Who I am,
where I come from,
what is important to me
My childhood, my business studies,
my experience abroad
My name is Anna Trunk and I come from Bamberg (Upper Franconia / Bavaria). There I grew up as the oldest of four children in a patchwork family. After graduating from high school, I studied business administration near Wiesbaden, Germany, with two semesters abroad in Québec (Canada) and Shanghai (China), focusing on finance, logistics and international networks. In August 2012, I graduated with a Master of Science degree and started working for Audi in Ingolstadt immediately afterwards.
My start at Audi in corporate communications: not logical, but influential!
My first position at Audi is anything but a logical conclusion from my studies and their focus: I started as a consultant to the Head of Corporate Communications, here primarily focusing on product and technology. For me, this meant "getting out of my comfort zone," which from that point on at the latest became a kind of "red thread" for my résumé - and is therefore, from my point of view, something that defines me, shapes me, that I like to talk about and share my experiences about, but am also always happy to learn from others. The five years were also very enriching for me because I was able to get to know the entire company, experience the diesel crisis first-hand and also actively participate in international automotive trade shows.
Start into work life (=within automotive industry)
Setting up
Audi Denkwerkstatt
"Go to Berlin, do something with start-ups!"
Setting up Audi Denkwerkstatt
In 2017, I was given the great opportunity to move to the area of R&D strategy and build up Audi's Innovation Hub in Berlin, the Audi Denkwerkstatt. As project manager, I was able to develop the best organizational form for such a hub for Audi without any major specifications or framework conditions and with a small motivated team, but also to define the corresponding objective and service portfolio: The development of business models for the future of mobility. Especially in the cooperation with the headquarters, I also learned here what corporate policy means, how roles are lived, and what an incredible effect communication can have in all these contexts. After the set-up, I took on the role of Head of Communications and Relationship Management in Berlin, which included internal and external relationships. It was a great opportunity to expand my network in both environments and constantly gain new insights into a wide variety of topics. In addition, we worked agilely and in extremely diverse teams at Denkwerkstatt, which was not always easy, but made me an absolute fan after a certain start-up phase.
My first management responsibility and again a new environment:
HR Strategy and Innovation
In 2019, I decided to take on a new challenge and, back in Ingolstadt, helped to build up the strategy department in the HR area, part of which I later took over as Head of HR Innovation. In this way, I combined my experience from the Berlin start-up environment with that from corporate politics and tried to bring a little bit of an agile mindset into the large corporation.
During this time, I also got the opportunity to become one of the youngest (female) executives in the company at the age of 32. This path was not always easy, marked by many supporters, but also by some hurdles and a lot of initiative. All of this has made me who I am. Today, I am glad I never gave up, as it is a great concern of mine to support teams and each member individually in developing and strengthening their own strengths and thus achieve great results together.
Start into Leadership within HR Innovation
Back to the roots:
Audi Financial Communica-tions
Finally back to the roots:
Head of Financial Communications and the first digital Annual (Finance and Sustainability) Report
My subsequent position as Head of Financial Communications also allowed me to combine the skills and passions I had already acquired: communications and my business studies. Together with my team, I was implementing Audi's annual report for the first time in purely digital form, but also as a combined financial and sustainability report. Also a kind of transformation, especially within the company. My time here was very short, because soon after starting I got a great offer in Berlin and to this day I am grateful that my team supported me in accepting it.
A real "get out of the comfort zone": Change to CARIAD and move to Berlin
In October 2021, I moved to CARIAD in Berlin. CARIAD is Volkswagen's software subsidiary, founded in 2020 to bundle all topics related to autonomous driving, connectivity, infotainment, and digital mobility services in one company. As Head of Employer Branding, I first developed an employer brand with my team. Here, we involved all of the company's employees, because a brand is only as strong as its fans.
In September 2022, I was offered the opportunity to take over part of the recruiting department in order to professionalize the processes here too and support employees in their further development. In January 2023, I also took over my colleague's department for six months as she had decided to take a sabbatical. I was now responsible for business recruiting, the talent programs and, on an interim basis, management recruiting. It was an exciting and challenging time, especially in terms of (self-)leadership, because standing in for a dear colleague brings its own demands and thoughts compared to "normal" leadership.
In September 2023, I was then able to build up a new department and have been Head of HR Management CARIAD Group since then. My team is responsible for the subsidiaries in Germany and abroad.
In all these positions, I not only learn(ed) a lot of new things myself, but I also experience first-hand every day what VUCA means and what tasks we have as managers in such a world.
Change to CARIAD
My PhD
And meanwhile: My part-time PhD on resilience from 2016-2022.
At the turn of the year 2015/2016, I not only decided that I wanted to change professionally (which I then succeeded in doing with my move to R&D Strategy), but that I also wanted to take on the adventure of a part-time doctorate. Under the title "Insights on organizational and supply network resilience: Combining personality, collaboration and technology", I analyzed until December 2022 the influence of personality on strategic decision-making in organizations, to what extent technologies such as artificial intelligence can support this (and to what extent not), and what role the relationship with other companies, with partners and suppliers plays. My research spanned the Corona period, which provided me with additional exciting insights and findings that I can now also use in my coaching and lectures.
So what does all this have to do with my coaching, speaking and moderation offers?
That is what I am more than happy to explain on the following pages.
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