Dr. Volker Wissing

Dr. Volker Wissing was born in Landau, Germany in 1970. Appointed a double Minister, he is both the German Federal Minister for Digital and Transport as well as the Federal Minister of Justice. From 2016 to 2021, he was a member of the state parliament, Deputy Minister-President and Minister for Economic Affairs, Transport, Agriculture and Viticulture of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. He is a Member of the German Bundestag from 2004 to 2013 and again since 2021. He chaired the Finance Committee there from 2009 to 2011. From 1997 to 1999 he worked as a judge and public prosecutor, from 2000 to 2004 as deputy chief of staff to the Minister of Justice of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate. He was appointed a judge at Landau Regional Court in 2001 and was a practising lawyer from 2013 to 2016.

Wolfgang Schmidt

Wolfgang Schmidt is Head of the Federal Chancellery and Federal Minister for Special Tasks. He also holds the post of Commissioner for the Federal Intelligence Services.

Prior to his appointment in December 2021, he served as State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Finance. Previously, he served as State Secretary and Plenipotentiary of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg to the Federation, the European Union and for foreign affairs.

Wolfgang Schmidt is a lawyer by training, having studied in Hamburg and Bilbao, Spain.

Claudia Plattner

Claudia Plattner has been the President of the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) since 1 July 2023. Claudia Plattner was born in Mainz in 1973. She has more than 20 years of experience in IT functions for companies and institutions. Most recently, she served as the Director General for Information Systems at the European Central Bank and previously held a senior position as Chief Information Officer (CIO) of DB Systel GmbH, the internal IT service provider of Deutsche Bahn. Claudia Plattner holds a degree in mathematics (TU Darmstadt) and a master’s degree in applied mathematics from Tulane University (USA).

Gerd Chrzanowski

Gerd Chrzanowski is a passionate entrepreneur who places great importance on economic responsibility and values-based action. In his role as General Partner Schwarz Group, he is resolutely committed to the megatrends of digitalization, sustainability and healthy nutrition – acting ahead and serving as a catalyst for the economy in Germany and Europe. After almost 25 years at the companies of Schwarz Group, Chrzanowski understands the retail industry better than virtually anyone else. As the General Partner Schwarz Unternehmenstreuhand KG, he has been responsible for the strategic leadership of the companies of Schwarz Group, including Lidl, Kaufland, Schwarz Produktion, PreZero, Schwarz Digits and Schwarz Corporate Solutions, since December 2021. With roughly 575,000 employees in 32 countries, the companies of Schwarz Group are one of the leading retail groups worldwide, and that calls for responsible corporate management with strategic foresight. Chrzanowski’s innovative strength is evident in his approach to modern technologies and forward-thinking concepts. For instance, he understood the importance of the circular economy early on and supported the founding of the environmental service provider PreZero. His involvement in the areas of cloud computing and cybersecurity also formed the basis for Schwarz Group’s strategic expansion toward digitalization. From 2014, Chrzanowski was the Chief Executive Officer of Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG, Chief Executive Officer of SB Dienstleistung KG, and Deputy General Partner as well as member of the Executive Board of Schwarz Dienstleistung KG, before assuming his current role. During this time, he set trends in IT, mobility and digitalization, which have permanently shaped Schwarz Group’s strategic direction. From 2008 to 2014, he served as the Chief Central Services Officer at Lidl in Germany, having completely restructured the sales department there. Chrzanowski started his career with the companies of Schwarz Group in 2000 as an in-house consultant at Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG, where he drove innovative solutions at an early stage. Born in Offenburg, he graduated from Bochum University of Applied Sciences with a degree in Business Administration and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management from Manchester Metropolitan University. Before he went to university, he completed an automobile salesperson apprenticeship.

Dr, Wladimir Klitschko

Arye Sharuz Shalicar

Major General Jürgen Setzer

Major General Jürgen Setzer entered the military in 1980 and graduated in computer science from Bundeswehr University Munich in 1984. He attended the General Staff Officer Course at Bundeswehr Command and Staff College in Hamburg and took part in the United States Army Command and General Staff Officers’ Course at Fort Leavenworth. He has held leadership and staff positions at almost all levels. His tours of duty cover the Balkans and Afghanistan.

