Title: Owner

Company: International Market Consultants

Location: München, Germany

Having worked in a variety of places throughout her career, including Va., Kan., Wash., N.Y., N.C., and S.C., as well as Australia, Whales, Stockholm, and Iceland, Gabriele Schwinghammer continues within the international marketing consulting arena in her 25^th year. Currently as the 10-year owner of International Market Consultants, she provides trade development services and foreign direct investment and expansion into overseas markets consulting to her lengthy list of clientele, world-wide. In five years, Ms. Schwinghammer hopes to experience an abundance of growth and new opportunities in her profession.

Ms. Schwinghammer is an expert in economic development, foreign direct investments, trade development, financial planning, and expansion into foreign markets. Throughout her work-wee, she handles the account and project management, lead generation and conversion of leads. The highlight of her career was when she identified a project for Washington state, where a large German company set up with a composite manufacturer. Ms. Schwinghammer began her career in 1989 as a product manager at Valeo Distribution, and quickly became the market adviser with the Irish Trade Board.

Ms. Schwinghammer attributes her success to her knowledge of the key drivers of investors, her straightforward approach to dealing with potential challenges, and her willingness to learn new things on an ongoing basis and her empathic personality. She became involved in her profession through a job in the automotive industry (a tier-two supplier of large OEMs) where her boss urged her to learn about Foreign Direct Investment by opening new subsidiaries in 6 different countries. Ms. Schwinghammer received a MBA in economics. business-to-business, technology sales, and marketing from the University of San Diego in 1988.