MBA Sustainability Management: Sandra Stein – Down-to-earth in Berlin

Sandra Stein had actually hoped to have completed her MBA in Sustainability Management long ago. But then the coalition government collapsed: “I was needed for the election campaign,” she explains. Sandra Stein ran as a direct candidate for the Green Party in her constituency against Friedrich Merz and won a seat in parliament.

Due to her political work, she has had to put her studies at the Professional School on hold for the time being. In 2023, Sandra Stein enrolled in the part-time MBA Sustainability Management program: “Leuphana has a very good reputation in the field of sustainability and the study program is exceptional,” says the mother of three. It is important to her to drive forward the sustainable transformation of the economy.

Sandra Stein lives with her family in Sundern-Hagen, where she is the shooting club queen, and will now commute: “I'll be in Berlin two weeks a month and the rest of the time with my husband and our children in the Sauerland region.” There she works in her husband's family business. The company in Sorpetal manufactures wooden windows. The couple are the fifth generation to run the business. Most of the 80 employees work in sales and production: “That's why I wanted to make sustainability a priority for the management team. We work with a renewable raw material,” explains Sandra Stein. The company largely avoids using tropical woods and even recycles old windows: “We were surprised ourselves that it works.”

Many of the topics she studied are useful not only for her work in the family business. Since October 2021, she has been chairwoman of the Green Party in the Hochsauerland district. Her focus is on economic policy: “Supply chain management, for example, is a political issue. How can small and medium-sized companies fulfill their reporting obligations? Often there are no specialists in the companies. This disadvantage can weaken them compared to large competitors. Politicians need to take action here,” explains Sandra Stein.

She benefited greatly from her studies in the area of sustainability communication: “The Sauerland region is dominated by small and medium-sized businesses. Many manufacturing companies, such as paper manufacturers and foundries, require a lot of energy. In order to become independent of fossil fuels, we will be installing more wind turbines in the coming years. The landscape will change. Politicians must get people on board with this approach,” explains Sandra Stein.

But it's not just wind turbines that are changing the landscape – the climate crisis is also having an impact. From her office in Sundern, the politician looks out onto a forest: “There are lots of bare patches.” This is due to bark beetles, which are spreading on the weakened, dry trees. “A healthy forest would not be infested,” explains the Sauerland native.

However, politicians cannot solve these problems alone: “That's why what I learned about stakeholder work during my studies is so important for my commitment: How can I work with companies? How can I involve associations, but also universities? We cannot win the fight against climate change alone.”

Managing today for tomorrow: The MBA Sustainability Management program qualifies students to implement sustainable development in a business context. With technical, personal, and practical skills and a broad network, the MBA opens doors to leadership positions and is a springboard to meaningful careers. Founded in 2003 as the world's first MBA program in sustainability management, the program now has over 900 students and alumni and numerous practice partners, forming the largest university network on the subject of sustainability management. Its home is the Centre for Sustainability Management (CSM), which offers the MBA as part of the continuing education model of the Leuphana Professional School.