Since April 2018 he serves as Vice Chief of the Cyber and Information Domain Service and Bundeswehr Chief Information Security Officer (CISOBw). He is in charge of space related aspects for the Cyber and Information Domain Service Headquarters.

Jonas Andrulis

Jonas Andrulis is an AI researcher, engineer and serial entrepreneur. After studying industrial engineering at KIT in Karlsruhe, he worked as an AI expert in consulting and banking. He founded two AI software companies in logistics and computer vision. After three years in AI research at Apple in Cupertino, he founded his third AI start-up, Aleph Alpha, in Heidelberg in 2019.

Prof. Dr. Achim Kempf

Achim Kempf studied physics at the University of Heidelberg and completed his doctorate at the University of Munich (LMU). Following five years of research at the University of Cambridge and three years at the University of Florida, he is currently Professor of Applied Mathematics and Physics at the University of Waterloo. He is a member of the Institute for Quantum Computing and of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, located in Waterloo near Toronto, Canada. In 2004, he was awarded the Canada Research Chair for the Physics of Information.

Dr. Rainer Dulger

Rainer Dulger was elected as Confederation of German Employers Associations President in November 2020 and in this role represents the role, representing the interests of more than 1 million companies with around 30 million employees. Previously he was President of Gesamtmetall from 2012 to 2020. Together with his brother, Rainer Dulger runs ProMinent GmbH, which manufactures and sells metering pumps worldwide. He studied mechanical engineering in Kaiserslautern mechanical engineering in Kaiserslautern and was subsequently awarded a Dr.-Ing.

Dr. Theodor Weimer

Theodor Weimer has been CEO of Deutsche Börse AG since January 2018. In addition, since mid-2020, he has been a Member of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bank AG and Knorr-Bremse AG.

After his studies of economics and business administration in Tübingen and a stay at the University of St. Gallen he worked as an assistant lecturer at Bonn University. After his PhD, Mr Weimer became a management consultant at McKinsey & Company in 1988. In 1995, he joined Bain & Company where he was a Senior Partner and Member of the Global Management Committee. In 2001, he started at Goldman Sachs, where he became Partner in 2004. In mid-2007, Theodor joined UniCredit Group as Co-Head of Investment Banking. From the beginning of 2009 until the end of 2017, he was Spokesman of the Management Board of HypoVereinsbank. In addition, he was a Member of the Global Executive Committee of UniCredit Group since 2013.

Mathias Döpfner

Mathias Döpfner is a German journalist, book author, and the chairman and CEO of Axel Springer (BILD, WELT, POLITICO, INSIDER). He joined the company in 1998 as editor-in-chief of the German daily Welt and became CEO in 2002. Ever since, he has pushed the digital transformation of the company. Today, over 85 percent of the group’s revenues and 95 percent of profits come from its digital business. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Netflix and Warner Music Group.

Christian Müller

Christian Müller is Co-CEO of Schwarz Digits, the IT and digital division of Schwarz Group. Schwarz Digits offers digital products and services relating to cyber security, cloud, artificial intelligence and secure communication that meet the high German data protection standards - for the greatest possible digital sovereignty. In addition, Christian Müller has been responsible for the business of Schwarz IT KG since January 1, 2018 - first as a divisional director, then as a board member and since July 1, 2021 as CEO. As a service provider, it manages the entire digital infrastructure and software solutions of Schwarz Group companies and provides support for their IT projects. Since joining Schwarz Group on January 1, 2004, Christian Müller has held various positions of responsibility. He started his career at Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG in the IT department.

Rolf Schumann

Rolf Schumann is Co-CEO of Schwarz Digits, the IT und digital division of the Schwarz Group. Schwarz Digits offers digital products and services relating to cyber security, cloud and artificial intelligence that meet the high German data protection standards - for the greatest possible digital sovereignty. In addition, Rolf Schumann is responsible for the digital activities of the companies of Schwarz Group with a focus on e-commerce, loyalty, retail media and digital innovations. With over 30 years of experience in the strategic planning of IT projects and digital transformation, he is constantly driving technology and innovation-related topics across all industries. Before joining the Schwarz Group, Rolf Schumann was in charge at SAP as General Manager worldwide for the Platform & Innovation division. From 2008 to 2012, Rolf Schumann dedicated himself to the topic of clean tech and founded the start-up company Better Place, with a focus on electromobility. Prior to that, he was CTO for Europe at SAP. Before joining SAP in 2000, Mr. Schumann spent nine years at Siemens, where he was responsible for data center operations in Europe and the planning of Internet architecture.

