When she was offered the position of CEO at Stadtwerke Düsseldorf, her husband said, "Go for it, take your chance!” As far as her 10-year-old daughter is concerned, Charlotte Beissel is the boss. She is the first female board member in the more than 155-year-old company. A fact about which the lawyer makes no fuss. Although she is aware that she is sending out a strong signal in favour of female managers. VIVID spoke to the woman who gave up her civil servant status, entered a male-dominated industry and is now mastering the energy transition and digital transformation.

Congratulations, Ms Beissel. You have been reappointed to the Executive Board for another five years. What are your responsibilities?

My responsibilities include Human Resources, Digitalisation and Group IT, Sales and Customer Management. Our top strategic goal is to switch to renewable energies - as a municipal utility, we want to become carbon-neutral by 2035 and at the same time help develop Düsseldorf into one of the most sustainable metropolitan regions. Within the company, we are creating new working environments and strengthening our cross-divisional cooperation. As Human Resources Director in our co-determined company, I also represent the interests of around 2,200 employees. In addition to a good internal communication culture, it is therefore important to have a good ear for the workforce. I know what my colleagues need to do a good job and what the company can achieve. In this way, I can often contribute to solutions quickly and directly.

Where do the problems lie?

The human factor - employees and customers – is a recurrent theme in my areas of responsibility. Both are affected by farreaching changes. Firstly, working from home has changed dramatically. We have to respond flexibly to the needs of our employees (parental leave, shared management, sabbaticals, time for caring) and make the best use of our resources. Second, before the crisis, customers spent an average of five minutes a year dealing with their energy supply. Now they want to be producers of electricity, heat and water themselves, with solar panels on their balconies or PV systems on their roofs, charging stations and heat pumps. The shift to the prosumer makes energy supply more complex and means that we need to deliver energy fairly and securely, even when the sun is not shining.

It is a mix of changing customer demands, skills shortages, regulation and a complex energy transition. We need to invest in new networks and digital channels, right?

No question. Together with the city, we have planned to invest up to two billion euros in new sustainable infrastructure by 2030. Stadtwerke provides citizens with essential products and services and covers 75 per cent of the capital's market. And we thrive on direct dialogue with customers who want to be advised. As an energy supplier, we have to be transparent, inform, explain and listen. Employees and customers are owners, tenants, citizens and taxpayers. They help shape and finance everything. It is their cooperation and trust that counts.

Stadtwerke Düsseldorf and AWISTA have been based in the modern building at Höherweg 100 in Düsseldorf's Flingern district since 2001.

What does this mean in practice?
We need skilled people and we are developing the working culture within the company. The three Ds - diversity, digitalisation and demographics - are our driving forces. The fact is that we are a traditional company with employees who have been with us for an average of 21 years and who are 48 years old on average. One third of our workforce will be retiring. To be an attractive and inclusive employer, we plan to increase the proportion of women from 20 percent to at least 30 percent by 2030, and to become even more diverse in terms of age and background.

Good HR and management are crucial to the company's development. What are your priorities?
For digital transformation, working with people is just as important as modern technology. Everyone talks about AI. But intelligent processes and business models are designed by people. This means we need to encourage our employees (we'll have almost 300 vacancies in 2023) to change, empower them and train them for digitalisation. This includes new working environments: Offices are currently being redesigned. But there are also small adjustments that strengthen the sense of togetherness. One example is the "Becherwerk" - our new café, named after the historic "coal lift" on site. Our carpenters built the furniture according to our colleagues' ideas, and together with a coffee and the "Fortuna" footballers on the wall (the famous photograph by Andreas Gursky), it has become a meeting place for everyone. Many things are so simple that you just have to do them.

Dr Charlotte Beissel (2nd from right) is involved in the ‘Düsseldorf sets an example’ campaign organised by the Bürgerstiftung Düsseldorf’ campaign with (from left) Sabine Tüllmann, Heike Vongehr, director Sönke Wortmann and Valentin Baus (wheelchair table tennis player at Borussia Düsseldorf).

You seem level-headed, assertive and empathetic. What keeps you awake?
If anything, it's crises like those of recent years, when solutions and ad hoc decisions are required in day-to-day business. This is when good crisis management comes into its own and builds trust.

How decisive are you?
Very. But only after I have taken a 360-degree view of the issues and listened to the assessment of our expert teams. Without this swarm intelligence, the job would not be possible.

Welche Rolle spielt die Familie?
Meine familiäre Situation funktioniert praktisch - wir wohnen in der Innenstadt, meine komplette Familie lebt hier, was ein großes Geschenk ist.

What role does your family play?
My family situation works very well - we live in the city centre and my entire family lives here, which is a great gift.

You are known as a well-connected person who likes to bring people together.
Part of our success is our contact with the outside world, having our ear to the ground in the city centre. I love my hometown and consider it a privilege to help shape it. Düsseldorf is the perfect size: you can see what you are doing.

You work with the Child Protection Association and the German Red Cross. You draw attention to the needs of young people on social media. Do you write the posts yourself?
Yes. I like language, enjoy working on texts and use the platform in many ways, including as an external information and exchange channel and as an internal mouthpiece. Another advantage is that it makes us as a board more approachable.

How do you personally recharge your batteries?
With table tennis. Anyone who wants to play table tennis with me at the Stadtwerke Park is welcome, we have plenty of rackets. But I am most enthusiastic and inspired by culture - art, architecture, design and music.

Speaking of art, it is all over the Stadtwerke premises. In your office, one wall object stands out - an artistic butterfly.
Butterflies are magical. It's fascinating how these masters of metamorphosis emerge, unfold and evolve. One of my favourite pieces is a golden dragonfly.•

ABOUT CHARLOTTE BEISSEL

The 45-year-old was born in Düsseldorf, Germany. After studying law, she completed a doctorate at Heinrich Heine University before working for the Association of German Foundations in Berlin. Her career began at Düsseldorf City Hall, where her last position was as Head of the Human Resources, Organisation and IT department. Since 2017, she has been Head of Human Resources at Stadtwerke Düsseldorf as an authorised signatory. In 2021, she joined the Executive Board team as Head of Human Resources and Labour Director. As a member of the Executive Board, she is now responsible for Human Resources, IT and Sales until 2029.

Interview: Dagmar Haas-Pilwert
Pictures: Stadtwerke Düsseldorf, Bürgerstiftung/ Holger Stoldt,

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