Patrick Schmidt, founder of AGCC, was raised in Los Angeles and holds degrees in Psychology (California State University) and French Literature (l'Université de Strasbourg). He began his professional career in Germany and has since lived in Malaysia and Canada.

A pragmatic seminar-leader and intercultural trainer for over a quarter-century, he's worked at the highest levels in companies such as DaimlerChrysler, Bertelsmann, RWE, Porsche and KPMG. In addition to being a German-American relations expert, he has a detailed understanding of international business strategy formulation, cross-cultural transfer of management methods and multinational team cooperation.

He's also written extensively in both the business and intercultural fields, having spent 11 years as editor-in-chief of the Daimler-Benz magazine New Report before launching the Malaysian-German Chamber of Commerce's MGCC Quarterly. In 1999 he published the book Understanding American and German Business Cultures (available in German as Die amerikanische und deutsche Wirtschaftskultur im Vergleich), which has become a standard reference for Porsche, Bertelsmann, DaimlerChrysler, Motorola-Germany and Lufthansa among others.

End of 2007, he wrote his second book, entitled "In Search of Intercultural Understanding". It is a general overview of intercultural issues, offering insights and practical advice on adjusting and coping with new cultures and experiences abroad.

He's an active member of SIETAR (The society for intercultural education, training and research) and is currently President of SIETAR-Europa. He's also the editor-in-chief of the SIETAR-Europa journal.

He currently lives in Strasbourg.