GROWTH COMPANY FORUM - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship
- Executive Director, UC Berkeley
Andre Marquis is the Executive Director of the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and the Innovation Acceleration Group at the at the University of California Berkeley. He and his team have built a scalable, global infrastructure to deliver leading-edge, hands-on training to hundreds of startups and thousands of entrepreneurs and corporate innovators. Though world-class programs including the reality TV show America's Greatest Makers, the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps, Innovate for Digital India, the Berkeley LAUNCH Startup Accelerator, Global Social Venture Competition and innovation accelerators for global corporations including HP, Caterpillar and Intel, his team has redefined how to teach the process of evidence-based entrepreneurship and corporate innovation while creating funded, scalable enterprises and driving deep culture change.
Mr. Marquis has a long record of successful startups. Two web companies Mr. Marquis helped start became publicly traded and a third was acquired by Amazon for over $190 million. The Chorus Group at Eli Lilly which he co-founded is a significant corporate lean business model innovation that dramatically speed up and lowered the cost of drug development and his most recent company, Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, just raised $54m in venture capital.
Job Titles:
- Founder & CEO, Outfittery )
Job Titles:
- Head of HR, Sociomantic Labs
Anna is originally from Melbourne, Australia where she successfully completed a Bachelor of Business Management and Arts and she has 10 years' experience working as an HR generalist. Prior to joining Sociomantic Labs, Anna spent 18 months as HR Manager for a non-profit school in Tanzania and previously held HR positions at Lonely Planet, Leightons (part of Hochtief AG) and Hudson Highland Group. Anna relocated to Berlin in November 2014 to be closer to her family - she has a German mother, a brother and cute 3 year old niece that live here - and to contribute to the rollercoaster ride of the ad-tech start up world with Sociomantic.
Job Titles:
- Intern at the American Chamber of Commerce Germany
Chiara Pohlner, Intern at the American Chamber of Commerce Germany
Email: cpohlner(at)amcham.de
Chiara studies Governance and Public Policy in Passau, Germany. After several internships in Munich and Düsseldorf she decided to look even further. After interning at the German Parliament she was once again pulled towards Berlin's vibrant community. Now she is part of the Support Team at the American Chamber of Commerce Germany with a part time position at the German Startups Association.
Job Titles:
- Director Education, GTEC
- Founder of Berlin
Christoph is the founder of Berlin's boutique accelerator program Berlin Startup Academy, and runs Entrepreneurship Education at GTEC, Germany's leading campus for digitalisation. Christoph Raethke joined his first startup team in 1999, has been hosting tech events since 2008, leading accelerators since 2010, and presenting Germany's most successful talk show on entrepreneurship since 2013. In the past two years, he has been particularly active working with leadership teams of large German and European corporations and - in his role as a BMW Foundation "Responsible Leader" - social startups, helping both to make use of digitalisation to re-organize, scale, and thrive. In addition, he is responsible for the Startup Review section of German business/ lifestyle magazine Business Punk. Christoph's first eBook, "Das Richtige gründen" (German only) is out since July 2016. Christoph has a degree in Ancient History (Greeks and Romans), and is always up for discussing the Lakedaimonion Politeia or the crisis of the Greek polis in the 4th century B.C.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder & CIO, Flixbus
Daniel Krauss was born in 1983 in Neheim-Hüsten. He studied Economic Sciences at the FernUniversität Hagen. Daniel has generally worked in the IT area for Marquardt GmbH, IFS AB and Siemens AG. Before co-founding Flixbus in 2011, he was a Technical Account Manager at Microsoft for three years. Now Daniel is CIO of Flixbus, which was able to establish Europe's largest intercity bus network.
