Founder & Managing Partner
Marc Schrief

Marc Schrief

Founder & Managing Partner: Marc Schrief

Immediately after his studies Marc Schrief joined J. H. Ziegler, a subsidiary of the Paul Hartman Group, as Sales Manager for Northern Europe. For one year his focus was to open up the market for nonwovens in the automotive and furniture industries of Northern Europe.

In 1998 Marc joined the SAERTEX Group, Saerbeck, Germany, then a small privately owned Company, venturing into the advanced technical textiles business. In his 18 years at SAERTEX he was responsible and significantly shaped the organizations development – from a regional family-owned company into a global player. Under Marc’s continued leadership the SAERTEX Group took on major initiatives and with its transformation he was promoted and appointed to a Board member as the Global Sales & Marketing Director in 2004 with additional responsibilities including not only the strategic marketing efforts but also establishing the company’s manufacturing presence across the globe.

Under his responsibility, the manufacturer of multiaxial non crimp fabrics grew from 80 employees at 2 production sites and an annual turnover of 15 million euros to a world market leader with more than 1,300 employees at 13 production sites in 9 countries on 5 continents. The annual sales revenue increased more than 20 fold during that time. SAERTEX today manufactures advanced technical fabrics and parts for the composite industry, serving various industries like wind energy, aerospace, defense, oil & gas and automotive.

After 18 years Marc decided to leave the SAERTEX Group in 2016. In 2017 he founded SMACK to expand and grow a strong composite network. In collaboration with Dr. Christian Kissinger, Founder & CEO of K1SS LLC, established in 2017 in Charlotte – USA, the two visionaries want to bring the story of composites to the end user by connecting people, companies and solutions and sharing their knowledge.

Graduate Textile Engineer – Fachhochschule Rheinland-Pfalz, Kaiserslautern, Germany in 1994

Master of Business Administration – Fachhochshule Niederrhein, Monchengladbach, Germany in 1997, with a 6 months ​study at the Dublin Institute of Technology, in Dublin, Ireland specialized in marketing

Multicultural leader with extensive experience in organizing sales- and marketing as well as manufacturing organizations in a global environment from start up to full production.

Self-motivated strong communicator with good skills and industry experience, analytical yet personable with exceptional communication skills at ease with all hierarchy levels.

A people driven coach and trainer for all levels of business partners as well as a strong motivator to reach common goals & objectives by connecting to all kind of personalities with self-confidence and intuition.

Strong believer in the “Being close to the customer” philosophy.

Core Competencies

  • Leadership

  • Communication

  • People Skills

  • Entrepreneur

  • Cultural Experience

  • Customer Relations

  • Composites

  • Negotiations

  • Business Developement