Career Story: Thomas Bittner, Drees & Sommer GmbH

May 21, 2018

MBA Energy Management Alumnus

What stages in your life have had the greatest impact on you and why?

In hindsight, two stages have had the greatest impact on me: my schooldays and the fact that I spent 10 years in Africa.

Due to my father's frequent work-related relocations, I attended a total of 8 schools. This was a challenge because it required me to quickly get my bearings in a new environment and familiarize myself with, for instance, a new school, a new class, new teachers and, of course, new schoolmates. But as a result of this experience, I find it relatively easy nowadays to both embrace change in my professional and private lives and adapt to the new circumstances. When you take a closer look, you more often than not realize that change also provides you with an opportunity for positive development.

I first got involved with Africa in June 2006 when a colleague of mine introduced my future workplace to me by showing me the cover of Time magazine, which read “The deathly Delta”. Back then, Nigeria's Niger delta was infamous for the kidnappings of expatriates working for oil and gas companies. These incidents did not always have a happy ending to them; sometimes, the kidnapped were killed. Our convoys also came under fire.  But at the time, I would never have dreamed of spending 10 years in Nigeria working on construction projects in the Niger delta for oil companies such as Chevron, ExxonMobil or Shell.

This was an eventful and exciting time in my (professional) life that has really taught me a lot besides the “normal” construction-project business: It involved dealing with industrial strikes, engaging in collective bargaining with trade-union leaders and having heated discussions with the community boys of the Niger delta. You even had to think about and plan for audiences with the mayor or the king, and in this context that wee drop of cognac was the last thing to worry about, despite the oil and gas industry's “no-alcohol policy”.

Did you originally want to pursue a different career? If so, what made you change your plans?

There was a time when I wanted to become an industrial engineer. Even back then, I had a keen interest in bringing technology and business together. Eventually, however, I studied civil engineering and hit the ground running, having my sights set on working abroad one day.

How and why did you come to join Drees & Sommer (the company you currently work for)?

While still at university, I already worked for my current employer, “Drees & Sommer”. Usually, you would first deal with a few smaller projects. That said, I started with a large one, namely the “HighLight Munich Business Towers” comprising an ensemble of high-rise buildings (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highlight_Towers) with two skyscrapers and a hotel. The fact that it was worth almost 200 million did not scare me, and over the next 5 years I took on a wide variety of roles and responsibilities.

In 2006, I wanted to finally make my professional dream of working abroad a reality. I spent almost 10 years in Nigeria, where I was involved in a host of different projects. In 2015, however, the economic situation in Nigeria changed dramatically as a result of the then oil prices—so I decided it was time for another career move.

At the time, I had many interviews, both nationally and internationally, including even one for a job in New Zeeland. But then there was the decisive interview with my former employer Drees & Sommer. During my 10 years abroad, the company had always kept in touch with me. In the course of our further discussions, Drees & Sommer showed a keen interest in my experience and skills, and outlined very specific and plausible career-development perspectives to me, which convinced me to rejoin the team.

What has changed in your career as a result of your MBA degree? How did the program support you in reaching your career goals? What concrete career opportunities have opened up for you?

First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to all members of WU Vienna's MBA Executive Team. Throughout the program, they were available at all times and always supportive and willing to help. You could not wish for a better executive academy. Having gained a lot of experience in the oil and gas industry, I was looking to develop my understanding of the wider energy sector, and, of course, I also wanted to round out my business skills with the MBA. The MBA Energy Management provided me with a perfect opportunity to do both. Distinguished lecturers from a variety of backgrounds such as research (Oxford Institute), organizations (OPEC) and the industry itself (EON, OMV, Shell, etc.) helped you explore the energy business from many different perspectives and acquire state-of-the-art specialist knowledge along the way. Moreover, the combination of pre-module and post-module assignments with group activities fostered and enhanced your teamwork and networking skills in an extremely good and smart way.

I graduated from the MBA program in fall 2016 shortly after rejoining Drees & Sommer in the summer of that year. In spring 2017, I was offered the position of deputy project head in the context of a major construction project worth roughly 1 billion, with the prospect of becoming the Drees & Sommer project lead.

Said construction project is FAIR (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research). The GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt has been operating a research facility since 1970. In the coming years, FAIR, a new international accelerator facility and one of the world's largest research projects, will be built at GSI.

“At FAIR matter that usually only exists in the depth of space will be produced in a lab for the first time. Scientists from all over the world will be able to gain new insights into the structure of matter and the evolution of the universe from the Big Bang to the present.” (https://www.gsi.de/en/researchaccelerators/fair.htm)

Video about the construction project (in German):