Dr. Karsten Lafrenz supports companies, sponsors and lenders in distressed restructuring and turnaround programs. For more than 20 years, he has helped clients in designing holistic turnaround programs, in guiding them through refinancing processes, and in supporting them in implementations as advisor or leads implementation as Chief Transformation Officer and Chief Restructuring Officer. Karsten has worked in all major geographies around the globe. He has served clients across multiple industry sectors, with specific expertise in the retail and consumer sectors, along the steel value chain, and in automotive. His functional focus is on finance-related topics like business planning, refinancing, and cash and working capital management and managing improvement programs. He was formerly a partner at McKinsey & Company, where he also led the retail and consumer transformation activities of the firm’s transformation practice in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Karsten has a PhD in business administration from European University Viadrina.