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What makes Daniel P. Pless stand out?
Daniel P. Pless combines operational leadership, commercial expertise and international experience to help organisations navigate growth and transformation.
Having worked across Europe and Asia, including several years in India, he understands how to bridge cultures, align stakeholders and build high-performing teams incomplex environments.
Especially in times of pandemic, this talent proved himself, as despite different cultures, limited personal contact and differing opinions, he brought all parties together and achieved the best solution for the company/client.
Throughout his career, Daniel has been trusted with situations where organisations needed greater transparency, stronger execution or sustainable organisational change. His pragmatic hands-on approach allows him to quickly identify opportunities, remove obstacles and translate strategy into action.
Whether in manufacturing, infrastructure, energy or project-driven businesses, his objective remains unchanged:
creating sustainable success by developing organisations, improving performance and enabling people to perform at their best.
Turning strategy into execution and teams into sustainable success.
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Vita
Daniel P. Pless is an international business leader with extensive experience across industrial, manufacturing and project-driven environments in Europe and Asia.
Throughout his career, he has taken on roles where organisations needed greater transparency, stronger execution or sustainable transformation. By combining commercial expertise, operational leadership and a deep understanding of people and teams, he helps organisations improve performance and achieve lasting results.
Known forhis pragmatic hands-on approach and ability to build trust across cultures and functions, Daniel connects strategy, people and execution to create sustainablesuccess.
Since 2024
Senior Manager Corporate Finance
▪ Busines area: Supply Chain Services
▪ Family-owned, publicly traded company
▪ 300'mEUR annual sales volume
▪ Europe, USA and Asia
▪ Driving a CFO-led data and performance transformation initiative to improve enterprise steering through data governance, master data management, KPI standardisation and scalable management reporting
▪ Improving group-wide finance and steering processes, including customer monitoring, receivables management and transparency across key commercial performance drivers.
▪ Conducting in-depth analyses and identifying opportunities for optimisation and value creation with focus on liquidity and equity
▪ Shaping and advancing the strategic roadmap for Corporate Finance
2021 - 2024
Commercial Manager Operations and LEAN Consultant
▪ Busines area: Traction power supply
▪ Independent assembly plant with 40 employees
▪ Governance for licence manufacturer plus a plant in China
▪ Europe, China
▪ Improvement of transparency and financial coverage of cost centres
▪ Expansion of the portfolio by introducing new technologies such as pantographs for lorries (eHighways) and other products
▪ LEAN project to stabilise delivery reliability at the assembly plant by exploiting synergies across all departments from sales to plant logistics. Weak points identified and measures to eliminate waste defined and introduced.
▪ Hands-on transformation started through digitalisation measures "paperless factory" to increase productivity
2017-2021
Internal coach and commercial proposal project manager
▪ Business area: Baggage handling systems
▪ Spin-off/Portfolio Company
▪ Projects in Europe, South-Korea, Mexico, USA, Dubai, India, Singapore
▪ Coaching CxOs and bid teams in national companies about international business models and organisational structures
▪ Coordinating the proposal project teams during the pandemic (exclusively online communication). Despite many cultural differences, the lack of personal contact and different points of view, he was always able to bring everyone involved together and achieve the best solutions for the company.
▪ Successful offer negotiation during the pandemic
References: Incheon Airport and Kuala Lumpur Airport
▪ Sole commercial bid project manager without a direct manager and direct reporting to the CFO over several months
2014-2017
Internal Coach and Chief Manager Business Administration
▪ Business area: Power Transmission
▪ Independent division within Siemens Ltd India
▪ 350 employees at 5 locations (plus sites)
▪ 100 execution projects in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka
▪ Delegation of responsibilities through workshops, team and individual meetings to form a strong unit that solves problems independently
=> "Great Place to Work" award 2016
▪ Stabilisation of turnover forecasts
▪ Introduction of visual "office floor management"
▪ Reduction of non-conformance costs with active risk management
▪ Customer management to improve cash flow and customer satisfaction
2012-2014
Mergers & Acquisition Manager and Consultant
▪ Business area: Global Shared Services
▪ Successful post-merger integration of an international Dutch medium-sized company into Siemens AG Austria
▪ Management of the global workstream teams in Germany, Austria, Netherlands, USA and Dubai. Briefing and coordination with CxO functions to ensure joint growth
▪ Formation of a joint venture between Siemens AG Austria and a partner in Russia to establish a metro manufacturing facility in Russia
▪ Hands-on support and coaching of the project teams (incl. construction site) during the closing of the photovoltaic division of Siemens AG as well as close coordination with CxOs in Germany, South Africa and Israel
2008-2011
Process consultant and commercial project manager
▪ Business area: Turnkey Powerplants
▪ Independent subsidiary in Austria following the takeover of a local competitor (formerly VA Tech Power Generation)
▪ Support and hands-on coaching during post-merger integration
▪ 50 project team members (Austria, Portugal, Germany)
▪ Improvement of financial project forecasts
2005-2008
Commercial project associate
▪ Business area: Turnkey Powerplants
