Gremium

The governing bodies of the association are the General Meeting, the Presidium and the Executive Committee. The General Meeting is the supreme governing body of the association. The General Meeting appoints the members of the Presidium, approves the annual accounts and decides on amendments to the Articles of Association.

 

The Executive Committee promotes and coordinates the Association’s work. It is responsible for the Association’s policy direction and oversight, as well as for its specialist work and the Association’s focus on treasury-related issues. Furthermore, the Gremium is responsible for the Association’s strategic direction. In matters of association policy and technical affairs, the Executive Committee represents the association externally. Each member of the Executive Committee heads a specialist department. The Executive Committee elects a spokesperson from among its members to chair Executive Committee meetings and the General Meeting. In accordance with the Articles of Association, the Executive Committee sets the membership fees and appoints the members of the Board.

 

The Executive Board consists of one executive director and two honorary (deputy) directors. Its responsibilities include representing the association externally in all operational, non-technical matters, and coordinating and overseeing the association’s activities. It is also responsible for advising the Presidium on the association’s strategic direction and supporting it in decision-making. The Executive Director is responsible for the proper handling of the association’s day-to-day affairs. It is responsible for preparing and implementing the resolutions of the General Meeting and the Presidium. It heads the association’s Service Office. The Service Office is the association’s operational unit and is responsible, amongst other things, for implementing specialist content in suitable formats.

 

Executive Committee

Regina Deisemann VDT Präsidium

Regina Deisemann
Vice President Group Liquidity Management & Treasury Operations
Vorwerk SE & Co. KG

Regina Deisemann has been in charge of the Cash & Liquidity department since 1 January 2018. Until 27 October 2022, she was a member of the Executive Board of VDT e.V. Since then, she has been responsible for the department’s operational work as a member of the Executive Committee. She has been spokesperson for the Executive Committee since November 2025.

 

Regina Deisemann began her career by training as a bank clerk, before joining the corporate audit department at Vorwerk SE & Co. KG following her degree in economics. There, she gained experience in conducting annual audits, including consolidation, compliance audits and system audits. Her IHK qualification as an international accountant proved useful in this regard.

 

As Vice-President of Group Liquidity Management & Treasury Operations, she is currently responsible for group-wide liquidity management at Vorwerk, including the organisation of payment transactions, bank relationship management and the provision of corporate treasury services. Whilst working, she took part in a Strategic Leadership Programme at Ashridge Business School, London, through the Vorwerk Academy.

Prior to her appointment as a member of the Executive Board in January 2018, Regina Deisemann had been actively involved in the Cash & Liquidity department of VDT e.V. since 2012. On behalf of VDT e.V., she is a contributing member of CGI-MP Working Group 5 – Bank Services Billing and represents VDT e.V., amongst other organisations, on the Deutsche Bundesbank’s Payment Transactions Forum. At the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management gGmbH, she was responsible for teaching the practical aspects of liquidity management as part of the VDT postgraduate programme ‘Certified Corporate Treasurer’.

Franziska Kahla_2025

Prof. Dr. Franziska Kahla
Professur für Allgemeine Betriebswirtschaftslehre
Studiengangsleitung Internationale Betriebswirtschaft

BSP Business & Law School Campus Hamburg

 

Prof. Dr Franziska Kahla has held the position of Executive Committee member with responsibility for the Professional Profil & Qualification department since November 2025. She also heads the Northern Regional Group and is responsible for organising the regional meetings. From October 2022 to November 2025, she served on the VDT Executive Board and was an active member of the B&Q department. Since February 2026, she has been Deputy Spokesperson for the Executive Committee.

After studying business administration, specialising in finance, accounting and taxation, at the Georg-August University of Göttingen, Ms Kahla completed her PhD at Leuphana University in the Department of Finance, focusing on renewable energy. After completing her PhD, she joined BDO AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft in Hamburg, where she worked in the Corporate Finance/Transaction Services division, specialising in the energy sector. She subsequently worked in the Controlling department at an energy network operator until she was appointed Professor at the BSP Business & Law School Campus Hamburg in September 2021. There, she heads a chair in general business administration, specialising in investment, finance, cost accounting and controlling.

 

Carsten Linker VDT Präsidium

Carsten Linker

Head of Group Treasury

Pfleiderer Group B.V. & Co. KG

Carsten Linker was appointed to the Executive Board of VDT e.V. with responsibility for the Risk Management division with effect from 1 September 2014. Prior to this, he chaired the VDT’s ‘Bank Management’ working group and played an active role in the restructuring of the Risk Management department within the Frameworks/Governance segment.

Since 27 October 2022, he has continued to head the department as a member of the Executive Board.

 

Following a banking apprenticeship and a start in the credit department, he went on to study economics in Bochum. In 2003, Carsten Linker joined HOCHTIEF AG in Corporate Finance, where, from 2009, he served as Head of the Middle Office with responsibility for group financing and financial risk management. The next step in his career took him to Hamburg, where he took over as Head of Group Treasury at Germanischer Lloyd in 2012 and, following the merger with DNV, led the integration into a unified treasury function in Oslo. In 2018, Carsten Linker took charge of the Financing & Credit Risk teams within Marquard & Bahls’ Group Treasury, thereby expanding the company’s trade finance transactions. Since mid-2019, he has been in charge of the Pfleiderer Group’s Group Treasury and, within the private equity-led company, has been increasingly implementing capital market financing that incorporates sustainability criteria.

