Thorsten Eger
Leadership certainty through growth and transformation
Interim and fractional Chief HR Officer / Chief People Officer (CPO) leadership, plus People & Culture advisory for growth, transformation and culture.
Four types of mandates -
One standard of ownership
From full-time interim or ongoing fractional CHRO / CPO accountability to focused advisory work, every engagement is scoped to the decision your organisation needs next.
Interim & Fractional CHRO / CPO Leadership
Stepping in at CHRO / CPO or divisional head level, either full-time on an interim basis or fractional on an ongoing part-time mandate, to lead the People & Culture function through a vacancy, crisis, growth phase or strategic inflection point, with full line accountability from day one.
Transformation & Culture
Leadership of transformation, talent management, organisational development and culture programmes through to adoption.
Start-up & Scale-up
Building the People & Culture foundation early, from first hires to organisational design, without a full-time executive seat.
Executive & Team Coaching
Coaching leaders and teams through forming periods and helping build high-performing teams and organisations.
Built for handover -
From week one
An interim mandate that never plans its own exit is not transformation; it is dependency.
Every engagement runs through four phases.
Diagnose
A fast, honest read of the organisation: structure, talent, culture and the politics that determine whether change sticks.
Stabilise
Taking the seat, restoring trust and momentum in the function, and aligning the leadership team behind a shared plan.
Build
Leading the transformation and culture programme itself, with coaching for the team that will own it going forward.
Hand over
A deliberate transition to a permanent leader or internal team, with the function stronger than at the start.
Two decades inside the function -
Before advising on it
Thorsten Eger works as an independent interim and advisory People & Culture leader.
He has spent more than two decades in senior HR or People & Culture roles.
He has run People & Culture as a Centre-of-Expertise leader and as a generalist with P&L-level accountability, at local, regional, global & corporate levels, across start-ups, scale-ups, SMEs and blue-chip multinationals in IT, telecommunications, media, life sciences and trade fairs.
Companies include Deutsche Telekom, Roche, Novartis and Johnson & Johnson across six countries: Germany, the UK, Switzerland, Russia, Canada and the UAE.
Career
Tools, recognition and
a few personal notes
Certifications that support the work, alongside the commitments and habits that sit outside the mandate.
Certifications
- Certified Executive Coach and systemic Organisational Development practitioner
- Certified for Hogan, MBTI, Korn Ferry LA/SP, Korn Ferry and Hays 360° Feedback and Human Synergistics OCI/LWS
- Certified IDI Coach (Intercultural Development Inventory) and ICS (Intercultural Conflict Style Inventory)
Beyond the mandate
- Strong DE&I advocate with external recognition (EDA nominations, D&I list in the Guardian)
- Volunteer: Tandem 50+, the ETH female leadership programme and Lufthansa Cargo Human Care
- Yoga and long-distance hiker
Alongside founders, boards and institutions
Alongside interim mandates, Thorsten takes a small number of advisory seats where People & Culture judgement sits with strategy.
Recommending nominations of future ordinary and honorary members of the Aiglon College Association.
Embedded interim leadership across the People & Communications function through to handover.
People & Culture judgement at the table where strategy is set.
Context that supports the work
Teaching, publishing, and a small professional network sit beside the firm.
University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland. Teaching International HRM and HR Leadership.
Ambassador and HR advisory on demand to allygatr, Europe's Future-of-Work venture builder and its consortium members.
A selective advisory affiliation across multiple boutique consulting firms. Used where specialised search or network support strengthens a mandate.
Regular commentary on the evolution of People & Culture, most recently on interim HR leadership, including why interim CHROs have become a strategic instrument, not an emergency fix.
Recent writing
From emergency fix to strategy -
Changing role of the interim CHRO
How interim management moved from crisis turnarounds to a deliberate strategic tool, and when interim leadership creates the most impact. (Built on a real case)
Read on HR Today (DE)Presence
Tell me about the mandate ahead
Whether you need interim CHRO / CPO leadership at pace, ongoing fractional leadership or senior advisory on a People & Culture decision, start with a short conversation.
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Thank you. I will get back to you within two business days. You can also reach me directly at thorsten@egerconsulting.com.
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