Living the dream at GEA

Senior Director Application Development for Beverages & Beer, Mark Schneeberger, joined GEA in 2014. Today he leads a team of 13 employees and happily combines his hobby with his day job. Luckily, they are the same: Brewing beer!

It’s not all beer and skittles

Schneeberger’s professional brewery journey began nearly 30 years ago. “I had an interest in biology and technology, and thought brewing was cool,” he explains. “I chose to study brewing at the Technical University in Munich and never looked back – and even went on to get a PhD in brewing.” He joined GEA in 2014 as a project director, later overseeing projects in South Korea and the Philippines. Today in his group function, he supports his team in designing the breweries of the future, with a strong focus on sustainability and digitalization. 

Brewing customers depend on GEA to help them increase the efficiency of their processes and to develop and produce the best tasting end products. This includes also high-quality dealcoholized beers which are tricky to make well and in high demand by consumers. “Every beer reveals the skill of the brew master who made it, which means GEA brewery solutions bear a lot of responsibility when it comes to meeting customer and consumer expectations,” says Schneeberger.

” Passion is the best ingredient any beer can have.”

The GEA Brewing Club

Over the years, it became clear that many GEA colleagues in and around Kitzingen and Buechen, Germany, shared a personal passion for beer, beer brewing – or both. Schneeberger decided to bring these minds together, founding the GEA Brewing Club in 2021. Starting with 12 members, we now are proud to count 35 members across all GEA divisions.

“Some of us brew in their kitchens while others have more advanced installations. We’re all at different levels and have different approaches, so we can share knowledge and experience – and of course our joy of beer brewing,” he explains. It’s not mandatory for members to have a formal brewing background; it’s the passion and the love of beer that counts and what drives the creativity and great taste in the club’s creations.

” Our individual taste in beer differs alot within the club. From strong, sweet, bitter, dark, hoppy, fruity, floral, earthy to citrusy – the variety in beer flavors is pretty much endless. This makes brewing a very creative hobby and is what makes our day jobs so much fun.”

The discussions and tastings trigger interesting discussions about beer, brewing and taste and foster networking and communication inside and outside the club’s membership. “When that happens, I know I am doing something right,” concludes Schneeberger.