Changes in the Management and the Executive Board of the NIM

Nuremberg, March 28, 2025 - Dr. Andreas Neus, Managing Director and Vice President of the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions (NIM) will leave NIM after 12 years to pursue new projects. Prof. Dr. Raimund Wildner will retire from the Executive Board for age reasons and the Executive Board shall be strengthened by two top researchers. To further advance the NIM growth strategy, three new director roles will be established.

Dr. Andreas Neus, Managing Director and Vice President of NIM, will step down from his management role and resign his mandate as Vice President on June 30, 2025, in order to dedicate more time to his own research projects and his family. Dr. Neus has been with the institute since 2013, initially as Head of University Programs and then, starting in 2017, as Head of Research. In 2018, he was elected Vice President by the General Assembly and succeeded Prof. Dr. Raimund Wildner as Managing Director. Before joining NIM, Dr. Neus worked in the field of innovation and digitalization at IBM, the Institute for Business Value and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

As Managing Director, Andreas Neus has played a significant role in developing NIM as an innovative research institute in line with the vision of Wilhelm Vershofen. This included repositioning NIM as an independent institute with a new name, modern offices and a high-tech infrastructure. Above all, a new research agenda was developed and established to strengthen NIM’s interdisciplinary and networked research approach. As part of the Strategy and Vision 2030, the NIM team was expanded, new publication and event formats were created and the longstanding GfK Consumer Climate powered by NIM is (again) being co-published, analyzed and internationally expanded by NIM since 2023.

„The Executive Board would like to express its sincere gratitude to Dr. Neus for his many years of successful service. With his extensive scientific expertise and international project experience, he has played a pivotal role in shaping and consistently advancing the development of NIM. We are very pleased that Andreas Neus will continue to be available to the Executive Board as an advisor,” says Ralf Klein-Bölting, president of NIM.

Also of note, three new director roles will be established to organize the day-to-day business of the Institute: Director of Studies, Director of Research and Director of Finance. The aim is to strengthen the institute's strategic development and accelerate its growth. The term of office of Vice President Prof. Dr. Raimund Wildner ends on June 30, 2025. As he is over 70 years of age, he will not stand for re-election due to a standing decision by the NIM committees.

Raimund Wildner has strongly influenced the development of the institute over a very long period, from 1995 to 2018 as Managing Director of the GfK Verein, the forerunner of NIM, and from 2005 to 2025 as Vice President. During his time as Managing Director, major international studies conducted by the GfK Verein received widespread recognition in research communities and in the media. Its innovative research projects, such as on measuring emotions based on images or analyzing facial expressions or voice, as well as the automatic analysis of social media images, led to the GfK Verein receiving the German Market Research Innovation Prize several times. He himself was voted Market Research Personality of the Year by the BVM in 2007.

„Professor Raimund Wildner has made a particularly valuable contribution to the development of the GfK Verein through his great commitment, expertise and visionary leadership. The Executive Board would like to thank Dr. Wildner for his many years of dedicated service,” emphasizes Ralf Klein-Bölting.”

To reinforce the statutory mandate of NIM—researching and understanding market decisions—the Executive Board will be strengthened by two top researchers. This is intended to consistently advance the institute's ambitious goals and continue its tradition of synergy between science and practice.

„The recruitment will be managed professionally, and we hope to be able to present the new directors of the institute to the General Assembly on June 30, 2025. We also want to propose excellent researchers for election to the Executive Board to the General Assembly,” adds President Ralf Klein-Bölting.

Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions e. V.

The Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions (NIM) is a non-profit research institute at the interface between science and practice. The NIM investigates how consumer decisions change as a result of new technologies, social trends or the application of behavioral science and what micro- and macroeconomic effects this has on the market and society. A better understanding of consumer decisions and their effects helps society, companies, politicians and consumers to make better decisions in the interests of a socio-ecological market economy and "prosperity for all".

The Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions is the founder of GfK.
Further information at www.nim.org and LinkedIn.

For questions and further information on the press release, please contact:

Sandra Lades (legally responsible for content according to the German press laws)
Head of Communication & Events
Nürnberg Institut für Marktentscheidungen e. V.
Founder of GfK
Steinstr. 21 / 90419 Nuremberg / Germany
communication@nim.org
T: +49 911 951519-89
E:  sandra.lades@nim.org