Andreas Sowa_2025

Andreas Sowa
Head of Treasury
PERI SE

Andreas Sowa has been a member of the Executive Board of VDT e.V. since 1 November 2016. He is responsible for the Equity & Debt division. Since 27 October 2022, he has continued to head the division as a member of the Executive Committee. Since January 2024, he has been Head of Treasury at PERI-Werk Artur Schwörer GmbH & Co. KG.

 

Following his training as a bank clerk between 1989 and 1991 at the Dortmund branch of Deutsche Bank AG, he worked from 1992 to 1996 as a loan officer and client advisor in the corporate banking division of the Halle (Saale) branch of Deutsche Bank AG. After a year as a loan officer at Deutsche Bank AG’s Sydney branch, Andreas Sowa moved to Deutsche Bank AG’s Essen branch in 1997, where he looked after multinational corporate clients based in the Ruhr region and their group companies until 2003. In mid-2003, he made the switch from the banking sector to the corporate side. Until the end of 2005, Andreas Sowa worked as Head of Treasury at Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH in Duisburg before taking on the role of Head of Treasury at McKesson Europe AG (formerly Celesio AG) in Stuttgart in early 2006; the company merged with PHOENIX International Beteiligungs GmbH in mid-2023. He has been Head of Treasury at PERI SE since January 2024.

Gregor Stephan_2022

Gregor Stephan
Principal

Mercer Deutschland GmbH

 

Gregor Stephan had been jointly heading the Asset Management division with Prof. Dr Degenhart since October 2021.

Since 27 October 2022, he has held the position of member of the Executive Board and is responsible for leading the department.

 

Gregor Stephan holds the position of Principal at Mercer Germany. Previously, he worked as Senior Manager for Risk Financing and Strategy at Risicom Rückversicherung AG (Risicom), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Siemens AG.

At Siemens, he was most recently responsible for investment and underwriting activities within Risicom’s Pension Captive and EB Programme. Prior to that, he held various specialist and management roles in pension management, treasury and project finance, both in Germany and abroad.

He holds a German diploma in Business Administration and East Asian Studies, a British Master’s degree in Management, and the Certified Corporate Treasurer VDT® qualification.

Executive Board

Tim Staudt_2025

Tim Staudt

Geschäftsführender Vorstand

After completing his Bachelor’s degree in ‘Insurance and Finance’ at RheinMain University of Applied Sciences in Wiesbaden, he worked as a finance controller at an insurance company in Wiesbaden from 2011 onwards. Among other things, he was jointly responsible for budget and corporate planning there. He was responsible for certain aspects of the preparation of the annual accounts. He supported system migrations and other restructuring measures as part of various projects. Whilst working, he obtained qualifications as an Insurance Controller from the DVA and as a Chartered Accountant from the IHK.

 

Tim Staudt has been working for the association since 2017. Having started as office manager, he took over as head of Service Office in 2019 and, since October 2022, has served as managing director, responsible for defining and implementing the association’s organisational and commercial processes, as well as ensuring and optimising internal procedures. Together with the staff at Service Office, he provides the organisational framework for the association’s services and supports the heads of the specialist departments.

 

tim.staudt@vdtev.de

+49 (0)6431 212 137 14

Christian Debus_2025

Prof. Dr. Christian Debus

Ehrenamtlicher Vorstand

Prof. Dr Christian Debus took over the Operations & Finance department on 1 April 2017. Prior to this, he had been a member of the Risk Management department for several years and had contributed to various publications and working groups within the VDT.

 

Prof. Dr Christian Debus will continue to serve as an honorary board member of the VDT from October 2022, having been responsible for the “Finance & Operations” portfolio since April 2017. Prior to this, as a long-standing member of the Risk Management committee, he had contributed to various publications and working groups within the VDT. Prof. Dr Debus has been a freelance consultant on treasury projects since June 2020. Until then, he had headed the Financial and Treasury Management division at KPMG as a partner; his team of around 60 specialists provides advisory and audit services covering all aspects of corporate treasury as well as commodities and energy trading. Before joining KPMG in 2002, he spent several years at an international industrial group, where his responsibilities included the departments of investment controlling, treasury, general ledger accounting and financial reporting. He also worked as a professor at a university of applied sciences and as a project manager at an IT consultancy.

Fabio Bär 2025

Fabio Bär

Ehrenamtlicher stellvertretender Vorstand

Fabio Bär has represented the VDT as a volunteer board member since November 2025 and has been leading the Young Professionals’ get-togethers for several years.

 

Following his apprenticeship as a bank clerk at a regional Volksbank and Raiffeisenbank, Fabio Bär worked there as a private client adviser. At the same time, he undertook a part-time degree programme leading to a Bachelor of Arts in Finance and Management at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, which he successfully completed in 2019. He then moved to the treasury department of a family-run company, where he worked in various areas of operational and strategic treasury. Fabio Bär has been employed at init SE in Karlsruhe since 2024, where he is responsible for establishing and further developing the treasury department.

Team_all

VDT Treasury Day (including the General Meeting) | 6 November 2025 | Frankfurt

Presidium | Executive Board | Service Office

 

Our governing bodies since 1997: Executive Board, Board of Directors, Honorary Members