Expect Impact

Shaping change – for more than 20 years, Bernstein Group has been offering strategic consulting based on sound analysis, expertise and experience. A compass in times of persistent change.

Advocacy

Audacious and issue-based – we bring your topics and agendas into the political sphere!

Public Policy

Reliable and comprehensible – we bring our clients’ issues into the political arena.

Analytics

Reducing complexity – we find and structure the relevant knowledge.

Communications

Opportunities and risks, analogue and digital – we sharpen the communicative profile of our clients.

Communicating change

Our team of experienced experts is specialised in advising on special situations, complex political decision-making processes and regulatory issues. We stand for well-founded, cross-party, independent advice. Bernstein Group was founded in 2001 under the name Steltemeier & Rawe and has offices in Berlin and Brussels.

Experience and innovation

Our consulting approach takes account of social and technological change: We combine digital data and network analysis with our personal experience and expertise in analytics, public policy and communications. We distinguish the relevant from the irrelevant to create a sound and reliable basis for decision-making and establish and ensure our clients’ capacity for action.

Independent and cross-party

We solidly, dependably and knowledgeably advise national and international companies, investors, start-ups and institutions in their dealings with media and politics. We work for our clients on a European as well as the federal, state and local level. We represent the concerns of our clients vis-à-vis politicians, legislative bodies, supervisory and regulatory authorities as well as media, associations and competitors.

Senior Team

Julia Spitze

Co-Founder & Managing Partner

Julia Spitze has been advising companies and associations on their positioning in the political arena and developing effective political strategies for over 15 years. She has many years of experience in lobbying at the federal, state and local level. In addition, she has supported numerous clients in structuring their representation of interests. She is experienced in the political and media support of (supreme) court disputes in Germany and the European Union. Since 2003, Julia Spitze has accompanied numerous market entries and client innovations and led them to success.

She played a key role in building up Bernstein Public Policy (until 2015 Steltemeier & Rawe) and positioning it on the Berlin market, since 2011 as a partner. Julia Spitze is an economist and political scientist and studied at the Universities of Heidelberg and Galway, Ireland.

Tel +49 (0) 30 275723 0
spitze@bernstein-group.com

Timm Bopp

Managing Director

Timm Bopp has been advising companies, associations and public organisations on their positioning in the political and pre-political sphere for more than a decade. In this capacity, he developed and implemented targeted public affairs strategies for various clients, in particular in the areas of consumer goods, digitalisation and mobility. Furthermore, he brings several years of expertise in political reputation management.

Before joining Bernstein Group, Timm Bopp worked as a consultant at an international Public Affairs agency in Berlin and gained experience in politics working in the office of a Member of the German Federal Parliament and in marketing, working for an SME in the energy sector. He studied in Mannheim, Copenhagen and Potsdam and holds degrees in Public Policy & Management and Political Science.

+49 (0) 30 275723 0
bopp@bernstein-group.com

Mohamed Hamzé

Managing Director

Mohamed Hamzé is an expert in implementing technology, data, and AI in the public policy and communication work of corporates, NGOs, and the public sector. With a strong background in public policy advisory, research, and analysis delivers tailor-made data-driven solutions. Hereby, he merge domain expertise with advanced analytics and AI models, such as GPT, to drive change and help public policy and communications departments gain an edge in an increasingly competitive environment.

+49 (0) 30 275723 0
hamze@bernstein-group.com

Sven Rawe

Co-Founder & Advisory Council

Sven Rawe is the founder of Bernstein Group. He has worked for 25 years as a communications consultant and advisor on political and regulatory issues in Germany and internationally. He shares his passion for strategy consulting, politics and communications with Bernstein Group. Before founding his own consulting firm, he worked for an international communications consultancy in Frankfurt, where he dealt with capital market issues and special situations. Sven Rawe has several years of journalistic experience.

He is a lecturer and author. He studied political science and public law in Germany and Great Britain and completed his studies at the Free University of Berlin and the University of Sussex.

