Clemens Ceipek brings an austrian perspective to uS business
When Clemens Ceipek flew over the Thomson Reuters building on approach to the Twin Cities in 1997, his boss leaned over and said, “Take a good look. Someday your career might take you here.”
“No way,” Ceipek thought.
Originally from Leoben, Austria, Ceipek was working for Thomson Reuters in London at the time with the goal of expanding the company’s online legal research tool, Westlaw, in Europe. Little did he know, two years later, he and his family would take the exact route his boss predicted: They moved to Minneapolis, where his focus shifted to bringing Westlaw global.
The transition turned out to be easy, especially because the community there was very welcoming. “The neighbors were open. It was easy to make contacts with people. The kids found friends in school easily,” he said. From there, the family stayed in the US, moving to New York for a role with Westlaw’s main competitor, LexisNexis, and then eventually settling in Ohio, though Ceipek traveled to Europe often on business. Today, Ceipek lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife, where he spends his free time soaring above the mountains as a glider pilot, his childhood passion.
Already an experienced endurance athlete, he wanted an activity that was mentally challenging but easier on the body, and he found that thousands of feet in the air, flying hundreds of miles in planes without engines.
“It's the most cerebral sport there is - a very complicated, challenging environment. I call it Chess in the Air. The amount of learning is almost infinite,” he said.
Ceipek is deeply involved in the local gliding community and even serves as president of the local soaring club. Among the world rankings of glider pilots, the so called OLC-Plus League, he is currently in the top 40 with only one other Austrian ahead of him.
In his career, Ceipek’s focus lies at the intersection of technology, law, and business. With a law degree from the University of Graz and an MBA from INSEAD in France, he has spent his career on the international stage. He spearheaded LexisNexis’ global strategy, driving business growth through acquisitions and leading the transition from LexisNexis being a provider of information to a more solutions-oriented provider. He held a variety of senior executive roles with the company, including general manager of the US legal business and head of US marketing, as well as Global Product Officer and Managing Director of New Lexis.
The most rewarding part of his career was the “New Lexis Initiative,” where the company had to completely replace its entire technology stack worldwide, re-platforming the business and operations from top to bottom. Well over 1,000 people worked on the program over multiple years – the single largest investment in the company’s history. It turned out to be a huge success.
“The investors loved it, the customers loved it, and the employee satisfaction rose," Ceipek said of the project. “It was a really great accomplishment and paved the way to offer industry-leading AI tools.”
Ceipek’s Austrian perspective has given him an edge in the US business world. Growing up in a region of the world with so many different cultures and ways of doing things, he is intrinsically aware that there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution, especially when it comes to global business. This knowledge gave him the confidence to encourage tailored approaches for different markets instead of pushing the US model and hoping it works. “Being from a small country, I had the credibility, and I had the ability to make sure that what we developed would actually work.”
When it comes to Austrian companies considering investing in the US market, Ceipek’s advice is: “Go for it.”
“It's a huge market. Consumer spending in Austria is nowhere near what it is in the US. The opportunities are still great. Politics, unfortunately, can throw a wrench into things occasionally, but it's time limited and this too will pass. The business environment is friendly. It's open. The bureaucratic hurdles are nowhere near as complicated as they are in many European countries.”
As for his next steps, Ceipek has his sights sets on developing an AI-focused technology company for the European market. He’s also working on obtaining dual citizenship as his family in the US grows. “There's no way I'm going to give up my Austrian roots,” he said.
