Author: Michael Marquardt

February 20, 2018
I remember making a big mistake almost ten years ago, placing my trust in a close friend. Of course, I did not know at the time that this would be a big mistake. I thought that I could completely trust the person. When the situation began to unravel and hurt others that had placed their faith in me, I was in denial about it at first.

February 05, 2018
I was 29 years old and had recently become the president of a fast-growing technology company in Michigan. I had been married three years earlier to a wonderful woman, and life was full of promise. Then it happened. My wife was diagnosed with breast cancer out of nowhere.

January 24, 2018

By Michael Marquardt and Claire DeMatteis, Esq. It has taken a generation. Twenty-six years after Anita Hill gave voice to sexual harassment in the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Clarence Thomas hearings in 1991, women who previously concealed incidents of workplace sexual harassment now feel empowered to...

December 18, 2017
AA International Indonesia (AAI), a Jakarta-based medical, travel, insurance and roadside assistance company that Michael Marquardt has helped successfully lead and grow, will be celebrating its 10th anniversary in business this month. Marquardt has seen the Indonesian market grow, evolve and emerge as THE alternative international trade and investment opportunity platform for companies in the United States and Europe seeking to expand their operations overseas.  In this article, he shares his perspectives on the Indonesian market as a foreign national, and how other foreign business entities and executives can help the growth of their own local business enterprises. My experience of doing business in Indonesia for more than a decade, and falling in love with the country, its people and its culture, have been highlights for me personally and professionally as a business entrepreneur. I work with such a talented team at AAI, and it has been a pleasure leading them as well as learning from them about the recipes for success in Indonesia.

November 14, 2017

With new reports of major cyber attacks hitting the headlines on an almost weekly basis, it is understandably every company’s worst fear. Yet the risk of computer network hacks has been a dangerous area of vulnerability for organizations ever since data went digital. In fact, data...

November 01, 2017

A little more than a month ago, on September 24, federal elections were held in Germany. Chancellor Merkel’s party, along with its Bavarian sister party (the CDU/CSU) lost many seats in parliament but she still emerged with a mandate to form the next government and...

September 28, 2017

For corporate directors, Volkswagen AG’s “Dieselgate” is a textbook case of ineffective corporate governance that has led to worldwide criminal investigations and a loss of public confidence. Corporate directors and millions of Americans who enjoy driving VW cars, as well as Audi or Porsche vehicles...

July 29, 2017

In 2013, American technology magnate Michael Dell said that “mobile will figure out health care … before health care figures out mobile.” Initially, he was right, but during the past year the healthcare industry has started to figure it out. More than 15 years after...