This week on Conversations with Goodman, host Susan LeBlanc talks to Joerg Schoenfelder (BBA ’12), about his experience in Goodman’s BBA Dual Degree program.

Schoenfelder was one of the first graduates of the Dual Degree program, which is built on a partnership with the EBS Business School in Germany.

Schoenfelder spent the first half of his program studying at EBS Business School, then travelled to Canada to spend the second half at the Goodman School of Business. Graduating with a Bachelor of Business Administration from Brock and a Bachelor of Science in Management from EBS, he returned to Germany to complete a Master of Science in Management at WFI Ingolstadt School of Management.

While in full-time graduate studies, he worked full-time to become managing partner at Gesec Hygiene + Instandhaltung GmbH & Co. KG, a hygienic facilities management company headquartered in Germany, taking over for his father who was CEO for 30 years at the second generation family business.

Returning regularly to deliver guest lectures at the Goodman School of Business in family business and international entrepreneurship classes taught by Professors Teresa Menzies and Kojo Saffu, Schoenfelder recognizes that the BBA Dual Degree program forced him out of his personal comfort zone which ultimately contributed to his personal development.

“I really have the feeling that I need to give something back and with all these lectures I’m giving here on family business and international entrepreneurship, I really think that it also contributes to the personal development of the students there,” he says.

Schoenfelder has also co-authored a research paper with Prof. Menzies on innovation in family businesses which was published in the International Journal of Business and Management Studies.

This podcast is the latest in the Conversations with Goodman series which is produced by the Goodman Marketing, Communications and Alumni Relations team and features guests from the Goodman community.