Conference topic 2024: The future is now!

With heart and soul: For nearly 20 years, Cécile Möhring has been passionately committed to the Symposium Essen + Trinken, bringing success through her operational execution skills. Since May 2023, as Managing Director of Symposium Essen + Trinken GmbH, she has been steering the various events and formats of this dialogue platform into the future. Previously, she managed the Symposium’s operations and numerous other successful projects in the food industry and other sectors as Head of Operations & Events at Söllner Communications AG. In September 2023, Cécile Möhring joined the 360-degree communications agency c&p communication | creative project GmbH as Managing Partner, which has inherited the legacy of the former Söllner Communications AG, where she serves as sole owner and Managing Director..

Natalie Gerits has been working in the FMCG sector for well-known companies in the consumer goods industry for over 30 years, both nationally and internationally. After completing her studies in business administration in Cologne, she worked for Johnson & Johnson, H.J. Heinz, Dr. Oetker and Bolton Group, among others. Most recently, she was Managing Director of the Lambertz Group. Natalie Gerits has been a partner in NGF rocks - We rock your markets for more than four years. During this time, she and her team have successfully managed national and international companies with a wide variety of business concepts in the FMCG sector. She has opened up new markets for her clients throughout Europe and implemented up-and-coming FMCG manufacturers in the national and international retail landscape. Natalie Gerits also supports topics with socio-political relevance, such as sustainability. She is Chairwoman of the Board of SUSY/Central Agency for Green Commerce GmbH.

As a shareholder of Symposium Essen + Trinken GmbH, her aim is to actively shape the megatopic of nutrition for trade and industry in a sustainable, transparent, high-quality and responsible manner on the dialog platform.

The retail specialist is one of the most influential decision-makers in the retail sector and has decades of experience in key positions, including positions at EDEKA, REWE and KARSTADT Feinkost. He has enriched the Management Board with his expertise for over ten years. Karl-Heinz Dautzenberg is largely responsible for the composition of the marketplace and the start-up platform as well as the guest country presentations. He also works as a consultant for the company he founded, Dautzenberg Consulting.

As a graduate in business administration, Matthias Zwingel worked as a division manager at real,- Holding GmbH before taking over the family business REWE Zwingel, which was awarded the “Goldene Sahnehaube” award four times thanks to its successful marketing measures for customer loyalty. Matthias Zwingel also received the Silver Badge of Honor and the Golden Badge of Honor from the Handelsverband Bayern e.V. (HBE) for his outstanding commitment. As Vice President, he has been responsible for the HBE and the BVLH Federal Association of the German Food Trade since 2013. He has managed his own food retail company, Zwingel Handels GmbH, with several stores for over 20 years.