DEF 2025
We're looking forward to inviting you to our third annual Design Executive Forum.
- Date: 5th Sep 2025
- Time: 11AM-5PM (optional: Dinner at 7PM)
- Location: ASTOR Film Lounge im ARRI | Türkenstraße 91, 80799 Munich
Registration is mandatory to get access to the event. Please fill out the form below to secure your spot.
As this is an invitation-only event, you cannot transfer your attendance. Photography, videography, and any other form of media recordings will be not allowed.
More information on the agenda and any further information will be shared with you via email.
The entire Konzepthaus team is looking forward to hosting and welcoming you to the Design Executive Forum 2025.
Guest Speakers in 2025
We are very happy to announce this year’s theme: Under pressure. Together with our speakers, we will be exploring strategies and experiences to deal with high-pressure situations in tough and challenging environments.
Helga Hengge - Former VOGUE Editor, and Mountaineer
Helga Hengge is the first German woman to successfully climb Mount Everest and the Seven Summits.
In her presentations, Helga takes her corporate audiences to the top of the highest mountains in the world, linking the principles of success for outstanding challenges to the principles of success in business. Illustrated with spectacular images, Helga shares her enthusiasm for the adventure of a great challenge and talks about leadership, the power of a team, the step-by-step ascent, dealing with setbacks, and the courage to step out and up to the summit.
Reaching the summits of the highest mountains in the world was the high point of an exciting career between the extremes of creative work and outstanding mountaineering achievement.
Helga was born in Chicago and grew up near Munich, Germany, where she started her career at VOGUE. She moved to New York in 1991 to study philosophy, marketing, and film at New York University and worked as a fashion editor on international campaigns.
Jean-Michel Verney - Former NATO General, Advisor to Airbus Defense & Space
General (2S) Jean-Michel Verney graduated as a pilot from the French Air Force Academy in 1987 and as a student from the US Air War College in 2003. He has a total of 3000 flying hours (Jaguar and M2000) and 122 war missions.
He spent most of his career in the area of operations as a fighter pilot (First Gulf War, Kosovo War and Afghanistan Operation) and as a senior officer in Head Quarters assuming different “Command and Control” positions (Joint Operations Centre in the Defence Staff and Air Defence and Air Operations Command in Paris).
He left the active duty in 2016 as the Commander of the Airspace Control Brigade.
He joined the private sector as a C2 external advisor for Airbus DS in 2017 and as the Operations Director of a French “REDAIR” company in 2018. He is since 2021 a FCAS Senior Operational Advisor at Airbus DS with a focus on the use of Emerging Disruptive Technologies for Multi-Domain Operations.
Dr. Maximilian Pelka - Sports Psychologist
Dr. Maximilian Pelka is a leading sports psychologist whose innovative mental‑performance methods have been honed through roles at FC Bayern München, RB Leipzig, and Brighton and Hove Albion FC.
With a doctorate in sports psychology and advanced training, he brings a rigorous, evidence‑based approach to mental resilience and recovery techniques. As a trusted advisor to top athletes and coaches, Pelka integrates individual and team‑centred strategies to foster robust high‑performing cultures.
His behind‑the‑scenes work with elite athletes under coaches like Julian Nagelsmann or Ralf Rangnick demonstrates how nuanced psychological support drives peak performance.