Dr. Frank Appel: Neurobiologist Executive

With a highly scientific background Dr. Frank Appel took a career path that would eventually lead him to heading one of the largest companies in the world.

You wouldn’t be faulted to think that Dr. Frank Appel, PhD. is the head of a biotech company or an academic institution. Born in 1961, he earned a Master’s of Science in Chemistry from the University of Munich in Germany in 1989. On top of that he obtained a PhD. in Neurobiology from ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) in Zurich, Switzerland in 1993.

Dr. Appel did not follow the academic career path. He joined consultancy firm McKinsey & Co in Germany and became a consultant and project manager in 1993.  By 1999 he started serving as partner of member of German Business Management of the consultancy firm.

In 2000 Dr. Appel served as Managing Director for Corporate Development at Deutsche Post AG. He became a member of the Management Board of Deutsche Post AG in 2002. Among the positions Dr. Appel has held include as Head of Global Business Services and Head of Corporate Services as well as Head of Financial Services.  In 2008 he finally got the top post as CEO of Deutsche Post AG.

The company that Dr. Appel heads is unique in a sense that it is now known as Deutsche Post DHL. This is by virtue of the fact that Deutsche Post which has essentially been the postal service of Germany fully acquired international package and parcel company DHL in December 2002.  Duetsche Post AG itself when public in November 2000.

Deutsche Post DHL is a huge corporation. It employs around 475,000 people all over the world and is considered one of the top 10 largest employers worldwide. The company operates in over 220 countries and territories. Deutsche Post manages a staggering 1 million customer contacts per hour.  The company made revenues of over 55 billion euros in 2012.

Since us humans live with our brains his neurobiology background does come in handy in leading such a gigantic company.