I joined Hilti almost ten years ago and have found every year equally enjoyable and valuable to my development. Partnering with our customers on major projects gives me a huge sense of belonging and purpose, not to mention work satisfaction. On top of that, having the opportunity to experience different cultures across the vast Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META) region – and even beyond – brings so much to me personally.
 
The combination of sales and marketing experience has made a huge difference to my career, as each role has brought context and clarity to the other. They’ve helped me understand the relevance of marketing initiatives, business steering, taking decisions and planning.
 
The biggest challenge for me yet has been reshaping energy and industry in this region – trying to reinvent ourselves against what made us strong in the past. Our aim is to move away from sheer project focus and towards the complete segment value chain. It’s about engaging our partners to build long-term sustainability. It’s a behavioral change, which is all the more challenging in an emerging environment like META.
 

From the first moment I got in touch with Hilti, I was intrigued about the culture. How could a company born in the ‘middle of the mountains’ become this world-leading innovator in technology? So I decided to take a chance and move to those mountains!
 
I started at Hilti as a research engineer in Liechtenstein, which meant working in the technical essence of the company. What I quickly learned is that, yes, we have some of the most talented engineers you might expect, but what really makes us tick is listening to our customers. At the end of the day, our customers are our inventors as they shape what we do.
 
This understanding brought me closer to the market and, now as country manager for Panama, I’m enjoying the opportunity to manage the full breadth of our business and to build the teams that deliver our value to customers.
 
Of course, my journey to Panama involved several different steps. Firstly, I did a couple of technical project management roles in Liechtenstein, latterly focused on new products for the North American market. Next I moved to Latin America as marketing manager. Then I spent four amazing years in Rio de Janeiro, responsible for our energy and industry operation in the coastal states of Brazil, where some of the largest projects in the world were taking place.
 
It’s been 16 Hilti years of great challenges, extraordinary people, fantastic places, huge satisfaction and lots of fun!