Who we are

Our team

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

			Prof. Dr. Winfried Ruigrok Director FIM-HSG \| Founding Director CCTT \| Dean Executive School of Management, Technology and Law 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”



			Dr. Stephanie Schoss Founding Director CCTT \| Director Open Programmes Executive School of Management, Technology and Law \| Serial Entrepreneur 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 Director China Competence Center (CCC) \| Founding Director and CCTT Affiliate 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, M.Sc. Research Assistant and Doctoral Student 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, M.Sc. Research Assistant and Doctoral Student \| Strategy Consultant 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"

Recent and current research projects

Below you find a table outlining recent and current research projects at CCTT (excerpt):

Nr.	Topic	Description	Link
1	Weightlessness	Examining team behaviour in extreme environments	In progress
2	Mental health	Exploring the connection between stress and anxiety and personality	In progress
3	Faultlines	Investigating the influence of faultlines within teams on group dynamics	In progress
4	Psychological safety	Examining the creation and influence of psychological safety in today's world	In progress
5	Executive selection	Revealing how and why corporates appoint demographically (dis)similar executives to their Top Management Team (TMT)	Read article
6	Gender equity and sustainability	Offering strategies to empower women and address environmental challenges through an intersectional approach to sustainability	Read article

How we work

To always keep our focus on providing value to our clients and advance as CCTT, we established guidelines we aim to follow when collaborating with clients and during our daily work:

		1			We prioritise our clients
		2			We identify the conditions, processes, and leadership that allow teams to flourish
		3			We leverage sound, academically-rooted methods and insights to create value for our clients
		4			We strive to be a high-performance team

FIM-HSG and CCTT

As part of the Research Institute for International Management (FIM-HSG), the CCTT is one of six specialised competence centres focusing on a variety of topics and issues. Please refer to their respective websites to learn more!

FIM CCTT Who we are

			Prof. Dr. Winfried Ruigrok Director FIM-HSG \| Founding Director CCTT \| Dean Executive School of Management, Technology and Law 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”



			Dr. Stephanie Schoss Founding Director CCTT \| Director Open Programmes Executive School of Management, Technology and Law \| Serial Entrepreneur 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 Director China Competence Center (CCC) \| Founding Director and CCTT Affiliate 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, M.Sc. Research Assistant and Doctoral Student 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, M.Sc. Research Assistant and Doctoral Student \| Strategy Consultant 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"