Team & Contact

Currently, our team entails four experts on high-performance teams and International Management with diverse backgrounds and areas of specialization.

Prof. Dr. Winfried Ruigrok studied political science and international economics at the University of Amsterdam before joining the University of St.Gallen as a Professor of International Management in 1996. He is a Founding Director of CCTT.

Winfried’s interest in teams stems from his background in academia. Today, he focuses on researching the internationalization of top management teams and boards, multicultural management, and corporate governance. His papers have been published in leading scholarly and popular outlets.

Selected practical experience:

• 12 years’ experience as Dean, leading a group of ambitious professionals in charge of our various for-profit executive education programmes
• Experience working with many dozens of seasoned and future board members of Europe’s largest companies
• Consulting experience with numerous boards of directors and executive committees

Motto: “In great teams people are different”

After completing her studies in business and economics at the Universities of St.Gallen, Harvard and the Singapore Management University, Dr. Stephanie Schoss co-founded the CCTT and acts as its Director.

Since teams play a critical role in her entrepreneurial endeavours (see below), Stephanie focuses on team effectiveness, entrepreneurial teams, team composition, team personality, and deep-level diversity.

Selected practical experience:

• Founder and Chairwoman of IPM, Institute of personality-oriented management, a psychometric company
• Co-founder of 1PlusX, an Ad-Tech company recently sold to TipleLift in the US
• Founder of C Talks, one of the leading top executive peer communities in German-speaking Europe
• Team development expert for, for example, Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone US, Cartier, and further large banks and hotel chains

Motto: "Don't wait for the future, create it"

Prof. Dr. Tomas Casas i Klett holds degrees from Wharton School, Fudan University, and the University of St. Gallen. After his PhD, he joined the University of St. Gallen as an Assistant Professor at the Research Institute for International Management (FIM-HSG) where he co-founded the CCTT and today acts as a director of the CCC.

Tomas’ gathered international experience in Japan and China for over 15 years which he uses to study, create, and support high-performance teams. Though not operatively involved anymore, Tomas still acts as an important advisor for CCTT.

Selected practical experience:

• Entrepreneur in China for 15 years
• Coached numerous top executives and founders at leading global institutions
• Former member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Councils (2016-2018)
• WEF Expert Network member

Motto: “Your team is you”

Anne-Sophie Bacouël studied international management at WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management, Tsinghua University, Rotterdam School of Management and WU Vienna. She joined CCTT in 2020.

Anne-Sophie’s research focuses on diversity within teams by exploring the faultline activation process. She seeks to determine how diversity creates subgroups within teams, negatively influencing team performance. Ultimately, her research aims to identify leadership behaviours and management measures that alleviate the negative impact of faultlines on team performance.

Selected practical experiences:

• Developed a high-level internal communication plan during an M&A for a leading Swiss industrial conglomerate
• Developed and implemented a graduate and medical recruitment strategy within the German branch of a leading global FMCG
• Conducted legal research on crowdfunding in China and dealt with right of asylum for Chinese nationals in France

Motto: “Top teams strive to bring each team member to their full potential”

Nico Schäfer studied business administration at WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management and Università Bocconi and joined CCTT in 2022. He further is a strategy consultant at Kearney.

The research focus of Nico lies on psychological safety, especially in the context of remote working models. He seeks to identify how new, technology-driven working modes affect the creation and maintenance of psychological safety in teams.

Selected practical experience:

• Conducted market analysis and developed market entry strategy for a new business field of a leading German automotive OEM
• Introduced a global communication and change strategy and coordinated implementation at a German tier 1 automotive supplier
• Performed sophisticated benchmark analyses, managing entire client teams of multiple telecommunication operators

Motto: "A great team is more than the sum of its individuals"

Should you have any questions, please feel free to reach out anytime – we will get back to you as soon as possible! You can find our contact details below. We look forward to hearing from you!

Research Institute for International Management (FIM-HSG)
Competence Centre for Top Teams
University of St. Gallen Dufourstrasse 40a
CH-9000 St.Gallen
cctt-fim@unisg.ch
+41 71 224 24 48

The PDF document below encompasses important information about who we are and what we offer at a glance. These documents can also be found in the respective sections of this website to assist you with further information. We encourage you to download and share!