I am founder and CEO of accelerando associates, a boutique consultancy exclusively advising asset managers worldwide on all aspects of European fund distribution, sales models, client engagement, communication and proposition management. I have spent my entire professional life, 30 years, in the asset management industry. Before setting up accelerando in 2004, I worked in European fund sales in London as well as in investment manager selection and portfolio management in Germany. I have been featured in numerous articles in the European asset management media. These articles also serve well as references for many of our, at that time, rather unconventional, contrarian fund flow and industry practice forecasts which have turned into reality. Now, change across the industry is happening at a pace never experienced before and I feel accelerando's services have never been more important to our clients than in this environment. At accelerando, we thoroughly focus on relevance and my promise to our clients is as straight forward as can be: Clarity, practice relevance and actionability. Of course, skill-sets, experience and network matter, but our approach to everything is first of all marked by intellect, eclecticism and curiosity. I also would like to point out that I am extremely proud of the longevity of our client relationships and the level of trust earned. Since autumn 2008, I live and work in Valencia, Spain, which is simply much nicer than Frankfurt or London, but that is a different story.