Christopher Albrecht Bielenberg is a German consulting company executive whose career has included Sandoz, Corning Glass, Robert Fraser & Partners, and REL Consultant Group Limited. He later became involved in sustainable and regenerative farming through organic agriculture and trusteeship of Our Food Trust.
Background
Christopher Albrecht Bielenberg was born in Berlin in 1942, the son of Peter Heinrich Bielenberg and Christabel Mary Harmsworth Burton. His family background connected German and British traditions; his mother was the daughter of Lt.-Col. Percy Collingwood Burton and Christabel Rose Harmsworth.
Bielenberg has described growing up on a traditional Irish farm that combined beef, dairy, lamb, barley, oats, sugar beet, and peas. This agricultural background preceded his later interest in organic farming and sustainable land use.
Education
Bielenberg studied at Trinity College Dublin, where he read physics and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1963. Trinity College Dublin, founded in 1592, is Ireland's oldest university and has long combined scientific, humanistic, and professional education within an international academic setting.
He then completed a Master of Business Administration at the European Institute of Business Administration in Fontainebleau, France, in 1965. The institution is widely known as INSEAD, a business school established in Fontainebleau in 1957 with an international orientation and a curriculum focused on management and executive education.
Bielenberg began his professional career with Sandoz in Basel, Switzerland, from 1966 to 1968. Sandoz, founded in Basel in 1886 as a chemical and dye manufacturer, had developed by the 1960s into a major international chemical and pharmaceutical group whose activities included pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and food-related businesses.
From 1969 to 1972, he worked with Corning Glass in Brussels and London. Corning's industrial history included major developments in glass technology, and by the 1960s the company was a leading producer of television glass and other advanced glass products. Bielenberg became managing director of Robert Fraser & Partners in London from 1972 to 1975; the firm operated in the business-consulting environment in which companies increasingly used specialist advice for corporate strategy and management.
From 1975, Bielenberg served as chief executive of REL Consultant Group Limited, with activities in London and New York City. His career therefore moved from international corporate employment into senior management and consulting leadership.
Bielenberg also developed a long-term interest in farming and sustainable agriculture. He served as a trustee of Our Food Trust from September 2021; the Welsh charity supports regenerative farming, community food resilience, conservation, and practical agricultural projects.
Views
Bielenberg's documented interests in organic farming and sustainable living, together with his trusteeship of Our Food Trust, indicate a sustained concern with agricultural practices that support environmental stewardship and local food resilience.
Membership
Bielenberg has served as a trustee of Our Food Trust, a charitable organization concerned with regenerative farming, conservation, community food resilience, and the development of sustainable agricultural projects in Wales. His participation connects his business experience and agricultural background with organized efforts to promote environmentally responsible farming.
Trustee supporting the charity's work in regenerative farming, conservation, and community food resilience.
Our Food Trust
,
United Kingdom
September 6, 2021 - present
Interests
Organic farming, reading, and politics.
Sport & Clubs
Golf and tennis.
Connections
Bielenberg is the son of Peter Heinrich Bielenberg and Christabel Mary Harmsworth Burton. He married Angela von der Schulenburg; the marriage ended in divorce in 1987. They had two children, Alexander and Katharina. He later married Christabel Brown in 1988, and they had two children, Freya and Clementine.
Father:
Peter Heinrich Bielenberg
Mother:
Christabel Mary Harmsworth (Burton) Bielenberg
child:
Alexander Bielenberg
child:
Katharina Bielenberg
child:
Freya Bielenberg
child:
Clementine Bielenberg
Wife:
Angela von der Schulenburg
Married Christopher Albrecht Bielenberg; the marriage ended in divorce in 1987.
Wife:
Christabel Brown
Married Christopher Albrecht Bielenberg in 1988.
References
Our Food Trust: About
Documents Christopher Bielenberg's trusteeship, agricultural background, education at Trinity College Dublin, MBA at INSEAD, international career, and interest in sustainable living.
Our Food Trust Trustees
Records Christopher Albrecht Bielenberg as a trustee of Our Food Trust from September 6, 2021.