Tel +49 (0) 30 275723 0
rawe@bernstein-group.com

Ralf Kunkel

Managing Director

Ralf Kunkel is an experienced communications manager with more than 20 years of experience in communicating challenging topics in the public and political arenas. Before changing to consulting, he was Head of Communications and Marketing at airberlin and Head of Communications, Press Officer and Environmental Officer at Berlin Airports.

He has extensive experience in the organisation of change processes and citizen participation procedures, the digitalisation and dialogue orientation of communications as well as in the management, development and restructuring of communications teams. He understands the communications disciplines as innovation drivers in their organisations. He worked as a journalist for ten years and studied German language and literature, journalism and political science in Bamberg and Antwerp.

+49 (0) 30 275723 0
kunkel@bernstein-group.com

Florian Lottmann

Co-Founder & Advisory Council

Florian Lottman is a proven expert on policy and administrative mechanisms at the regional, national and European levels. He advises international companies in the area of European regulation and accompanies infringement, competition and state aid proceedings. He is accredited by EU institutions.

He is also active in risk analysis and the safeguarding of capital market transactions in the political arena. Before joining the firm, Florian Lottman worked for more than a decade as a business and financial journalist in Germany and Great Britain, most recently for Bloomberg in London. He studied political science and law in Germany and Great Britain.

Tel +32 (0) 2 4251837
lottmann@bernstein-group.com

Julian Schibberges

Director

Julian Schibberges is an expert in open source intelligence, data-based policy and communications analysis, and political data science. His work is highly technology-based and combines methods, data and AI into custom-fit products for companies, start-ups and NGOs. Whether monitoring, risk analyses or profiles: His goal is to ensure that knowledge critical to success is available at all times for strategic decisions.

Tel +49 (0) 30 275723 0
schibberges@bernstein-group.com

Jardena Lande

Head of Practice Group „Security & Defence“

Jardena Lande can draw on several years of public policy experience. She has worked inside and with parliaments and governments at the German, British, EU, and international levels. Most recently, she worked as a policy advisor to a member of the German parliament and then as an in-house public affairs manager for a defence company. Previously, she spent many years working in the NGO/non-profit sector in the political field. Jardena supports her clients with her deep understanding of parliamentary procedures and her broad network.

+49 30 2757230
lande@bernstein-group.com

Kevin Rieger

Head of Practice Group „Digital, Gaming & Gambling”

Kevin Rieger heads the practice group Digital, Gaming & Gambling. He advises a large number of clients, in particular from the gambling, gaming, payment and e-commerce sectors, on the development and implementation of political strategies. Through numerous projects in the German Federal States, he has extensive knowledge of the decision-making processes in the multi-level political system.

Before joining Bernstein Group, he gained experience at the European Commission. He studied Political Science and European Affairs at Sciences Po Paris, King’s College London and the Free University of Berlin.

+49 30 2757230
rieger@bernstein-group.com

Dr. Raffael Hanschmann

Head of Practice Group „Climate Neutrality and Energy”

Dr. Raffael Hanschmann is heading the practice group Climate Neutrality and Energy. He brings experience from the renewable energy, hydrogen, LNG, building, energy efficiency and circular economy sectors to the table. He wrote his PhD dissertation on EU climate policy and has gained rich experience as a strategy consultant and entrepreneur.

+49 30 2757230
hanschmann@bernstein-group.com

Robin Arens

Head of Practice Group „Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection”

The practice group “Food, Agriculture & Consumer Protection” is led by Robin Arens. He has been advising clients of various sizes – ranging from FTSE 100 companies to start-ups – on a wide range of regulatory issues for more than five years. He represents them vis-à-vis politics as well as administration at all political levels. Robin Arens studied political science and political economy at the University of Duisburg-Essen, the University of Konstanz and the University of Essex. He serves on the executive board of the German-Canadian Association and is co-chair of the Young British Chamber of Commerce in the Berlin/Brandenburg region.

+49 30 2757230
arens@Bernstein-Group.com

Maximilian Widera

Head of Practice Group „Data Communications”

After completing his master’s degree with a focus on risk and crisis communication, Maximilian Widera has been advising companies from highly regulated industries on the development of their strategic communication concepts for several years. With an additional focus on litigation communication, he concentrates on protecting the reputation of corporate and individual clients.

