Chris was born in Munich and grew up in Bamberg / Germany. After school, he spent 8 years in the German federal police, where he wanted to become a helicopter pilot. Chris had an interest in computers since his youth and went to a technical school with an IT background. During his time at the police he had a lot of idle times and used these to further develop his IT skills. In 1994 he connected to the Internet for the first time and in 1995 he started to work as a freelance web designer and HTML coder for one of Germanys first new media agencies “Pixelpark”. At the same time Chris spent every free moment in the mountains and became a professional snowboarder, becoming an extreme rider.
With 27 years he left the police and moved to New York City to work as a web designer. During his 5 1/2 years in Manhattan, he became a specialist in developing website strategies. He worked for one of the largest US advertising agencies as a CTO and their Senior Technical Director. Later he ran his own consulting and production company. Among his clients were known brands as Volvo, Sony, New Balance, Vitamin shoppe and many more.
After 9/11 business collapsed in New York. Chris had to put his company on hold and take an assignment as consultant and interims-manager for a DEBIS financed internet-travel-startup in Tenerife Spain.
In 2003 Chris moved to Moscow/Russia. He re-started his internet production company, which did offshore development for his former clients in the US. At the same time, he found new clients in Germany, like Voelkl Ski for which his agency did all production works worldwide. During the same time Chris started to write a blog about his life in Russia in English and German on the blog platform WordPress. What was meant to be a website to inform his old friends abroad quickly became popular among other readers. Shortly after Stern, Germanys popular magazine, offered Chris his own blog, which became the basis of his later released book.
2008 Chris met the creative director of a large international advertising agency in Russia and they both started a new boutique advertising agency. His remaining new media business was integrated into this advertising agency. Among their clients were brands as Volkswagen, Red Bull, Johnson & Johnson and many others. At the same time, Chris started his nightlife activities in Moscow with an alternative party series, but also in the exclusive segment, being the local ambassador of A Small World, an exclusive social network.
The nightlife activities became a business and were integrated into the agency. Besides of the agencies advertising business Chris and his team organized many events and build up various communities around these. They mainly used social media to promote the events and build the communities. It is, what today is known as social media marketing. These events and communities were also used to promote and advertise brands, which is called culture management. Over time, this became the focus of the company. The agency also used its experience in event planning and management to organize corporate events and events for VIPs, including some Russian oligarchs. One event, sticking out, was for the Russian F1 Team Marussia and its owner, during the first Formula 1 race in Sochi in 2014. It was then, when Chris was often called by German TV stations to help with organizing filming in Russia. What started as giving interviews, became a side business, acting as a local producer, but also developing films and moderating in front of the camera. Chris has worked with almost all known German TV stations. Pro7, Sat1, N24 (now Welt), RTL, VOX, RBB (ARD), DMAX and many more. Chrises local production company Die Neue works as of today and produces films for companies and organizations, such as the German Embassy School in Moscow.
During the economic downturn in Russia, following the sanctions after the annexation of Crimea, Chris decided to take a sabbatical leave from his agency and focus on his newly born daughter. He still did some TV production projects and he was still involved in Moscow’s nightlife and worked as a techno DJ for fun. He soon became famous as a DJ, but also started his concierge service, catering to wealthy foreigners, who visit Moscow and need help navigation the cities vast nightlife. In 2018 Chris supported the FIFA Worldcup in Moscow, where he organized events for FIFA itself and sponsors, but also supported various high-net-worth individuals, among them 3 international billionaires, with his concierge service and organizing private side events for them. The day after the Worldcup Chris flew to Riga to organize a private event for an Oligarch. Two days later he flew to Teheran / Iran to dj on a private party there. Later in 2018 Chris took an extensive workshop in blockchain technologies and crypto currencies, from a silicone valley expert.
Besides the event planning and concierge service, Chris started to work for the German School in Moscow, supporting them with his experience in (social media) Marketing in late 2019. In 2020 COVID-19 brought the concierge service, event organizing and djing to an abrupt hold. After a period of re-organization, Chris started to work as the marketing director of a small investment bank. There he was responsible for their own marketing materials, but also prospects and marketing materials of their clients. The investment boutique created bonds, but also dealt with direct investments in Russia and abroad. During this time Chris continued his work at the German School, as a freelancer on the side. His concierge service picked up again, in autumn of 2021. Chris worked for the investment bank until Feb 2022, when their Moscow office was abruptly closed. As of today, Chris works for the German School, his concierge service and TV production company. He also continues to write for various publications.
Als Schriftsteller interessiere ich mich schon immer für die Lebensgeschichten anderer Leute. In den nächsten Wochen verlasse ich, nach 19 Jahren, schweren Herzens Moskau. Vorher
Coca Cola and Pepsi are leaving Russia. While there are less and less bottles in the supermarket shelfs, their Russian substitutes Cool Cola, Jumbo Cola,
I found this video by accident 😉 Its an old film we did with Seema Media for RTL a few years ago. The owner of
Oh yes, this is boys stuff. Call me stupid, but this is on my bucket list. I have done 240 myself (the car locked up
I connected to the Internet for the first time in 1994 via a dial-up modem. It was an amazing feeling, when after 3 months trial
