Born into a shipping family Ulf went to sea the first time at the age of 15 gaining valuable seagoing experience. After his apprenticeship as a shipbroker at Sloman Neptun in Bremen he went to the University of Muenster for his law studies which he finalized as a fully qualified lawyer after passing his second state exam at the Higher Regional Court of Duesseldorf in 2002.

Ulf started his insurance career at Junge & Co Versicherungsmakler in Hamburg thereafter, finally heading the Junge & Co. marine claims department.

In 2015 he founded OWL Marine Insurance Brokers together with 3 founding partners. In 2018 OWL was acquired by the Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group and is a Marsh Specialty lead by Ulf and two of his founding partners as Managing Directors in the meantime.