Office of Personnel Development and Leadership

The Office of Personnel Development and Leadership supports the Vice President for Personnel Development and Leadership (VPPL) and the management team in the further development of VPPL as well as in strategic projects and matters. In addition, the office promotes relations within ETH Zurich with other departments, divisions, etc.

Maximilian Buyken
Chief of Staff
Binzmühlestrasse 130
8092 Zurich

+41 44 632 24 10 | E-Mail

Professional career path

12.2020 - today | ETH Zurich, Switzerland | Chief of Staff to the Vice President for Personnel Development and Leadership
1.2021 - today | DPOcrates UG (limited liability), Germany | Managing Director and Shareholder
2019 - 11.2020 | Manres GmbH, Köln und Manres AG, Zürich | Data Protection Officer
2011 - 11.2020 | Manres GmbH, Köln | Principal and member of the extended Executive Board
2011 - 2017 | Manres GmbH, Köln | Consultant, later Senior Consultant
2011 - 2016 | Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Germany | Scientific Assistant in Research and Teaching

Training and further education

11.2019 - 5.2022 | University St. Gallen, Switzerland | Executive School of Management, Technology and Law | CAS Business Law for Manager (data protection, contract law, compliance-oriented law, corporate law, labour law)
6.2020 - 11.2020 | Haufe Academy, Germany | Certified Expert in Labour and Personnel Law
2015 - 2016 | Dorothee Bürgi | Coaching Training: Existential Coaching
2004 - 2010 | Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany | Diploma: Psychology, specialisation: Industrial and Organisational Psychology

Publications

Buyken, M., Schürmann, M., & Herre, C. (2021). Persönlichkeitsentwicklung mit Tiefgang gestalten – der Beitrag der Existenzanalyse im Coaching für eine nachhaltige Wirkung. In T. Brandenburg, P. Mehlich, & M. T. Thielsch (Eds.), Praxis der Wirtschaftspsychologie, Band 2: Fragen, Führen und Verändern (pp. 96-111). Lengerich/Westfalen, Germany: Pabst.
Buyken, M. B., Klehe, U. C., Zikic, J., & Van Vianen, A. E. (2015). Merits and challenges of career adaptability as a tool towards sustainable careers. In A. De Vos, B. I. J. M. Van der Heijden (Eds.), Handbook of research on sustainable careers (35-49). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Buyken, M., Klehe, U. C., & Baum, M. (2013, August 9-13). Career exploration as a stepping stone towards vocational identity: A meta-analysis [Paper presentation]. Academy of Management 2013 Annual Meeting: Capitalism in Question, Lake Buena Vista, FL, United States.

About me

In my work as a consultant at Manres GmbH, I supported clients (e.g., from the health and energy sectors, the automotive industry, financial service providers and software developers) in transformation processes and in their holistic organisational culture and leadership development. I have led transformation projects, facilitated workshops, coached executives and, as an assessor, conducted assessment and development centres with executives, business managers and board members. The management and implementation of internal projects and improvements were also part of my responsibilities. Examples include the development and introduction of a mobile app to support the transformation processes in the daily lives of customers and a comprehensive project to implement the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the company. Most recently, as a member of the extended management board, I was able to make a strategic contribution in addition to operational responsibilities.

In order to keep my now extensive knowledge of data protection up to date and continue to apply it, I founded the limited liability company DPOcrates UG (limited liability). Within this framework, I offer data protection services to selected clients on a small scale in addition to my work at ETH Zurich - and of course in accordance with the relevant guidelines for outside activity / secondary employment at ETH Zurich.

I am enthusiastic about constantly learning and expanding my horizons. Our modern world offers so many big and small, formal and informal, often even freely available opportunities and chances to learn that it has never been so easy to develop professionally and privately. I am also magically drawn to engineering and technology. The combination of these two passions opens up a whole new field. One more reason why ETH Zurich, with its diversity, variety of topics and drive for research and development, offers such a fantastic and exciting environment for me.

With all the tasks, challenges and often experienced stressors that come with working in research and teaching (with additional tasks such as outreach and knowledge transfer), but also in the central bodies at this world-class institution, I stand for a mindful approach to oneself and others. This is the basis for the "how" of our interaction, which acts as a catalyst for the expertise gathered at ETH Zurich. A mindful approach is also the basis for much of what I understand by good (self-) leadership: personal responsibility, empathy, respect and appreciation - based on this, for example, an inclusive environment - and much more. What seems to be self-evident comes with uncertainties that have to be endured. For example: personal responsibility means standing up and also dealing with the consequences; empathy means not simply wiping the concerns of others off the table; appreciation means taking ideas equally seriously and taking them into account, no matter from which level of the hierarchy they come. On the surface, this does not make our living and working together any less complex, but in the end, it actually makes it clearer, more rewarding and more worth living. If you want to be convinced of this even more, I invite you to listen to the voices of those who work with those nominated for the ALEA Award.

With my work at ETH Zurich, I would like to contribute to this successful "how" in dealing with each other in the context of lifelong learning.