Dieter Lange

Dieter Lange studied business administration and psychology and spent many years on the ethnical study of various cultures. He has extensive experience in business as a product manager, as well as marketing manager and constantly combines western knowledge with eastern wisdom.

He is among those rare top management trainers who provide change in companies. Dieter Lange stimulates in particular through his positive and optimistic style – but he does not walk away from the issue of change processes.

His brilliant rhetoric, moving linguistic images and metaphors turn his presentations into unique adventures in free speech. He is usually the highlight of every congress!

Wiebke Thelo

Wiebke Thelo is Head of SAP Quality, Security & Production. In this role, she is responsible for the global quality management of software development on behalf of the SAP Executive Board. The focus of her portfolio includes cyber and product security for SAP's application portfolio, customer implementation and validation services as well as ensuring a high standard of SAP's quality management system. Since joining SAP SE in 2004, Wiebke Thelo has held various leadership positions, including Chief Operating Officer for SAP Application Development, Head of Internal Operations for SAP Analytics Applications, Chief Operating Officer for Engineering Cross Functions and the management of business controlling for SAP Technology Development. Wiebke Thelo studied economics at the University of Hohenheim and holds an Executive MBA from Mannheim Business School & ESSEC.

Paul Kaffsack

Paul Kaffsack is co-founder of Myra Security. The Security-as-a-Service company's mission is: "We protect what matters - in the digital world". Myra protects business critical infrastructure against Internet-based attacks in real time - including for the German federal government, banks and corporations.

Dr. Nadine Sengül-Stritzelberger

Nadine Sengül-Stritzelberger, a Ph.D. physicist specialized in quantum information, is a Managing Consultant at UBS within a team focusing on Next-Generation Technologies. Her responsibilities include identifying and mitigating cybersecurity risks that could arise in the future from large-scale quantum computers, as well as exploring potential future applications of quantum technologies in the financial sector.

Dr. Ulrike Franke

Dr. Ulrike Franke is a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), based in Paris. Her areas of research include German and European security and defence, the future of warfare, and the impact of new technologies such as drones and artificial intelligence on geopolitics and warfare. Ulrike has published widely on these and other topics and regularly appears in the media. She co-hosts Sicherheitshalber, a German-language podcast on security and defence. She also teaches at Sciences Po Paris.

Niklas Finken

Niklas Finken started his career at Aleph Alpha with an internship in 2021, after studying Economics and Business Economics, followed by a Master’s in Business Information Management. Initially part of the customer team, he worked on developing language model solutions, including RAG-based systems. Niklas Finken then transitioned to an AI Engineer role in the product team, focusing on tool development for LLM applications and data curation for fine-tuning.

Dr. Volker Wissing

Dr. Volker Wissing was born in Landau, Germany in 1970. Appointed a double Minister, he is both the German Federal Minister for Digital and Transport as well as the Federal Minister of Justice. From 2016 to 2021, he was a member of the state parliament, Deputy Minister-President and Minister for Economic Affairs, Transport, Agriculture and Viticulture of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. He is a Member of the German Bundestag from 2004 to 2013 and again since 2021. He chaired the Finance Committee there from 2009 to 2011. From 1997 to 1999 he worked as a judge and public prosecutor, from 2000 to 2004 as deputy chief of staff to the Minister of Justice of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate. He was appointed a judge at Landau Regional Court in 2001 and was a practising lawyer from 2013 to 2016.

