Independent Communications Advisor

Executive thought leadership. Change and transformation communications. Ten years in global corporate, brand, and change comms. Ex-Lufthansa Group fintech. Native English, C2 German. Rhine-Main and remote.

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About

Black and white photo of a young man with glasses, short hair, beard, and a friendly smile, wearing a denim jacket, with arms crossed.

I'm a senior communications professional with ten years' experience connecting corporate, transformation, and internal communications to business outcomes in global technology and financial services.

At AirPlus International (Lufthansa Group), I led brand voice across a €1M repositioning, a 36-month cloud transformation affecting 55,000+ clients, and high-stakes crisis response, advising at board level and bringing strategy to life with writing, editing, and cross-functional coordination.

I now work independently with executives on thought leadership (ghostwriting, LinkedIn presence, bylined articles, speeches) and with organizations on internal narrative and the human work of adopting new tools, structures, and ways of working. AZAV-certified Change Manager. PSM I-certified in agile delivery.

What I bring:

  • Corporate, transformation, crisis, and internal communications across 13 markets and 7 languages

  • Executive messaging, stakeholder alignment, and board-level advisory (incl. Crisis Board)

  • Communications measurement: connecting campaign data to strategic decisions

  • Editorial leadership: building standards, mentoring writers, governing quality

  • AI fluency: strategic research and analysis, with published perspective on adoption in communications work

  • Bilingual fluency (EN native / DE C2) with an American-German cultural perspective

Selected Work

01

Brand Repositioning & Launch (€1M, 13 markets)

Theme: Executive Influence · Brand Voice · Strategic Alignment

Context: AirPlus International needed to reposition from a legacy payments brand to a modern fintech identity — across 13 countries, 7 languages, and every customer-facing channel.

What I did:

  • Advised the executive board on brand voice, narrative architecture, and messaging principles

  • Unified ~40 fragmented product pages into 17 core pages across 13 country websites

  • Wrote and shaped launch communications including customer and partner emails, social content, and internal enablement materials

  • Led Brand Academies for ~250 employees and coordinated brand portal rollout

Results:

  • Customer mailing: 29.3% open rate, 4.1% CTR (vs. 25–30% / 2.5% benchmarks)

  • Partner mailing: 33.4% open rate, 5.9% CTR

  • New contact forms: +51% submissions (Nov YoY), +67% (Dec YoY)

  • Social launch: +131% impressions, +107% page views vs. monthly average

  • Brand portal: 144,000+ asset downloads within months

  • LinkedIn follower base: +15%

  • 111 leads captured at GBTA launch event, with major prospects (Continental, KPMG, Siemens, adidas)

  • Launch generated trade media coverage across 8+ European publications

02

Change Communications for Technology Migration (55,000+ clients)

Theme: Risk · Trust · Adoption · Change Management

Context: AirPlus International undertook a 36-month cloud transformation, migrating 170 applications to Microsoft Azure and implementing SAP S/4HANA across its technology stack. The program affected 55,000+ corporate clients and carried significant risk of confusion, churn, and trust erosion. Internally, the migration was high-stakes: multi-year, costly, and culturally sensitive as it shifted core infrastructure to cloud and SaaS providers. Communications needed to be carefully staged across customer-facing, internal, and executive channels.

What I did:

  • Led narrative strategy and stakeholder alignment across product, customer teams, leadership, and communications over the full migration window

  • Developed customer FAQ documentation, executive briefing decks, and phased notification sequences for each migration stage

  • Created communications for a parallel Know Your Customer compliance program, activating and verifying clients within regulatory timeframes

  • Managed press and partnership announcements of successful migration milestones

  • Designed escalation and contingency messaging frameworks for high-pressure moments

  • Led internal communications addressing workforce concerns around cost, strategic direction, and infrastructure changes

  • Supported leadership with decision framing during critical go/no-go moments

Results:

  • Escalation volumes remained below forecast throughout the rollout

  • Consistent messaging across touchpoints reduced reactive decision-making

03

Crisis Communications (Board-level advisory)

Theme: Judgment Under Pressure · Reputation · Risk Management

Context: As a member of the Crisis Board, I advised senior leadership on messaging during time-sensitive, reputationally critical situations where communication and risk were inseparable.