▪ "Apprenticeship years" in international environment and learning-by-doing for projects in Bahrain, Kuwait and India
▪ Local support for two simultaneous execution projects in Syria
2002-2005
Dual studies for business economist, team leader and Six Sigma facilitator
▪ Construction site assignment in Saudi Arabia
▪ Team leader and Six Sigma facilitator
2001-2002
2nd/261 Paratrooper Battalion Lebach (Saarland)
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Mandates
Since 2023
Supervisory Board at vertrieb.de
2022 - 2024
Board of Directors at Siemens Mobility Electrification Equipment (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
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Leadership Perspectives
- Translating strategic priorities into clear responsibilities and measurable action
- Aligning functions, stakeholders and teams around a common objective
- Creating structures that sustain performance beyond the initial transformation
- Building trust and alignment across Europe and Asia
- Balancing global standards with local realities
- Leading diverse teams through growth, uncertainty and organisational change
- Connecting operational and commercial information to improve decision-making
- Identifying risks and performance gaps before they become critical
- Creating accountability through governance, meaningful KPIs and clear ownership
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Private
2
Times state Vice Champion Artistic Gymnastics (Youth) and American Football (Youth)
3
Times married the same woman in three countries (Denmark, Germany, India)
3
Years lived in India
4
M&A projects
20
Years of experience in project management
35+
Countries in which projects were managed
40+
Countries travelled
80+
Employees guided
100+
Projects managed
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The Funlist and yet to come
Life is not only about work and business. Rather, it consists of fun and adventurous experiences, places that have been experienced live or partly nonsensical and risky things that have been done. Such experiences shape the personality and additionally offer exciting stories that are gladly shared.
Therefore, here is also a small excerpt of the personal "Crazy List" of Daniel's past:
- Motorbike Tour through Spiti Valley in the Himalayan Mountains & by Motorbike from Mumbai to Goa
- Parachute jumps up to a height of 1,800 metres
- Canyon Swing in New Zealand
- Surfing in Morocco and South Africa
- Visit to the birthplace of Buddha (Bodh Gaya, India)
And because there's no end to the crazy ideas, he is happy to share an overview of his "bucket list" of things he would like to do in the near future:
- Motorbike Tour from Germany to India
- Overnight stay in an igloo and experience the Aurora (Finland, Sweden)
- Ice diving
- Hiking through the Amazon
- Flight to the moon or at least into space
- Silent Monastery
- Way of St. James
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Impressions
Daniel P. Pless is a creative and disruptive thinker, implementer and leader. In the last 20 years he has supported over 100 projects in more than 35 countries. His first work experience was as a caterer and paratrooper in the German Army, what a contrast. He has cleared big cities like New Delhi of smog and supplied millions of households with electricity. Today, he is back in his hometown of Frankfurt am Main and involved in the construction of eHighways - electrified highways. Daniel is convinced that any organization can produce highly efficient and successful teams and tells us in the interview how.
Listen now:
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Story
Offering value creates value.
Daniel P. Pless learned this lesson early in life while working as a waiter, porter, caterer and baggage handler at Frankfurt Airport. Different jobs, different environments, but always the same principle: understand what people need and deliver results.
Curiosity, continuous improvement and the desire to leave things better than he found them have shaped his professional journey ever since.
Rather than choosing the comfortable path, Daniel volunteered for service as a paratrooper in the German Armed Forces. The experience reinforced a mindset that stillguides him today: step outside your comfort zone, take responsibility and keepmoving forward.
Throughout his career, this mindset has taken him across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Working in industrial, infrastructure and project-driven businesses, he has collaborated with people from different cultures, functions and levels of responsibility – from construction sites in remote locations to boardrooms and executive teams.
Living and working in India became one of the most formative experiences of his career. It strengthened his belief that successful leadership starts with understanding people, building trust and creating alignment around a common objective.
Today, Daniel is passionate about helping organisations navigate growth,transformation and change by bringing together people, processes and performance.
Nothing is
constant but change
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Competencies
Daniel believes that sustainable success is always achieved through people.
His leadership philosophy is based on trust, transparency and accountability. He sees his role as creating clarity, aligning teams around a common objective and enabling people to perform at their best.
Much like a football coach, Daniel prepares the team, defines the strategy and establishes the framework for success. Once the game starts, execution belongs to the team. The outcome therefore reflects not only individual performance, but also the quality of leadership, preparation and collaboration.
His analytical mindset helps him quickly understand complex situations, identify root causes and focus attention on what truly matters. Rather than getting lost in details, he starts with the bigger picture and uses it as a guiding principle for decisions and priorities.
Above all, Daniel believes that assumptions create misunderstandings. Open dialogue, curiosity and continuous learning therefore remain at the heart of hisleadership approach.