Gerd Chrzanowski

Gerd Chrzanowski is a passionate entrepreneur who places great importance on economic responsibility and values-based action. In his role as General Partner Schwarz Group, he is resolutely committed to the megatrends of digitalization, sustainability and healthy nutrition – acting ahead and serving as a catalyst for the economy in Germany and Europe. After almost 25 years at the companies of Schwarz Group, Chrzanowski understands the retail industry better than virtually anyone else. As the General Partner Schwarz Unternehmenstreuhand KG, he has been responsible for the strategic leadership of the companies of Schwarz Group, including Lidl, Kaufland, Schwarz Produktion, PreZero, Schwarz Digits and Schwarz Corporate Solutions, since December 2021. With roughly 575,000 employees in 32 countries, the companies of Schwarz Group are one of the leading retail groups worldwide, and that calls for responsible corporate management with strategic foresight. Chrzanowski’s innovative strength is evident in his approach to modern technologies and forward-thinking concepts. For instance, he understood the importance of the circular economy early on and supported the founding of the environmental service provider PreZero. His involvement in the areas of cloud computing and cybersecurity also formed the basis for Schwarz Group’s strategic expansion toward digitalization. From 2014, Chrzanowski was the Chief Executive Officer of Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG, Chief Executive Officer of SB Dienstleistung KG, and Deputy General Partner as well as member of the Executive Board of Schwarz Dienstleistung KG, before assuming his current role. During this time, he set trends in IT, mobility and digitalization, which have permanently shaped Schwarz Group’s strategic direction. From 2008 to 2014, he served as the Chief Central Services Officer at Lidl in Germany, having completely restructured the sales department there. Chrzanowski started his career with the companies of Schwarz Group in 2000 as an in-house consultant at Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG, where he drove innovative solutions at an early stage. Born in Offenburg, he graduated from Bochum University of Applied Sciences with a degree in Business Administration and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management from Manchester Metropolitan University. Before he went to university, he completed an automobile salesperson apprenticeship.

Dr. Bruno Kahl

Dr. Bruno Kahl, born 1962, has been President of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Germany since 2016. After his second state examination in law he became consultant in the German Chancellery in 1995, and in the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in 1996. In 2005, he became head of the minister’s office at the Federal Ministry of the Interior for Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble, and head of the executive group in 2006. He switched to the same position at the Federal Ministry of Finance in 2009, where he became head of Division in charge of federal real estate in 2010.

Dr. Gerhard Schabhüser

Dr. Gerhard Schabhüser took office as Vice President of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) on January 1, 2017.

He was born in Warendorf in 1961. After graduating from high school, he studied mathematics at the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster. From 1987 to 1990, he completed his doctorate at the University of Münster and the Open University of Hagen.

In 1991 Dr Schabhüser joined the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). Initially, he focused on the development and evaluation of cryptographic procedures and later became head of the "Cryptography and Scientific Foundations" department.

From 2005 to 2016 he served as head of the department which was responsible for the topics "cryptography", "scientific coordination" and "technical classified information security".

Chris Robbins

Special Agent Chris Robbins is an Assistant Legal Attaché responsible for FBI Cyber matters in Germany. Prior to arriving in Germany, he led the FBI Cyber Division's Advanced Digital Forensics Program. He has been with the FBI since 2005 investigating cyber threats, including nation states, cyber crime, and ransomware. He is an expert in Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) and is a member of the FBI's Cyber Action Team (CAT), a highly trained rapid response team of FBI agents, analysts, and computer forensics and malicious code experts who respond to cyber intrusions.

Prof. Dr. h.c. Wolfgang Ischinger

Prof. Dr. h.c. Wolfgang Ischinger is the President of the Munich Security Conference Foundation Council. He served as Chairman of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) from 2008 to 2022. A German career diplomat, he was State Secretary (Deputy Foreign Minister) from 1998 to 2001. From 2001 to 2006, he was the Federal Republic of Germany's Ambassador to the U.S., and from 2006 to 2008, to the Court of St James’s. Professor Ischinger is a senior Fellow at the Hertie School, Berlin, and serves on the boards and advisory boards of companies as well as non-profit-institutions, including Atlantik-Brücke/Berlin, the American Academy/Berlin, and the Atlantic Council of the United States/Washington D.C.

Dr. Markus Richter

Dr. Markus Richter was born in Münster, Westphalia in 1976. He has two children. After graduating from law studies at the Westfälische Wilhelms-University in Münster, he earned a doctorate in law and completed his practical legal training at the Regional Court in Hamm, followed by the second state examination in law one year later. Starting in 2005, Dr Markus Richter held several positions at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, with assignments in human resources, organisation, the office of the President and areas including integration and migration policy issues. In 2014 he became head of IT units at the Federal Office of Administration. He returned to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees as head of the Infrastructure and IT Directorate in 2015 and became Vice-President of the agency in 2018. On 1 May 2020 Dr Markus Richter was appointed State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community and Federal Government Commissioner for Information Technology.

