At a time when supervisory boards and management committees need to provide guidance more than ever, Marianne Heiss has a clear message: the future is a management task.
She is one of Europe’s most influential supervisory board members – a personality who combines operational excellence with strategic vision.
For almost three decades, female speaker Marianne Heiss shaped the international economy in key positions at BBDO worldwide: first as CFO Europe, responsible for 18 countries, and later as the first woman at the helm of BBDO Group Germany as CEO. Under her leadership, the group achieved top rankings in the communications industry, increased customer satisfaction by 30% and raised the proportion of women in top management from 10% to 45%. In addition, under her leadership, BBDO achieved the best results in the company’s history and received multiple awards for innovation and ESG excellence.
Today, Marianne Heiss is a top supervisory board member and strategic advisor to international corporations.
Since 2018, she has served on the supervisory boards of Audi AG and Porsche SE (where she serves as an ESG expert); she is also a member of the boards of Paysafe and PALFINGER AG, as well as the advisory board of Ritter Sport. Since September 2026, she has also resumed her role on the Volkswagen Group’s supervisory board, where she serves as Chair of the Audit Committee. Prior to that, she served on the Supervisory Board and Audit Committee of Volkswagen AG until 2025 and chaired the Audit Committee at Flix SE. As an Honorary Representative for Philanthropy and Partnerships at UNICEF, she advocates for business, society, and politics to jointly take responsibility for sustainable change and a future worth living.
Why Marianne Heiss is in demand as a speaker
Marianne Heiss doesn’t just talk about transformation – she has shaped it herself. As a speaker, she offers guidance, provides precise analyses and points out practical ways forward. Companies and supervisory boards value her ability to make complex developments understandable and translate them into concrete options for action.
Marianne Heiss lecture topics
- Value-adding supervisory board work in times of crisis and change
- Leadership & change in times of ongoing geopolitical crises
- ESG & diversity as drivers of value and growth
- Transformation into a new world order through technological, economic and geopolitical shifts
- Rituals and brands as points of reference in uncertain times
Thought leader & author
In addition to her supervisory board work, Marianne Heiss is the author of several books, including ‘YES SHE CAN – Die Zukunft des Managements ist weiblich’ (YES SHE CAN – The Future of Management is Female) and ‘Strategisches Kostenmanagement in der Praxis’ (Strategic Cost Management in Practice). Since 2024, she has been hosting the business podcast VOICES, in which she discusses future issues with key leaders from business, politics, art and culture.
Personality & Impact
Born in Austria, she studied economics and management with a focus on corporate accounting and auditing. She is considered a thought leader in sustainability, diversity and modern corporate governance. Marianne Heiss has been voted one of the top 100 women in German and Austrian business several times, and the Handelsblatt newspaper has described her as one of the most powerful supervisory board members in Germany.
Her keynotes provide an effective and extraordinary toolkit for the future: well-founded, inspiring and consistently practical.