New In Praxi HUB opens on WHU's Vallendar campus

Working together intensively and maintaining contacts, this is what the In Praxi – WHU Alumni Association at the WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management has been doing for almost 40 years. Now it was time to convert the alumni organization's existing office space into a contemporary, open office. In the new offices at Burgplatz 1 in Vallendar, not only WHU alumni, staff and students will be able to discuss new ideas and collaborations in future. The office will also be a place for the innovative and constantly growing alumni and university network and will be available to all members of the university as a co-workspace.

The bright and open office space of the In Praxi HUB will be used jointly by the employees of the WHU alumni association In Praxi and the WHU Entrepreneurship Center team led by Maximilian Eckel and Niklas Geiss. Both studied at WHU themselves and are the first point of contact for numerous company founders from the university environment. The center is financed by the alumni association In Praxi, which bought and converted the premises. “By merging the office space, we are taking the collaboration between In Praxi and the Entrepreneurship Center to the next level,” said Marco Vietor, WHU alumnus and Chairman of the WHU alumni association In Praxi e.V., at the official opening of the office. Although the Entrepreneurship Center and In Praxi had already been using the rooms before the renovation work, they were in separate rooms. 

In his speech, Dean Professor Christian Andres emphasized the high number of successful company founders among WHU alumni, who have created more than 60,000 jobs in Germany alone over the past 20 years. Professor Dries Faems and Professor Christoph Hienerth, the academic directors of the WHU Entrepreneurship Center, also welcomed the opening of the hub and emphasized the opportunities it offers. The mayor of the municipality, Adolf T. Schneider, who has enjoyed a good and close working relationship with WHU for many years, was also there in person. Schneider, who was an entrepreneur himself for more than 30 years, has long been committed to making Vallendar an attractive location for start-ups.

An important goal of In Praxi is to promote and live the connection with the alma mater. The new office now offers a modern and professional environment to fulfill this aim on the WHU campus in Vallendar. 

In Praxi and WHU are closely linked. More than 90 percent of WHU students become In Praxi members after graduation and thus remain loyal to the university community even after their time at the WHU campus. In its 35th anniversary year, In Praxi has more than 7,000 members worldwide. The idealistic and financial support of the university is, in addition to the networking concept, the aim of the organization.