Betty Friedrich-Grube
Staff Member
Binzmühlestrasse 130
8092 Zurich

+41 44 632 03 98 | E-Mail

Stephanie Hürttle
Project Lead Strategy & Innovation
Binzmühlestrasse 130
8092 Zurich

+41 44 632 24 03 | E-Mail

Professional career path

2021 - today | ETH Zurich, Switzerland | Staff member Office of Personnel Development and Leadership
2019 - 2020 | Hyatt Corporate, Switzerland | Director of Talent Management EAME & Southwest Asia
2014 - 2019 | Hyatt International, Switzerland | Area Director of Human Resources Western Europe & North Africa
2011 - 2014 | Park Hyatt Zurich, Switzerland | Head of Human Resources
2007 - 2010 | Park Hyatt Zurich, Switzerland | Learning & Development Manager

Training and further education

2020 - 2021 | UC Berkeley Extension | Transformation & Agile Change Management in Organisations
2020 | HR Pioneers, Germany | Agile HR Manager
2011 - 2013 | University of Applied Psychology, Switzerland | Master of Advanced Studies, Business Psychology
2003 - 2007 | Swiss Hotel Management School Lucerne, Switzerland | Hospitality Management

About me

"Connecting people successfully requires technology paired with the appropriate mindset." - Frederic Laloux

I grew up in a family business and was able to gain international experience at the same time. I find it exciting to accompany the technological change of our time and at the same time to meaningfully combine values, transformation and growth into a lifelong learning culture excites me. Especially in an environment where quality and innovation coincide. In my work at ETH, I value the collaboration with exceptional people as much as the unique culture of innovation.

I was interested in psychology from an early age. That's why I studied Business Psychology after my degree in Hospitality Management. Connecting people and their motivation with organisations and their structures in such a way that they strengthen each other was my focus early on. This is also my aspiration for our work and for "Future of Work". HR is my passion. HR is much more than just an internal interface in the company. We design new forms of work, shape the corporate culture, and give strategic impulses. We drive economic efficiency, promote emotional ties, create a sense of purpose, etc.

In order to continue to create an environment for ETH employees in which the culture of lifelong learning is lived, it is necessary to fine-tune structures so that maximum freedom for individual action is created within them. A clear orientation and common focus strengthen autonomy and consolidate the decentralised enabling culture. In other words: decisions can be made where the competence lies. In this way, we support the long-term success of ETH.

Dr. Sara van Leeuwen
Staff Member
Binzmühlestrasse 130
8092 Zurich

+41 44 632 24 21 | E-Mail

Professional career path

12.2020 - today | ETH Zurich, Schweiz | Staff member Office of Personnel Development and Leadership
2019 - 11.2020 | Freelance Consultant
2019 - 12.2019 | Landesamt für Besoldung und Versorgung, BW, Germany | Head of Psychological Counselling Centre
2013 - 2.2019 | Manres GmbH, Germany | Consultant, later Principal and part of the extended leadership
2012 - 12.2012 | SThree - Huxley Associates, Germany | Personnel consultant in the field of banking
2008 - 2011 | Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Germany | Scientific assistant
2006 - 2008 | Hospital of Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Neurology, Germany | Scientific assistant

Training and further education

3.2020 - 8.2020 | Institute for Learning Systems, Germany | Practical knowledge of labour law
2014 - 2015 | Dorothee Bürgi | Coaching Training: Existential Coaching
2006 - 2012 | Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany | Dr. phil. nat: Psychology, Specialisation: Neurosciences
2001 - 2005 | University of Maastricht | Master: Psychology, Specialisation: Neurosciences

Publications

L. Melloni, S. van Leeuwen, A. Alink & N.G. Müller (2012). Interaction between bottom-up saliency and top-down control: How saliency maps are created in the human brain. Cerebral Cortex, 22(12)
S. van Leeuwen, W. Singer & L. Melloni (2012). Meditation increases the depth of information processing and improves the allocation of attention in space. Frontiers Neuroscience, 15(16)
D. Radeloff, K. Willmann, L. Otto, M. Lindner, K. Putnam, S. van Leeuwen, W. H. Kaye, F. Poustka & A. Wagner (2012). High-fat taste challenge reveals altered striatal response in women recovered from bulimia nervosa - a pilot study. The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry, 15(4)
S. van Leeuwen, N.G. Müller, & L. Melloni (2009). Age effects on attentional blink performance in meditation. Consciousness & Cognition, 18(3)

About me

I always wanted to become a psychologist. For as long as I can remember, I have had a great interest in people, behaviour and interpersonal relationships. The question of whether people can change also occupied me a lot as a child.

During my doctorate, I was allowed to investigate this question, at least in the context of whether training in the form of meditation can influence attention and lead to functional changes in the brain. Although I was passionate about the subject, I wanted to work more directly with people, which is why I started my career as a consultant.

As a consultant, I supported people in their personal change and led larger cultural change processes in international companies. I discovered that change is a process and that this process requires determination, patience and kindness - kindness towards ourselves as well as towards others.

At ETH I have the honour of working with brilliant people on various fascinating processes and projects. All these projects are directly or indirectly related to the topics and issues I love: namely people, culture and change.

Lydia Schaar
Communication Specialist
Binzmühlestrasse 130
8092 Zurich

+41 44 632 23 28 | E-Mail

Miriam Daepp
Communication Specialist
Binzmühlestrasse 130
8092 Zurich

+41 44 633 76 18 | E-Mail

Office of Personnel Development and Leadership

Maximilian Buyken: Curriculum vitae and further information

Betty Friedrich-Grube: Curriculum vitae and further information

Stephanie Hürttle: Curriculum vitae and further information

Sara van Leeuwen: Curriculum vitae and further information

Lydia Schaar: Curriculum vitae and further information

Miriam Daepp: Curriculum vitae and further information