Business School since the year 2000. Vivian has served multinational companies since 1998 as a certified senior trainer and coach for intercultural consulting. In addition, she earned certification as an “international coach” at the Integrated Coach Institute.
Key training and consulting aspects
ANTOINE GNOFAME
“The best way to get what you want is to help the other side get what they want” (Ronald Shapiro, The Power of Nice)
Since 2008, Antoine Gnofame has been doing business in Africa, supporting and providing consulting in the area of creating relationships between partners from Africa and Europe as a freelance consultant, trainer and coach for intercultural issues and competence development. In addition to his experience as an engineer and journalist, Antoine gained business management know-how through an MBA study program parallel to his work. In addition, he successfully completed leadership and coaching trainings in Cape Town, South Africa and in Munich. Antoine Gnofame has been a lecturer at the Munich University of Applied Sciences since 2012 (“Negotiation with African Partners”, African Cultures South of the Sahara”, among other courses). He was employed as an engineer at Telefonica - O2, a multinational telecommunications corporation, in Munich, where he was responsible for planning the mobile phone network and projects for business clients such as BMW and Siemens. As a consultant at the Catholic Media Council (CAMECO), Aachen, in the department for consulting in media and communication in Africa, Asia, etc., he worked on the evaluation and on a study of projects in the realm of telecommunications for NGOs in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In addition, he worked as a freelance journalist for the church newspaper of the Diocese of Aachen.
Key training and consulting aspects
ANDREAS HAUSER
“Be conscious. Be different. Be yourself.“
Andreas Hauser has served as a senior consultant and trainer since 2006, and has successfully prepared more than 3,500 professionals and executives around the world for intercultural collaboration and management tasks. His academic background is in business administration, tourism management and consulting, having studied in Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. Within the context of his role as a strategic consultant for economic, planning and development projects, Andreas Hauser worked internationally for more than ten years, with long-term project-related and foreign stays in Europe, North and South America, the Arab countries and Asia. His years of international experience in more than 80 countries on five continents are reflected in the many practical examples he integrates into his intercultural training courses.
Key training and consulting aspects
MOLLY NG
“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” (Confucius)
Molly Ng is Sino-Malaysian by birth. The university-educated chemist has professional experience in the industry of Southeast Asia. Based in Malaysia, she was active in international research projects throughout Southeast Asia, primarily in Singapore, Bangkok and Jakarta. In Germany, she studied Southeast Asian studies and psychology and worked for an extended period in the marketing department of a German automotive manufacturer. Her duties included the planning and implementation of marketing strategies as well as project work for the Asian Pacific region. Molly Ng has been an intercultural trainer and consultant since 2003.
Key training and consulting aspects
KIRIKO NISHIYAMA
“Bow, yes; distort, no.”
Kiriko Nishiyama grew up in Saitama, near Tokyo, Japan. After completing her schooling in Japan, she travelled to the USA at age 19, where she studied journalism and sociology at Ithaca College, earning a BA with honours. She then served as a freelance journalist at the international press agency Women’s Features Service in Washington, D.C. Back in her native country, she took on a position as an English-speaking journalist for the French press agency Agence France Presse (AFP). In 2001, Kiriko Nishiyama followed her Austrian husband to Munich. Since 2004, she has been a senior trainer and consultant for communication between Japan and Germany. In December of 2012, she successfully completed a one-year advanced training programme as a coach for systematic consulting at the istob Management Akademie in Munich. Ever since, management coaching for multicultural project management has been one of her core services.
Key training and consulting aspects
SUJATA BANERJEE
“Together, we can take the stones placed in our path and build a wide road with them.”
Sujata Banerjee, a native of India, has a master’s degree in public speaking, with minors in German and English language and literature and regional applied economics. She commutes between Heidenheim and Berlin, Germany, and Pune and Delhi, India. In India, she was a member of the executive board of a medium-sized Indian semiconductor company. Her responsibilities included quality assurance, in-house training courses, corporate communication, recruitment and retention processes, and managing marketing for Europe and international customer care. From 1992-1996, she began her training work at the former Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft (CDG) in their eastern European programme with the target countries of Bulgaria, Poland and Kasachstan. Since 1992, Sujata Banerjee has been active as a senior intercultural trainer and consultant in India and Europe, as well as in the Middle East and China. She has managed compementary software project teams for Robert Bosch since 1996 and, as of 2006, regularly conducts workshops for the German engineering association VDMA. She is a lecturer at various universities and possesses trainer certification from Siemens, certification as an international profiler and a consultant for virtual team building.
Key training and consulting aspects
DR. NORMA LANGE-TAGAZA
“When one door closes, another one opens.”
