SCHUMANN CONNECT

As Head of Sales Credit & Surety at SCHUMANN Lara Biermann is advising and supporting international credit risk insurer and surety bond provider in digitizing and automating their risk and business process management.

She studied business administration focused on finance, accounting and taxes and supervises international credit and surety insurance companies while implementing CAM Credit & Surety.

An experienced professional with a proven track record within the insurance industry as well as trade finance and general credit. Jay is tenacious, driven and personable with the ability to develop relationships quickly.

His analytical skills combined with his pragmatic approach has led to have a highly successful career within the insurance industry, as well as with leading trade associations such as ITFA.

CARL E. HOESTERMANN has been Managing Director and in-house lawyer at Gracher Kredit- und Kautionsmakler GmbH & Co. KG in Trier since summer 2019. Alongside co-managing director and company founder Alfons-Maria Gracher, he is responsible for the operational business and, in particular, the international activities and international expansion of the group. Gracher is by far the leading German and European specialist broker in the field of surety insurance. The credit volume currently managed by Gracher is more than EUR 18 billion and is growing continuously by around EUR 2 billion every year. Gracher serves over 1,000 customers, from family-run craft businesses to large multinational corporations with sales in the double-digit billion euro range. Its business activities are complemented by other services such as general corporate finance, debt advisory, factoring and WKV services. Gracher has offices in Trier, Cologne, Bremen, Mannheim, Mainz, Zwolle, London and Sofia. A further office was opened in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2024. International co-operations, e.g. in the Surety Alliance or UnisonSteadfast, also enable Gracher to provide a global presence and support for its clients.

Prior to this, Carl E. Hoestermann worked for several years as an interim manager for treasury and corporate finance. In this role, he advised both medium-sized companies and corporate groups on all treasury and corporate finance issues. In addition to advising on all financing issues, he also focussed on pension and asset management. Prior to this, Mr Hoestermann managed the entire global treasury and corporate finance activities of HOCHTIEF AG in Essen for almost 20 years. This included global responsibility for all financing issues, liquidity and cash management, collateral management, debt and equity capital measures and project financing. In addition, for 13 years he was the Board member with operational responsibility for HOCHTIEF Pension Trust e.V., the financing vehicle for the HOCHTIEF Group's domestic pension liabilities. Before joining HOCHTIEF, Mr Hoestermann worked for 8 years at Deutsche Bank AG, as part of a management trainee programme, as an assistant to the management and most recently for 3 1/2 years as a branch manager.

Carl E. Hoestermann studied law and is still admitted to the bar. He is married and has three grown-up children.

Dr. Martina Städtler-Schumann has been the managing director of SCHUMANN since its foundation in 1997. After graduating with a degree in business administration, she earned her doctorate and worked in her parents' consulting and software company. She has now been managing SCHUMANN for 25 years. With her company, she supports national and international companies in the digitalization and automation of processes in credit and credit risk management. Her years of experience hold cross-industry expertise for the optimal processes, whether for insurance companies, financial service providers or industrial and retail companies.

Städtler-Schumann is married, lives with her husband in Göttingen and has two grown-up sons.