Matthias Merz studied law at the University of Münster, Germany, passed his exam in 1996 and was also active as a lecturer and assistant teacher at the institute for international public law and european law. Since 1997 he has been the Managing Director (CEO) of the AWA AUSSENWIRTSCHAFTS-AKADEMIE / Foreign Trade Academy which he co-founded with Prof. Dr. Hans-Michael Wolffgang. Today, AWA is a leading organizer of export controls, customs- and tax-related webinars, conferences and seminars in Europe. It has offices in Germany (Münster and Munich), and provides trainings in Austria and Switzerland on a regular basis. The MCA Master program, run by AWA and the University of Münster is recognized on national and european levels bei AQAS, the WCO and the European Commission.

Matthias Merz specialises in German, European and US export control law, customs law and internal compliance programmes to stakeholders from industry and academia. He has lectured widely on these subjects in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and in the United States of America.

The AWA is located next to the AWB Steuerberatungsgesellschaft mbH (Tax Consultancy). The AWB was co-founded by Mr. Merz and Prof. Dr. Wolffgang in 2005 and today they direct its operations as managing partners. In addition to customs and tax matters, AWB assists clients in establishing and maintaining trade compliance processes and operations. This includes training, control plans, related aspects of global trade controls and AEO certification. The AWB also works with the AWB Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH (Law firm) to provide consultancy on German and European export controls. Both AWB companies are based in their offices in Münster, Munich and Hamburg in Germany.

From his base in the AWA and AWB Münster, Matthias Merz also manages the operations of the AWA’s regional branches. He has been the Managing Director of the AWA SUISSE GmbH (near Zurich) since 2000, the AWA Austria GmbH (Linz) since 2001 and AWA Hungary (Budapest) since 2003.

Matthias is certified quality management coach, certified by the Ministry of Economy, Energy, and Traffic in Nordrhein-Westfalen/ Germany. He has also been certified as a quality manager for professional training institutes by CERTQUA GmbH Bonn.

Matthias is fluent in German and English.