Vera's wide world

Vera Lahme is nine years old. She is sitting on the plane to Florida with her parents and her big brother, her feet dangling in the air. In her head, she practices the alphabet in English, then the numbers from one to ten, then this one sentence: "I don't understand you, I'm German." Her father taught her to start with. As an officer in the Air Force, he worked in Florida for three and a half years, and his family, who had lived in North Rhine-Westphalia until then, came with him, to a small town called Niceville. "In the beginning, we were all the weird Germans," says Vera Lahme. "And at school the outsiders." But then she learns English within six months, after nine months she only speaks English with her brother at home, at school she makes friends and advances to become a straight-A student, an A student.  

Three and a half years later, the family moved back to Germany. As a sixth-grader at the grammar school in Troisdorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Vera Lahme is now the strange American. She gets into trouble because she addresses her teachers on a first-name basis and understands original texts in English better than her teacher. She makes new friends again, learns that it's not "I'm looking for my glasses", but "I'm looking for my glasses". She discovered her inclination for scientific subjects, liked maths and chemistry and graduated from high school without any problems – unlike many of her classmates, Vera Lahme not only learned school material at the age of 18, but also knows what it means to start from scratch and not only to cope with major changes, but to master them.  

When choosing a career, Vera Lahme listens to her grandfather's advice. It should be something down-to-earth, solid. She becomes a wholesale and foreign trade clerk at Thyssen-Schulte in the steel trade, a man's world. Disrespectful remarks about a woman's competence – "of course, they existed back then." Vera Lahme counters with fast learning. It is good and will be adopted. In the back of her mind, however, is wanderlust: Actually, I still want to study and then get away from here, out into the big wide world. "Even as a schoolgirl, I knew that I wanted to work for an international company and abroad." Vera Lahme left the security of her profession behind and studied industrial engineering at the South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences – a course of study with a stay abroad, which Vera Lahme completed in England, and two degrees: the German diploma and the international Bachelor of Science – studying as a springboard into the world. As soon as she finished, a friend who works at BMW accidentally asks her if she doesn't know someone who wants to do an internship at BMW in Singapore. Vera Lahme listens to the wanderlust, seizes the opportunity and spontaneously says: Me! "I just thought to myself, this is a chance I won't get again." She is moving to Singapore – not just to another country, but to a completely different world. Professionally, things are going well for the dynamic young woman. With a portion of chutzpah, she fights for the permanent position, which was actually promised elsewhere. Her boss gradually learns to trust her to do the things she can do without further ado: to visit BMW suppliers all over Southeast Asia on her own, to evaluate their productions, to negotiate, sometimes hard. The fact that BMW is sourcing a motorcycle part from India for the first time is initiated by Vera Lahme – she establishes contact with the supplier and makes the pre-selection. The fact that she learned in the steel trade benefits her. It asserts itself in the so-called male domain, switches to indirect purchasing and builds up the acquisition of marketing and consulting services for Singapore and Indonesia, among other things.  

No flight shame, no vegetarian, no eco-aunt, but a fan of very conscious transport and consumption. Vera Lahme likes to ride her bike, buys organic and regional and still wears a denim jacket that she bought when she was 15. The quality and durability of products count for them. 

A good five years later, Vera Lahme is once again taking a completely new direction, not professionally, but geographically. She moves to London, where she continues to work for strategic BMW purchasing – and now negotiates larger contracts, handles marketing purchases for the British headquarters and co-manages the RollsRoyce Motor Cars brand. "I came to England from Singapore, a country where everything is simple and works, where there is no bureaucracy and no strikes, and where you get a foothold incredibly quickly – a country where everything is very complicated. Opening a bank account, renting an apartment, speaking and thinking in British – these were surprising hurdles at first."  

An office move can possibly be the most boring thing you can imagine. Or it can become a life-changing event. When Vera Lahme's employer BMW relocates an office within Great Britain, all the office stuff that has accumulated over 30 years has to go. Vera Lahme takes over the project management for the move and decides what to sell, what to give away, what to throw away – this should be avoided as much as possible. Where to put heavy office desks, countless file folders, old advertising materials? What can be recycled? Vera Lahme has unexpectedly great fun sorting things, selling office furniture to employees, turning everything around and selling it or getting it to a new use, avoiding waste. This is the beginning of her second career. After a short stint in financial controlling, she quits her lucrative job at BMW and goes back to university to pursue her true interest: She is studying Sustainability Entrepreneurship and Design as a one-year master's program at Brunel University in London. "I had the feeling that I was finally on the topic that I really enjoy, I really got into it, had good grades - and totally enjoyed the material." Vera Lahme graduated in 2018 "with distinction" - with top marks.  