What I did:

  • Evaluated tradeoffs between transparency, legal risk, and stakeholder trust

  • Designed response structures to prevent reactive or inconsistent messaging

  • Provided leadership with framing that enabled calm, credible, and defensible decisions

Outcome: Crisis responses became more consistent and deliberate, reducing reputational volatility and increasing leadership confidence in high-pressure situations.

04

Thought Leadership & Editorial Strategy

Theme: Intellectual Authority · Market Narrative · Credibility

Context: AirPlus needed to shift from promotional content to credible industry commentary — engaging senior, enterprise, and decision-making audiences in a regulated industry.

What I did:

  • Designed editorial strategy centered on analysis, data, and forward-looking perspectives

  • Elevated content from product messaging to market interpretation

  • Established voice and editorial standards for consistency across markets

  • Content frequently reused in sales enablement, client presentations, and executive briefings

Outcome: Shifted audience perception from vendor messaging to credible market authority. Contributed to 15% growth in LinkedIn follower base and increased executive participation in authored content.

05

Editorial Team Leadership

Theme: Leadership · Standards · Culture

Context: As content volume and strategic importance grew, the organization needed stronger quality standards and editorial governance.

What I did:

  • Functionally led a team of writers, setting editorial standards and narrative principles

  • Introduced review and feedback structures that balanced autonomy with accountability

  • Mentored team members to move from task execution toward strategic thinking

Outcome: Reduced revision cycles, fewer late-stage escalations, and earlier involvement of the writing team in strategic initiatives. The team evolved from a service function into a trusted strategic partner.

Testimonials

  • "Cullen has a rare ability to cut straight to the core of a narrative. He quickly understands what truly matters in a message, asks the right questions, and turns even the most challenging or technical content into clear, relevant value for the client."

    -Nani Lizana, Lead Global B2C Marketing, Airzone Control

  • "Played a key role in our repositioning by defining and communicating brand values and authentically representing the brand voice."

    —AirPlus | Lufthansa Group | SEB Bank

  • "An exceptionally sharp mind, solving problems as soon as they appeared."

    —IMC International

  • "Impressive skill and thoughtful originality, which he coupled with rigorous research to quickly assume a specialist voice."

    —H zwo B Kommunikations

Experience

  • Independent Communications Advisor

    May 2025 – Present

    Working with leaders and organizations on executive thought leadership and change and transformation communications. Selected previous clients: SAP, BSI, Deutsche Telekom, Mastercard, Deutsche Bank, Volkswagen Group, Schott, Freudenberg, MediaMarktSaturn. Writing essays on the human dimensions of technological transformation.

  • Lufthansa Group | AirPlus International

    Senior Communications Manager · Feb 2019 – Apr 2025

    Led strategic communications during a €1M repositioning across a global fintech organization operating in 13 countries and 7 languages. Advised the executive board on brand voice, directed change communications for a 55,000+ client technology migration, served on the Crisis and Innovation Boards, functionally led a team of writers, built a global thought leadership platform, managed editorial strategy and cross-channel messaging, and developed content frameworks and editorial guidelines across marketing, product, and internal communications.

  • IMC International Marketing Communications

    Communications Specialist · Nov 2017 – Jan 2019

    Strategic writing and communications consulting for technology, science, and public-sector clients including Volkswagen AG, Deutsche Telekom AG, and Schott AG. Executive communications and speeches for board-level stakeholders.

  • H zwo B Kommunikations

    Communications Associate · Sep 2016 – Oct 2016

    Product communications and commercial scripts for technology leaders including Mettler-Toledo and Palo Alto Networks.

Skills & Tools

Communications

Corporate communications, transformation & change communications, crisis & issues communications, internal & employee communications, thought leadership, editorial governance

Measurement

Campaign analytics, engagement benchmarking, stakeholder feedback, data-informed communications strategy

Strategic

Executive messaging, stakeholder alignment, narrative strategy, cross-market messaging (13 countries, 7 languages), content strategy

Leadership

Team leadership, mentoring, cross-functional collaboration, board-level advisory

Tools

Google Analytics, HubSpot, Confluence, Jira, Frontify, CMS/CRM platforms, Brandwatch, SEMrush

AI

Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Jasper; AI-assisted strategic research, stakeholder analysis, content development, and workflow automation; published analysis on AI in communications; DeepLearning.AI coursework

Languages

English (native) · German (C2) · Spanish (B1)

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