Prof. Dr. Joachim Wuermeling

Prof. Dr. Joachim Wuermeling has been a member of the Deutsche Bundesbank’s Executive Board since November 2016. His remit covers banking supervision, controlling, accounting and organisation as well as information technology and risk control. He is a member of the ECB Supervisory Board and represents Deutsche Bundesbank in the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision (BCBS) as well as the German Financial Stability Committee (AFS).
His previous positions include serving as Member of the European Parliament, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Technology, member of the Executive Board of the German Insurance Association, and Chairman of the Association of Sparda-Banken.

Tamir Pardo

From 2011 to 2016, Tamir Pardo served as the Director of the Mossad, the National Intelligence Agency of Israel and one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community. He joined the organization in 1979 and served through all levels of command before assuming overall leadership in 2011. Mr. Pardo is one of the most respected public figures in Israel and around the world. He is also a Lamont Lecturer at Harvard University.

Andreas Stenger

Andreas Stenger is a graduate of the German Police University. He has been president of the Baden-Württemberg State Bureau of Investigation since May 2021 and is one of the most experienced criminologists in the country. Previously, he was not only President of the Mannheim Police Headquarters, but also Head of the Forensic Institute at the State Bureau of Investigation as well as an advisor at the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of the Interior.

Jens Meier

Jens Meier (56), a computer scientist graduate, has been CEO of the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) since 2008. With over 25 years of experience in the port, logistics, finance and IT sectors, he is a proven expert and renowned speaker on future maritime issues and in the field of digitalization and cyber security. In the International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH), Jens Meier has been the elected Vice President for the European region since 2019 and has also been temporarily responsible for the African region since the end of 2021.

Christian Müller

Christian Müller is Co-CEO of Schwarz Digits, the IT and digital division of Schwarz Group. Schwarz Digits offers digital products and services relating to cyber security, cloud, artificial intelligence and secure communication that meet the high German data protection standards - for the greatest possible digital sovereignty. In addition, Christian Müller has been responsible for the business of Schwarz IT KG since January 1, 2018 - first as a divisional director, then as a board member and since July 1, 2021 as CEO. As a service provider, it manages the entire digital infrastructure and software solutions of Schwarz Group companies and provides support for their IT projects. Since joining Schwarz Group on January 1, 2004, Christian Müller has held various positions of responsibility. He started his career at Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG in the IT department.

Rolf Schumann

Rolf Schumann is Co-CEO of Schwarz Digits, the IT und digital division of the Schwarz Group. Schwarz Digits offers digital products and services relating to cyber security, cloud and artificial intelligence that meet the high German data protection standards - for the greatest possible digital sovereignty. In addition, Rolf Schumann is responsible for the digital activities of the companies of Schwarz Group with a focus on e-commerce, loyalty, retail media and digital innovations. With over 30 years of experience in the strategic planning of IT projects and digital transformation, he is constantly driving technology and innovation-related topics across all industries. Before joining the Schwarz Group, Rolf Schumann was in charge at SAP as General Manager worldwide for the Platform & Innovation division. From 2008 to 2012, Rolf Schumann dedicated himself to the topic of clean tech and founded the start-up company Better Place, with a focus on electromobility. Prior to that, he was CTO for Europe at SAP. Before joining SAP in 2000, Mr. Schumann spent nine years at Siemens, where he was responsible for data center operations in Europe and the planning of Internet architecture.

Noam Erez

Before co-founding XM Cyber, Noam Erez spent over 25 years with the Israeli Technology Community. Mr. Erez brings extensive managerial experience, leading technological divisions, where he planned and executed a growth strategy for cyber capabilities.

Prof. Dr. Haya Shulman

Prof. Dr. Haya Shulman is a full professor for Computer Science at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, and the director of the Cybersecurity Analytics and Defenses department at the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology SIT in Darmstadt. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the National Research Center for Applied Cybersecurity ATHENE.