+49 30 2757230
widera@bernstein-group.com

Maruan Magua

Head of Practice Group "Health & Nursing care”

Maruan Magua is an expert in public affairs and market access in the German healthcare sector. He advises pharmaceutical and medical technology companies on (health) policy advocacy and reimbursement of medical and nursing care services. Based on his experience, he has in-depth knowledge of health policy and care-related procedures. In addition, he is familiar with different regulatory issues and knows the relevant people in the corresponding consulting and decision-making processes.

Before joining Bernstein, Maruan Magua gained experience in various Berlin-based process and strategy consultancies and dealt with various health policy issues, procedures and actors at a parliamentary group of a large federal state. Maruan Magua studied political science and law at the universities of Münster and Cologne.

+49 30 2757230
magua@bernstein-group.com

Perspektiven

Public Policy, Analytics and Communications – Positions and Insights, Posts and Tweets.

Blog

  • Unlocking the Black Box: Understanding and Engaging in Trilogue Negotiations

    Trilogue negotiations serve as pivotal interinstitutional discussions among the Commission, Council, and Parliament within the EU legislative framework. Although not explicitly mentioned in EU treaties, they have evolved into a critical element of the legislative process, offering organized interest a…

  • Artikel

    How to read 5.000 amendments in 4 days

    Sometimes things don’t work out the way you think. While a current legislative procedure edged closer to the finish line in the European parliament, one of our client’s policy teams realized that they did not have any insights into the over 5.000 amendments put forward. And apparently neither did their sector associations. While they had their engagements activities lined up, they actually lacked the content to engage about. Enter Team Bernstein.

  • Existenzielle Bedrohung: Wie Cyberangriffe die Geschäftswelt verändert haben

    Sorry, this entry is only available in German. Immer mehr Unternehmen sind von Cyberangriffen betroffen. Hacker werden immer raffinierter und skrupelloser. Ohne Vorbereitung drohen auch Mittelständlern schwere Schäden. Von Ralf Kunkel, Julian Schibberges, Maximilian Widera Laut einer Bitkom-Studie waren in…

Behind the scenes

Für mehr Perspektiven finden Sie uns auch auf LinkedIn

Advocacy

Audacious and issue-based – we bring your topics and agendas into the political sphere!

Our results

Our team of campaigners, storytellers, strategists and consultants tells our clients’ stories in the political sphere. We ensure that their issues receive the narratives that will resonate with the right people. We shape opinions in the political sphere and deliver measurable results – always in accordance with your overall policy goals.

Our approach

Political decisions are not made on the spot. Every decision-maker is affected by papers they read, people they interact with or follow on Twitter, posters they see on their way to work or events they visit in the evening. We bring our clients into this playing field and position their narratives in the spaces where they have the biggest possible impact for their policy goals. By basing our strategy on network analyses and surveys, we track our success and demonstrate our impact.

Fields of application

– Narrative Development
– Strategic Positioning
– Alliance Building
– Evidence Building
– Data-based Stakeholder Identification
– Campaigning
– Media Relations

Contacts

Timm Bopp

Managing Director

+49 (0) 30 275723 0
bopp@bernstein-group.com

Public Policy

Reliable and comprehensible – we bring our clients’ issues into the political arena.

Our result

Our experienced consultants transport the matters of our clients into the political arena, reliably, on a solid basis and in an understandable form. We ensure that political and regulatory decisions can be made with knowledge of current market developments, latest product innovations and new business models.

Our approach

Even if the business of politics in our information society seems to become increasingly breathless, political decisions are not made in a vacuum. Whether in Brussels, Berlin, the federal states or municipalities, decisions are determined by multi-stage, long-term democratic processes, by the actors involved and along specific lines. For such contentious deliberations, we design tailor-made strategies for our clients to convey their concerns in a targeted manner.

Fields of application

Our focus is on the areas of: Climate Neutrality and Energy, Health, Digital, Gaming and Gambling, Defence and Security, as well as Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection.

Contacts

Timm Bopp

Managing Director

+49 (0) 30 275723 0
bopp@bernstein-group.com

Analytics

Reducing complexity – we find and structure the relevant knowledge.