To convert the study of the heart into work and wages turns out to be not easy. 15 years of professional experience in purchasing and finance, but none in the field of sustainability – all the companies to which Vera Lahme applies for positions in sustainability management are supported. Finally, Eunomia, a research and consulting company that informs and advises business and politics on sustainability issues, gives her the opportunity she needs. Vera Lahme is working with great commitment on circular economy topics, and her enthusiasm for sustainability is growing. At the same time, "their enthusiasm for living in the metropolis of London is shrinking, especially in a pandemic. "The city got to us, we wanted to have more nature around us." The idea of moving to the countryside takes shape in her head. She doesn't think of Bad Aibling in Bavaria at first, but then more and more often when it becomes clear that she could not only support her father here, but realize all the advantages of country life. Once again, she dares to take the plunge and moves back to Germany after a long time. Professionally, the next change is not long in coming, because Vera Lahme wants to get out of theory, out of the consulting level, and into practice, into a company that lives sustainability. She joins Tetra Pak as Sustainability Manager and looks after the Austrian and Swiss markets. Just as it used to negotiate with suppliers, it now negotiates with dual systems and other partners to collect beverage cartons and take them to special recycling plants. In contrast to the past, however, she has nothing in her hands in these negotiations – she cannot do more than appeals. That is not enough for Vera Lahme. "I just wanted to achieve more." The call from a headhunter comes at exactly the right moment. When she learns which employer she is, she is hooked: a company in which she can contribute her knowledge strategically and which wants to approach sustainability holistically – in its own actions, in its own products. GEALAN is a direct hit for Vera Lahme. She will be hired as Head of Sustainability at the beginning of 2024. Her newly created position is also a statement of how important GEALAN takes sustainability. There are now employees who don't care about anything else.  

"From my home in Bad Aibling, I can be in the mountains – Breitenstein, Wendelstein, Farrenpoint – in half an hour and can hike. Being in harmony with nature makes me happy – having space and a wide view over the peaks." 

"What we want is a holistic approach – sustainability is not something that affects just a few people in the company or just one area, but all levels, including in our affiliated companies." Vera Lahme's mission is to build a strategy, to carry out a complete corporate transformation, to set the pace. She wants to actively work on building the "big picture" and anchoring sustainability throughout the company. "We keep an eye on what the legislation does, what customers want, what is important to our employees, what competitors are doing. But from my point of view, it is important that sustainability is also understood as a task in the specialist departments, the HR department, purchasing, everywhere. Everyone does their part. The overarching goal is to be net-zero, i.e. CO2-neutral, by 2045. It won't be easy."  

Vera Lahme mentions three pillars of sustainability: On the one hand, the environmental sector, which is the first thing that comes to mind when everyone hears the word sustainability – this is about energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, climate protection, circular economy, resource conservation, water and waste management, etc. "We will analyze the company's CO2 footprint as a whole – also with regard to our purchased services and products. We will find hotspots where we will act first. In order to achieve CO2 neutrality as quickly as possible, we will create a roadmap and then define individual steps that will move us forward. We want to use more bio-attributed plastics – our customers are already very interested in this – we will continue to optimise our formulations, we are pushing resource-saving processes in production, we are increasing energy efficiency throughout the company, we are continuously improving our recycling – a lot has already happened at GEALAN, we are already very good within our industry, But we want to keep moving forward."  

"It's incredibly important to me to have a meaningful job. That's what drives me. I want to change something with what I do. If I feel something is moving, then I am passionate about it. I like to delve into topics, work with enthusiasm and am happy when I can see the success." 

But sustainability also includes the social pillar. It aims to ensure that human rights are respected throughout the value chain and that the company acts in such a way that people and society are not harmed. Employees – according to Vera Lahme "the most important resource of a company" – should be doing well. It's about occupational safety, well-being, health, diversity, equality and belonging. "We want to offer good working conditions so that we can continue to find the skilled workers we need – and to maintain the good corporate climate." Vera Lahme believes that diversity in the teams is central. "We need as many different perspectives as possible on topics in order to find really good solutions. And we need training and education to really use the potential of our employees." The third pillar of sustainability is profit. Surprising? No, says Vera Lahme. "Only if we work profitably will we still exist tomorrow. Only then can we continue to do the right thing." Sustainability is not only driven by GEALAN's self-image, it is also GEALAN's customers. Window manufacturers ask which profile has which CO2 footprint and how sustainable the supply chain is. It is also becoming increasingly important for end customers how sustainable their window is, says Vera Lahme. The driver of sustainability at the legislative level is also the European Union, which confronts companies with a bundle of new regulations. Under the umbrella term European Green Deal, there is a plethora of regulations for chemicals, wastewater, circular economy, etc. For example, the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) requires that environmental and sustainability figures be reported from a certain company size – here GEALAN supplies its data to the parent company that reports. Then there is the European Supply Chain Directive CS3D (Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive). It requires GEALAN to prove that its entire supply chain is sustainable and that the company takes responsibility for ensuring that its suppliers also keep the environment clean and respect human rights. Another major issue is the Green Claims Directive, which requires GEALAN's sustainability communication to be fact-based, for example that its life cycle assessment be externally certified. "What we want is the opposite of greenwashing," says Vera Lahme. "We want to do what we say and say what we do. This includes environmental and sustainability reports, which in future will no longer only be prepared for GEALAN in Germany, but for GEALAN as a whole, including all affiliated companies in Europe.  

Sustainability is no longer a nice accessory, but a sector that demands hard facts. GEALAN has long since recognised this. "I don't want to write fine-sounding reports that no one reads," says Vera Lahme. "Of course, a lot of things take patience and time, but I want us to really achieve something, to turn the big screws. I want to change something." Vera Lahme's handshake is firm, her gaze open, her voice clear, her speed of thought and speech high, her verve palpable – the energy of a taut pen. She has the wide world in her head and in her heart – and she is exactly where she wants to be professionally. Everything about Vera Lahme says: Let's go now! 

Like GEALAN, the Signs of Fame wanderlust park has its home in Oberkotzau in Upper Franconia. It brings together almost 4000 place name signs from all over the world. The Fernwehpark sees itself as a peace project that brings people together. With his internationality and his desire for understanding between people, he is a very good fit for Vera Lahme.