Katrin Sturm is the Secretary-General at AECM, the European Association of Guarantee Institutions which has 48 members from 29 countries in Europe. Katrin started working in Brussels in May 2001. Prior to AECM, Katrin worked for the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations (BDA), for the German Savings Banks Association (DSGV) as well as for the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts and Small Businesses (ZDH) being at the same time the EU Representative of the Association of German Guarantee Banks (VDB). She graduated from the University of Passau (Germany) in Law taking part in an ERASMUS exchange program with the University of Angers (France), then passed the second state exam in law in Potsdam (Germany), and finally acquired a Master of Law from the University of Aberdeen (Scotland) taking part in an exchange program with the University of Cape Town (South Africa). Katrin is a qualified bank clerk and Honorary Consultant of Taiwan SMEG, a credit guarantee institution specialized in supporting SMEs in Taiwan in getting access to finance. Next to her mother tongue German Katrin speaks English, French, Italian and Spanish, understands Dutch, and reads Portuguese. She is married and has three children.