Maria Basler leverages her experience in financial services to advise banks and private equity firms on their most crucial leadership decisions. Based in Frankfurt, she also leads Russell Reynolds Associates’ Frankfurt office as well as the EMEAI Financial Services practice. Maria has over 20 years of senior management experience in financial services, with expertise in the Private Capital Industry. Previously, Maria spent five years at a global executive search firm in the financial services practice and led the German private equity practice. In that role, she was also responsible for top talent recruiting and assessment for international and local banks. Before that, she was a managing director for Deutsche Bank where she led the organizational development unit. Maria also held several leadership roles during her six years at Commerzbank. She started her career in the Frankfurt division of the Boston Consulting Group, where she held positions of increasing responsibility during her nine-year tenure. "The leader is one who, out of clutter, brings simplicity… out of discord, harmony… and out of difficulty, opportunity." - Albert Einstein Maria holds a degree in physics from Heidelberg University and studied physics at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg​ and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).