Dr. Stefan Messmann
Stefan Messmann was Professor of International Business Law at Central European University (CEU) in Budapest, Hungary, from 1998 until his retirement in 2015. He also served as Academic Pro-Rector of CEU between 1999 and 2003 and as Head of the Legal Studies Department of CEU between 2004 and 1012.
Prof. Messmann was born in Serbia, educated in Germany and Switzerland. He obtained his Licence en droit 1970 in Geneva and Doctorat en droit 1978 in Fribourg.
Before joining CEU, he held positions of Senior Legal Counsel with Volkswagen AG in Germany and was member of supervisory boards of affiliated companies of the Volkswagen group, Deputy General Manager and Commercial Executive with Shanghai Volkswagen in Shanghai, General Manager for Asia and the CIS-countries with Umformtechnik GmbH, Erfurt, with seat in Shanghai, and head of Shanghai Branch Office of Wessing, a German international law firm.
Between 2008 and 1015 he was Flying Professor and, between 2012 and 2015, also member of Joint Managerial Committee of the China-Europe School of Law and also in charge of organizing training programs for European lawyers in China. Besides, he was visiting professor in North Korea, Serbia, and in the USA.
He is a permanent member of the Foreign Trade Forum at the Belgrade Chamber of Commerce and of the Arbitral Tribunal of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Chamber of Commerce in Sarajevo. He is also Co-editor and member of the Advisory Board of the European Journal of Sinology and member of the Editorial Board of China-EU Law Journal.
Speaking several languages, Prof. Messmann has extensively written and lectured on international joint ventures, as well as on foreign direct investment, company and contract law in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia but also about foot-binding practices and Jews in China. In 2006, he received the Dr. Elemér Hantos Prize for co-editing the book Investing in South Eastern Europe.
Prof. Messmann is a German citizen and lives in Budapest and Shanghai with his wife Wang Aichi.
