PEOPLE FOCUS

Petra Zöller


Petra Zöller started out in the management office of Messer Griesheim, as the company was known at the time, in 1981. The three years that she originally intended to stay have since become nearly forty. “Because the work was interesting and varied and the colleagues were nice, I stayed on and relocated along with the corporate headquarters a few times – from Hanauer Landstrasse in Frankfurt to the Airport Center at the Frankfurt airport and other stops along the way to Bad Soden.” From 2002 till her retirement starting this summer, Petra Zöller was Stefan Messer’s assistant. “Over all the years, it was never boring. I had fun meeting the wide range of challenges while pulling all the strings at the same time.”

What was your nicest “gases experience”? That was the restart of the Messer Group in 2004, without a doubt. It was a very exciting time, but it also wasn’t without stress. And then there was my 50th birthday in October 2006, which I got the chance to celebrate on an old icebreaker in Tallinn during a corporate conference. When visiting your country, what should people be absolutely sure not to miss? Our capital Berlin – and not just the Brandenburg Gate or the many other tourist attractions there, but rather the city’s many colorful, charming neighborhoods. What three things will you miss the least? Talking on the phone for hours, changing travel arrangements, and filing documents. Which celebrities would you like to spend an evening with? Herbert Grönemeyer or Campino of the Toten Hosen. What would you still like to learn in your life? Enough Italian to have a conversation with the waiter at my favorite pizzeria. I’d also really like to take singing lessons – to make at least a respectable showing at karaoke.