Chief AI Officer Certificate Program · Munich Business School

Chief AI OfficerQualification for board members and top management.

Artificial intelligence changes the decision space at board level. Whoever owns AI today decides on competitiveness, risk and long-term value creation.

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Executive attendance formats in Munich, Lisbon and Amberg

9months · 6 qualification and 3 implementation phases
19days of executive attendance formats
14.9Keuros in C-level qualification
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14max. participants per cohort

What you will own afterwards

The Chief AI Officer Certificate.

The Chief AI Officer Certificate from Munich Business School qualifies leaders to assume this responsibility in a structured, well-founded and traceable way at C-level, legitimised internally and externally.

Own AI across the company.

Responsibility for AI at company or group level. Prioritising AI initiatives by value contribution, risk and maturity. Steering scaling, stop decisions and investment logic. Giving clear direction, even amid uncertainty, resistance and conflicting goals.

Decide at C-level.

Taking responsibility without operational micro-steering. Deciding under uncertainty and with incomplete data. Leading experts without formal authority. Assertiveness towards the board, division heads and committees.

C-level decision situations.

Real decision scenarios from AI transformations. Weighing business value, regulation, ethics and reputation. Decisions with consequences, no simulations. No right or wrong, but options you can stand behind.

Positioning as Chief AI Officer.

Executive attendance formats at board level. Strategic positioning of your own role in top management. Final presentation to experts and decision-makers. University certificate from Munich Business School as proof of qualification.

No right or wrong. But options you can stand behind.

Executive education programme with a university certificate from Munich Business School

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Why the Chief AI Officer works

As a “Chief AI Officer” what counts is not what you promise, but what you are accountable for.

“The biggest difference wasn’t the knowledge, but the responsibility: going out, understanding customers, convincing them. Even when it gets uncomfortable.”

Oliver LammersVP IT / CIO, iwis

“Enthusiasm doesn’t come from numbers alone, but from a change of perspective, clear decisions and honest feedback.”

Alexander SchnürerCFO & MD, Westhouse Group

“The biggest gain was the confidence to pitch ideas clearly: strategically, understandably and with real impact on the audience.”

Marco SteidelHead of IT & Digital Transformation

All voices come from leaders.

From leaders at management and C-level who have completed the programme. AI and digital transformation fundamentally change companies. But their impact only shows where leaders take responsibility: in real decision situations, in tasks that challenge and stay, and in honest feedback from outside. Even when it is uncomfortable. Videos in German.

Oliver Lammers

VP IT / CIO, iwis

Alexander Schnürer

CFO & MD, Westhouse Group

Marco Steidel

Head of IT & Digital Transformation

The programme

Nine months in four phases.

Months 1 to 3: AI Business Foundations. Months 4 to 6: Executive Challenges. Months 7 to 9: Implementation & Impact with the C-Level Impact Review before the jury.

  1. Months 1–3 AI Business Foundations Understand and position: AI basics, finding use cases
  2. Months 4–6 Executive Challenges Workshops and leadership in Munich, Lisbon, Amberg; C-level readiness sessions
  3. Months 7–9 Implementation & Impact Implement and apply: coaching, support, your own use case
  4. Month 9 C-Level Impact Review Presentation and certification: project pitch, jury discussion, certificate

Phase 1 · Fundamentals · 10 days

Fundamentals: skills and implementation

To start, the professional and organisational foundations are laid that are essential for later responsibility at board level.

  • Core AI capabilities and decision foundations
  • Implementation competence instead of tool knowledge
  • Success factors from the practice of top managers
  • Positioning technology, organisation and business impact

This phase creates a shared understanding, a resilient language and the depth needed to continue working at C-level.

Presentation to the group during the fundamentals

Phase 2 · C-Level Readiness Framework · 2 days

C-Level Readiness Framework

This phase focuses on board readiness.

  • Core governance, risk and accountability questions in compact tutorials of around 30 minutes
  • Weekly reflection together with Prof. Dr. Heiko Seif
  • Focus on attitude, role and decision-making ability instead of knowledge

The aim is to position your own role as Chief AI Officer: between innovation, regulation, organisation and reputation.

Reflection at the screen with the mentor

Phase 3 · Leadership Challenge Workshops · 7 days in person

Leadership Challenge Workshops

Three intensive executive workshops in special places.

  • Munich (2.25 days): decisions with far-reaching consequences
  • Lisbon (2.25 days): leading transformation and winning people
  • Amberg (2.25 days): proving potential, substance and viability

These workshops are not trainings, but leadership spaces.

Presenting the challenge in the leadership workshop

Phase 4 · Executive Sparring · 3 months

Executive sparring: implementation in your own context

Three months of weekly one-hour executive sparring with two experienced C-level coaches.

  • Presentation of the implemented AI initiative to a high-ranking jury
  • Assessed are clarity, decision logic, impact and ownership

On successful completion you receive the university certificate from Munich Business School and the formal qualification for the role of Chief AI Officer.

Executive sparring: a one-to-one conversation

C-level jury · 5 board members and managing directors

C-level jury: the feedback you no longer get anywhere else.

In the everyday life of top managers, feedback is rarely honest. Too much is at stake, too many roles, expectations and political considerations. In the Leadership Challenge Workshops we deliberately break with exactly this pattern.

You present to a C-level jury of board members, managing directors and experienced decision-makers. People who know responsibility not from books, but from their own experience. You get no polite nodding and no applause, but feedback that is clear, direct and respectful. But not embellished. This is exactly the feedback that creates focus, attitude and clarity. Because it is honest. And because you hardly ever get it anymore.

Stefan Neumann

Stefan Neumann

Interim CFO

“At C-level, applause doesn’t help. What moves you forward is honest feedback from people who know responsibility. As CFO and supervisory board member I learned to make decisions under pressure. That is exactly the experience that counts here.”
Oliver Lammers

Oliver Lammers

CIO, iwis

“AI is not decided by tools, but by clarity at board level. As CIO I am responsible for IT, digitalisation and implementation. That is exactly the perspective I bring here.”
Andreas Hofmann

Andreas Hofmann

Former CMO Hyundai, executive search partner

“At C-level it is not about potential, but about fit. As an executive search partner I have seen over decades which decisions hold and which careers fail because of them.”
Roland Kölbl

Roland Kölbl

Managing Director, Thalia

“Strategy only becomes real when it works in the market. As a managing director with P&L responsibility I know that good decisions have to show impact: with customers, employees and in the results.”
Horst Brinkmann

Horst Brinkmann

CEO, Stabilo

“Leadership means enduring contradictions. As CEO of a traditional company in digital transformation I know that the future does not come from tools, but from clear decisions between preserving and renewing.”

Cooperation partners

Backed by strong partners.

The organisations listed below are cooperation partners of the AI Programme Certificates of Munich Business School.

Certified by

Munich Business School

A recognised university certificate, not a tool badge or course certificate: a genuine academic qualification at leadership level.

Further cooperation partners

Management Forum Starnberg BFB — Bundesverband der Freien Berufe FOX Group Senator Executive Search Partners Institut Neue Mobilität Talk Concrete Lehmanns Fachinformationen Thalia
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