Our result

There is a wealth of information on every topic, no matter how specialised. We navigate our clients safely through the flood of data and research, and qualify the available information to provide the reliable basis our clients need for well-founded decisions. Whether in commercial transactions, in the political process, or in the assessment of opportunities and risks – we strengthen our clients’ decision-making and action-taking capabilities.

Our approach

We collect and filter data, find the relevant information, qualify it and present it in innovative formats in an understandable way. We rely on the targeted linking of IT, data-supported search routines and network analyses with the expertise of our experienced data and research analysts. The broad expertise of communications and policy experts, whom Bernstein brings together under one roof, is needed to create a reliable information base, especially when dealing with complex issues.

Fields of application

In-depth research, intelligence, political topic analyses, stakeholder mapping, network analyses, political and regulatory due diligence, media resonance analyses, reputation analyses, early warning systems, political risk management, KYC processes, profiling, economic feasibility studies, market studies.

Contacts

Mohamed Hamzé

Managing Director

+49 (0) 30 275723 0
hamze@bernstein-group.com

Communications

Opportunities and risks, analogue and digital – we sharpen the communicative profile of our clients.

Our result

Our experienced communications experts support our clients in conveying their corporate concerns, services and products to their target groups in a clear, transparent, comprehensible and dialogue-oriented manner. We strengthen the reputation of our clients. We support them in creating a clear and reliable communications strategy based on a solid database as well as on excellent advice. We make sure our clients are well-prepared for the opportunities and risks their business model may entail in terms of communications and, if necessary, take the helm ourselves in crisis situations.

Our approach

We are crisis-tested and know how digital and analogue media work. We know the relevant players and the editorial processes, both online and offline. And we know which topics are of interest to journalists and when. Together with our clients, we evaluate the organisational setup of communications disciplines, the existing communications strategy and communications instruments. We identify strengths and weaknesses and offer our clients tailor-made packages of measures for the permanent improvement and dialogue orientation of their communications.

Fields of application

Strategic communications consulting, CEO positioning, litigation PR, reputation management, creation of communications concepts, argumentation guidelines and crisis manuals, implementation of stable processes to ensure a one-voice policy, issues management, management workshops on topics such as crisis communications, media and camera training.

Contacts

Ralf Kunkel

Managing Director

+49 (0) 30 275723 0
kunkel@bernstein-group.com

Career

Become a part of Bernstein now – we are looking for personalities with attitude, clear judgement and a passion for politics and communications.

Whom we are looking for

Do you work with a high degree of personal responsibility? Do you have a political mindset and a strong creative will? Then you have come to the right place. Because we are constantly on the lookout for personalities who do their work with passion and keep a cool head, even when faced with complex consulting mandates.

What we offer

We offer challenging consultancy mandates on a wide range of topics in a collegial and motivated working environment. The professional and personal development of our employees is as self-evident to us as good work equipment, long-term employment contracts and regular further qualification opportunities.

How we work

We know current issues, relevant procedures and the actors involved. Our working style is constructive, focused, hands-on and appreciative. We are convinced that excellent consulting is characterised by functioning teams with strong personalities.

Contact

Berlin

Bernstein Group
Neustädtische Kirchstraße 6
D-10117 Berlin
+49 30 275 723 – 0
berlin@bernstein-group.com

Brussels

Bernstein Group
Rue de Spa 24
B-1000 Bruxelles
+32 2 426 53 63
brussels@bernstein-group.com

Frankfurt am Main

Bernstein Group
Bockenheimer Landstr. 23
60325 Frankfurt am Main

 

Impressum

For Bernstein Group, Analytics, Public Policy and Communications

Bernstein Holding und Beteiligungsmanagement GmbH
Neustädtische Kirchstraße 6
D-10117 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 275 723 -0
contact@bernstein-group.com
Managing directors: Julia Spitze
AG Charlottenburg (Berlin)
HRB 224457 B
Ust-ID. DE: DE341094502

Photography

The images on this website are taken from Berthold Steinhilber's photo book "Passbilder - Landschaften der Alpenpässe". The photographs are currently being shown in Bernstein Group offices in Berlin and Brussels.