Dr. Norma Lange-Tagaza, a native of the Philippines, has a doctorate in sociology and a master’s in social work from the University of the Philippines. She also holds a diploma in business management from the Institute of Business Management in Calcutta, India. Norma has successfully completed a variety of advanced training courses, such as in the areas of project management and negotiation. Among other certifications, she is certified for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Dr. Lange-Tagaza has several years of international professional experience. For instance, she has worked on projects in the Philippines, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Sri Lanka and a few African countries. Since 1990, she has been a senior intercultural trainer, coach and consultant. In addition, she serves as a lecturer at various universities and as a consultant for profit and non-profit organizations.
Key training and consulting aspects
XIANG HONG LIU
“Be Courageous! Have faith! Go Forward!”
“Be Courageous! Have faith! Go Forward!” Xiang Hong Liu, Chinese by birth, spent her childhood in Shanghai and Taiwan, completed studies in international business management in Munich and accumulated six years of professional and managerial experience in a German-American enterprise specialising in Asia.
Since 2002, she has served as a senior trainer and coach with a focus on Asia, and advises organisations in all aspects of human resources development and performance improvement. She has several years of experience in the management of international companies.
Key training and consulting aspects
DIETER DIER
“Management in the 21st century is the ability to align a variety of competencies according to multiple perspectives to obtain a perceptive process from which strategy can be generated.” - Matthias Horx
Dieter Dier was born in Saarbrucken, where he went to school and earned a degree as an industrial manager. He studied business administration at the Academy of Business Administration in Blieskastel. He has accumulated management experience in the areas of sales and distribution, marketing, product development and manufacture in a range of positions at international companies. Dieter Dier served as the managing director of various companies in the branches of mechanical engineering and metalworking. Most recently, the focus of his activities lay in the management of a business division of a global, family-run corporation, where he concentrated on the strategic development and repositioning of subdivisions of the firm. In the last three years, as a management consultant, he was dedicated to the question of what makes companies successful on a long-term basis. During that time, he successfully managed various strategy, reorganization and turnaround mandates and was active in management development and team development.
Key work aspects
Dr. Astrid Kainzbauer
For more than 20 years, Astrid Kainzbauer has been teaching and doing research in the field of “Cross-Cultural Management & Training“. During that time, she gained worldwide intercultural experience by working as a guest lecturer for MBA programmes in numerous countries, such as France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Ecuador, USA, Australia, China and Korea. Additionally, she has been working at the College of Management, Mahidol University, Thailand since 2005.
Based on her own substantial intercultural experience, she can draw from a large pool of examples in order to create intercultural awareness and understanding for differences among the participants of her trainings. Moreover, Austria-born Astrid Kainzbauer advises various Austrian companies on launching a business in Thailand. On a managerial level, she also prepares the executives for their assignments in Thailand.
Key areas of training and coaching
Dr. Frank Brück
„Be the change you want to see in the world“ (Mahatma Gandhi)
Dr. Frank Brück, born in 1965 in Germany and married to a woman from New Zealand, has a doctorate in economics and social sciences. In the early 90s, he lived and worked in India for several years and since that time has had frequent business contact with Indian companies. After years of intensive work on projects “down under”, he has split his time living in Cape Town, Milan and Vienna since 2011. He recently worked as a programme coordinator for intercultural competence and training at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU). Within the context of his years of management experience as the director of the Centre for Foreign Studies at WU Vienna, he has managed international projects all over the world. As of May 2011, he has been managing the largest project to date on sustainability research (GOLDEN for Sustainability), in which more than 100 companies are involved. Since 1992, Dr. Frank Brück has been a senior trainer and consultant, primarily conducting courses for managers and technicians in various industries.
Key training and consulting aspects
Jaleh A. Nayyeri
“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” (Confucius)
Jaleh Nayyeri was born and raised in Germany and spent her early childhood in Iran. Furthermore, she lived in the US and France before moving to Singapore in 2014. Jaleh has served as a trainer and coach since 2003. Her academic background is in Educational Science and Psychology, advanced degree in Business Administration, having studied in France and Germany. In 2007, she founded her own company, kommkontur21, for consulting, training and coaching. During her entire career, Jaleh was able to train many people from different sectors as well as different target groups.
Key training aspects
Roland Winkler
“Seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times.” (Chinese proverb)
Dr. Roland Winkler studied sinology, information technology and linguistics in Munich, Erlangen, Taiwan and Paris. From 1993 to 1997, he worked as an assistant at the Institute for Sinology of the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, where he taught, among other subjects, courses in Chinese language, grammar and data processing for sinology students. Since 1999, he has served as a freelance corporate consultant, coach and project manager, initially as the managing director of Sinolog Projektservice Ostasien GmbH. In 2003, he founded the company Sinogy China Consulting. The primary focus of his work is on the Chinese environmental market as well as construction and architecture. As of 2005, he has mainly been living and working in Shanghai, where he serves as a consultant for the German Foreign Chamber of Commerce, among other assignments. His professional work has included carrying out various types of training courses. Most of these seminars and lectures are directed at Chinese people and conducted in Chinese.
Key training and consulting aspects
