The many challenges of the changing automotive industry and their successfully management from a business perspective are the centre of Prof. Dr. Thomas Heiland's career. Throughout his long industry career, he has been dedicated to generating sustainable competitive advantage for companies through successful marketing.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Heiland, who was born in Münster, initially completed an apprenticeship as a retail salesman, before studying business administration with a focus on marketing and controlling
at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences.

Following this, he worked as a research assistant in the Department of Economics at the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and received his doctorate at the University of Witten/Herdecke on the topic of "Marketing and Competition in the German Higher Education System - an Empirical and Implication-Based Analysis with special reference to Faculties of Business".

His professional career initially took Prof. Dr. Thomas Heiland to Stuttgart, where he worked for Porsche AG as Head of Electronic Business in the Sales/Marketing Executive Board department, responsible for the international development of sales-oriented Internet Applications.

Then he worked for the WELLER Group, which is based in Osnabrück, as brand manager for VW, Audi and Skoda. After that, the automotive industry remained his professional focus: He held management positions at companies including Tiemeyer Automobile AG, Fahrzeug-Werke LUEG AG and ROSIER Holding.

With the foundation of Heiland & Heiland Management Consulting GmbH & Co. KG followed the step into self-employment: Prof. Dr. Thomas Heiland was managing partner of the consulting company with focus on the automotive industry, before he took over the professorship "Business Administration and Marketing" on July 1, 2013. He had previously gained teaching experience as a long-time lecturer in the Department of Economics at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Heiland is a member of the Institute for Human, Work and Business (IMAU), which is based in Zurich, as well as of the Working Group for Automotive Economics. He is also the author of numerous publications in the specialist field of the automotive industry.

Since May 2021, Prof. Heiland has been a member of the Advisory Board for Market & Strategy at a large automotive trading group in Southern Germany.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Heiland is married and has three children.