Jana Ringwald

Jana Ringwald is a Senior Public Prosecutor with the Cybercrime Center (ZIT) of the Attorney General’s Frankfurt am Main/Germany, heading the Cybercrime investigations division and the Central office for the recovery of virtual currencies. Jana Ringwald and her team investigate with the German Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt) and various state agencies in the international context. Jana Ringwald currently represents the German federal government in the European Judicial Cybercrime Network (EJCN) at Eurojust in The Hague.

Ralf Michelfelder

Ralf Michelfelder is a graduate of the German Police University and the FBI National Executive Institute. He ran positions as deputy State Director of Criminal Investigation at the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of the Interior, Head of the Waiblingen Police Department, President of the Aalen Police Headquarters and President of the Baden-Württemberg State Bureau of Investigation until April 2021. There he expanded the cybercrime department into one of the leading investigative authorities in Germany.

Ammar Alkassar

Ammar Alkassar served as State Government Commissioner for Innovation and Strategy and CIO until May 2022. He was responsible for the governments long-term strategy and was the main driver of its economic transformation.
Previously, Alkassar was founder and CEO of Sirrix AG security technologies before being appointed CEO at Germany's largest cybersecurity company Rohde&Schwarz Cybersecurity in 2015 after a successful exit.
Alkassar studied computer science and electrical engineering at Saarland University and was senior researcher at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence and the Stevens Institute of Technology. He was long-time board member of the German National NIS Association and director of the European Competence Center for IT Security. Ammar Alkassar serves as active reserve officer.

Roland Harings

Roland Harings studied mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen. After earning his engineering degree in 1989, he began his career at Webasto AG in Stockdorf, Germany, an international supplier of the automotive industry. After different responsibilities and international assignments in quality, development, and key account management at Webasto, he switched to Alcan, an aluminum producer and processor, in 1995. He initially managed the sales and purchasing department of the engine components division in Nuremberg and, starting in 1998, was responsible for developing the automotive division in the aluminum strip sector. Following the merger of Alcan with Alusuisse in 2002, Mr. Harings oversaw automotive sales for Alcan in Europe. From 2005 to 2010, he served as General Manager of the integrated aluminum rolling mill of Novelis in Sierre, Switzerland. As Vice President, Mr. Harings managed Novelis’ global automotive business from 2010 to 2014. Prior to his appointment to the Aurubis Executive Board, Mr. Harings was CEO/Managing Director of MKM GmbH, a manufacturer of 280,000 tons of copper semi-finished products with about 1,200 employees in Hettstedt, SaxonyAnhalt (Germany). The company was extensively modernized in this period and was successfully sold to KME in 2018. Mr. Harings was appointed to the Executive Board of Aurubis AG effective May 20, 2019 and has served as Executive Board Chairman since July 1, 2019.

Michael Bartsch

Michael Bartsch is a crisis manager, consultant and trainer for cyber security. For many years, he has advised states and companies in the areas of risk prevention and the implementation of technical and organisational (cyber) security measures during and after a cyber attack. As the founder of two public-private partnerships to fight cybercrime, he has a deep insight and knowledge of the "modus operandi" of cybercriminals.

Heiko Weigelt

Heiko Weigelt was born in Bruchsal in 1973, is married and father of a daughter. After graduating with a master of science degree in mechatronics, before FUNKE he pursued a career as a consultant and project manager with a focus on SAP business systems, culminating in the position of Vice President IT Business Systems and Enterprise Architect at the international scientific publishing group Springer Nature. Since July 2019, as CIO he is responsible for IT at FUNKE Mediengruppe and is pushing the technology-driven digital transformation of the media group forward.

Walter Wolf

Walter Wolf is a board member at Schwarz IT KG and with STACKIT, the Cloud and Colocation Brand supports the digital transformation in the companies of Schwarz Group. The aim of STACKIT is to also offer companies outside the Schwarz Group a secure and stable cloud and colocation platform. For many years, before the foundation of Schwarz IT, Walter Wolf was responsible for the infrastructure and IT operations of Kaufland. Previous to that, Walter Wolf worked for Unilever as the European Infrastructure Integration Manager, and was responsible for infrastructure and IT operations at Bestfoods, supporting the CPC (Corn Product Company) team as a network engineer.