Claudia Ritter

Claudia Ritter is a Senior Executive and Leadership Coach, Consultant, Facilitator, and Mentor, specializing in Global Leadership Solutions, Cross-Cultural Communications, and Strategic Communications. Claudia is an ICF-certified executive and leadership coach, and an EU-accredited trainer and facilitator. She brings to MCE more than 20 years’ experience in senior leadership positions in the EU institutions and other international organisations.

Professional background Since 2010, Claudia is working as a senior executive and leadership coach, consultant, facilitator, and mentor, specializing in global leadership solutions, cross-cultural communications, and strategic communications. She facilitates online and classroom programs as well as one-to-one coaching and mentoring in six languages. Her clients include international public organizations (EU, OECD, United Nations), corporate companies (Airbus, Siemens, Nissan, 3M, Swift, BNP Paribas, Astra Zeneca, 3M, Johnson & Johnson etc.), SMEs expanding into new markets, and international non-profit organizations. She works across Europe. From 2009 to 2010, Claudia worked as a cross-cultural trainer and facilitator with Ansor sprl, a Brussels-based consultancy specializing in global leadership solutions. Her main focus was on delivering change management programs for Airbus across Europe. She trained engineers from over twenty nationalities, supporting them as they planned and implemented the new company strategy.

From 2002 to 2009, Claudia was Managing Director of the Council of European Dentists in Brussels, operating as a lobbyist with the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. She designed and implemented the organization’s policy and communications roadmap, negotiating with major professional bodies across Europe.

From 1997 to 2002, Claudia was Director of Communications at Eurocities, the interest representation of major European cities vis-à-vis the EU institutions. She worked with the EU and regional/local public administrations as she developed the organization’s multi-level communications strategy.

From 1992 to 1996, Claudia was contracted as an expert in strategic communications at the European Commission, advising the Unit elaborating the strategy to change the orientation of EU disability law, which represented the basis for the EU’s mainstreaming approach to equal opportunities for all. This experience provided her with a strong understanding of international relations and strategic thinking. At this moment in time, Claudia started coaching in-house, working with senior managers at the European Commission to optimize their communication with external stakeholders, in particular Brussels-based lobbyists, and EU accredited journalists.

In 1989, Claudia started her career as an EU-accredited journalist in Brussels, reporting on EU policy for the German and Belgian public television and radio broadcasts, before moving on to serve in senior leadership positions in EU public affairs for nearly twenty years.

Education and qualifications Claudia has earned a Masters of Arts from Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg (Germany), and a postgraduate Masters in Science of Leadership from Boston University (US), including Postgraduate Certificates in International Relations as well as Human Resources. She is a Certified Professional Co-active Coach (Coach Training International) credentialed by the International Coach Federation (ICF), of which she is an associate member. She is a certified Insights Discovery Practitioner. She is also an Authorised Facilitator of the Coaching Across Cultures Framework (Rosinski), a Certified Facilitator of Virtual Teams (Nomadic), and a Certified Instructional Designer (American Society for Training and Development). She is furthermore a Certified Teacher of both English and French as a foreign language (Cambridge, Lausanne). Being passionate about lifelong learning, she regularly upgrades her skills and competences as a trainer and a coach, in addition to engaging in coaching supervision.