SPEAKER

BIOGRAPHIES

Mara Kronauer

Principal
Boston Consulting Group

Mara Kronauer is a principal in Boston Consulting Group’s Frankfurt office and a core member of the Industrial Goods and Climate & Sustainability practices. She specializes in transformation for metals and steel clients, supporting them across the full value chain, from sourcing and supply chain restructuring to commercialization.

Val Grubb

Keynote Speaker, Executive Coach and Leadership Strategist
Val Grubb & Associates

Val Grubb is a keynote speaker, executive coach and leadership strategist with deep, firsthand experience leading organizations through change. Before founding Val Grubb & Associates, she held senior leadership roles at NBC Universal and Rolls-Royce and helped launch Oxygen Media for Oprah Winfrey and IAC for Barry Diller. She has led teams through periods of growth, restructuring, cultural change and evolving business models — not as an outside observer, but as a business leader accountable for results. Today, she partners with associations and organizations (both non-profit and for-profit) to help leaders and employees outlead disruption, navigating change with clarity, resilience and accountability. Her work focuses on translating strategy into behavior; ensuring people don’t just understand change but know how to respond to it productively. Known for her candid, engaging, no-fluff style, Grubb delivers practical insights grounded in real-world leadership experience, not theory. Her sessions consistently help organizations move from uncertainty to ownership; equipping people at every level to adapt, contribute and drive performance. She holds an M.B.A. from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Kettering University and is the author of Clash of the Generations: Managing the New Workplace Reality.