Ragnar Strauch started his career in the process equipment industry with the Thyssen Group as early as in 1987. After studies of Economics, European Integration and Marketing at Giessen University (Germany) and Leicester University (United Kingdom) in the early 90ies, he joined the Tetra-Pak Group as sales manager in the former East German regions in 1997. In 1999 he switched VDMA Europe’s largest Mechanical Engineering Federation, representing +3500 machinery and engineering companies. There he started as Director International Markets for the VDMA Textile Machinery Association and switched to the VDMA Process and Plant Equipment Association in 2008, where he is responsible for International Markets with a focus on Oil & Gas, Chemistry, Petrochemistry, Industrial Water equipment industries. In 2015 he established the new VDMA Oil Gas Petrochemicals Working Group with today over 160 companies. Ragnar Strauch is specialized in EPCs and SMEs global market development, focusing on process equipment, oil & gas and water industry sectors. He has a broad intercultural background having lived and worked over 15 years outside his home country Germany and has been managing Oil & Gas market entry projects on five continents for over a decade on a regular basis.