We are proud to celebrate Anja Hofmann-Kiefer’s 25 years of exceptional service at Mercuri Urval (MU). Anja started her career as a Specialist, supporting our consultants in their work with our clients. Her background as lawyer and her structured way of thinking and acting recommended her from her early days for additional tasks in legal, compliance and governance questions. In 2018, she joined MU’s Compliance Function, and here she demonstrated her invaluable legal expertise and in-depth knowledge of MU's processes. Since 2022, Anja is responsible for the Specialist Support Team in Germany. Again, she proved her potential and became a respected and effective leader of her team.
Anja's commitment, integrity, and dedication to MU are evident in her work. She consistently brings a wealth of knowledge and a diligent approach to her responsibilities, making her an essential asset to our organisation. Her professionalism, combined with her collaborative spirit, fosters not only successful partnerships but also a positive work environment.
As we celebrate this significant milestone, we acknowledge Anja’s remarkable professional achievements and the lasting impact she has had on her colleagues and the overall success of MU.
Let’s hear from Anja as she reflects on her career at MU.
When I joined MU in 2001, I didn’t plan to stay for a lifetime. I gave up my legal career as it was too difficult to balance the demands of the job with raising two young daughters. The intention was to stay with MU for a couple of years until my children were older and I could pursue more professional engagement and then go back to the legal field. Two more children and 25 years later, I am still here. I never left because I was never bored, never stagnant and never just “an employee”.
An important factor in staying was the freedom to shape my own role over time. MU gave me the opportunity and the room to explore what else I was good at. I was able to refine and develop my responsibilities accordingly. This flexibility – being able to build a role around what I was genuinely good at, created both motivation and long-term commitment. But it was not only the work itself, it was also the culture and the people that made the difference.
A quarter of a century is a long time. Long enough to see markets rise and fall, leadership trends come and go and also MU changed strategies along the way. But all along, there has always been respect, integrity in how we deal with clients and with each other.
Staying 25 years was never about comfort, it was about conviction – and that conviction remains.