Dr. Bernhard Mohr joined Evonik in 2012 to set up the Corporate Venturing activities. In 2013 he was appointed Managing Director of Evonik Venture Capital GmbH. Dr. Bernhard Mohr completed a degree in chemistry at the Universities of Stuttgart and Cincinnati (Ohio, USA) and earned his doctoral degree at the Max-Planck-Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz in 1994. Following postgraduate assignments in Japan, the U.S., and France, he began his professional career in the polymer laboratory of BASF in 1996. In 2001 he became Head of Controlling and Site Services for BASF Espanola in Tarragona (Spain) and took over responsibility as Head of Corporate Development and Controlling for the BASF Group in Iberia in 2003. In 2005 he returned to Germany to assume responsibility as Head of Global Strategic Marketing for the Business Unit Performance Chemicals. Prior to joining Evonik he worked for BASF Venture Capital GmbH since 2007. Dr. Bernhard Mohr is active in various industry and supervisory committees and has accompanied IPO and M&A transactions. Evonik in the context of its venture capital activities wants to invest in total 100 million in promising start-ups with innovative technologies and in leading, specialized venture capital funds. Regional focuses on Europe, the United States and Asia. Currently, Evonik holds stakes in nine start- ups and four funds.
Job Titles:
- CEO & Co - Founder, Gpredictive
Björn has been in the analytics space for more than 10 years. Conducting project after project in the space of predictive analytics the same (not so efficient) way again and again, he and his co-founders decided it was time for a paradigm shift with regards to building such statistical models. So, in 2012 they decided to pivot their successful consulting business completely to a product business. Today Gpredictive‘s software is a highly specialized SaaS solution that allows for building a new model in a matter of a few clicks. The old fashioned way still takes 5 to 100 days to do the same job. Björn is responsible for strategy and finance.
Coming from a background in corporate law and banking, Tom is passionate about the prospect of being at the cutting edge of the mobility and automotive industry. With an experience of +10 years, Tom is co-founder of Door2Door - providing a holistic platform for on-demand mobility services, and being a partner of cities and transportation companies in 200 cities around the globe. Tom strives to build an encouraging and positive framework where each individual's strengths and talents are given space to flourish. Alongside creating these conditions for creativity and opportunity, Tom is in charge of all our day to day business operations and development. Tom is spokesperson for Future Mobility at the German Startup Association and member of the Advisory Board "Young Digital Economy" at the German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs.
Finn Age Hänsel, 33, studied Business Administration in Germany and New Zealand. After five years at the Boston Consulting Group, he worked as Managing Director from 2011 to 2013 at Rocket Internet in Australia and founded the biggest Australian fashion retailer and member of the Global Fashion Group, THE ICONIC. He subsequently led the ProSiebenSat1 incubator EPIC companies as Managing Director and founded the Berliner Berg brewery in early 2015. Finn is very active as a business angel and invested in several startups from Berlin and all over the world (e.g. Cars24, CrossEngage, SMACC, Einhorn). He is leading Movinga as the Managing Director since 2015.
Job Titles:
- Executive Board Member of Deutsche Börse AG
Mrs. Stars joined Deutsche Börse AG in December 2012. As a Member of the Executive Board she is responsible for the Cash Market, Pre-IPO & Growth Financing Division. From 2012 to 2015 she was responsible for the Information Technology and Market Data + Services Division.
From 2007 to 2012 Hauke Stars was Managing Director of Hewlett Packard Switzerland and Country Manager of HP Enterprise Business (EB). Prior to assuming this position, she was with Hewlett Packard Netherlands, leading HP Services and Sales. She was responsible for the strategic orientation and profitable execution of these businesses achieving a turnaround in challenging markets and gaining considerable market shares.
Before joining Hewlett Packard, Hauke Stars held several leading management positions in the IT industry. At Triaton, an IT service provider and subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp AG, she was Business Unit leader for Applications & Services and Managing Director of the subsidiary Servicom. As of 2000 she was responsible for sales and marketing and was at the same time a member of the management board. At Bertelsmann she held management consultancy positions and worked closely together with the CIO.
Hauke Stars holds a degree in Computer Science as well as an MSc degree in Engineering.
Job Titles:
- Head of GA 's Munich
- Managing Director, EMEA, General Atlantic
Jörn Nikolay serves as head of GA's Munich office since 2012. He joined General Atlantic in their London office in 2008. He lead the investment in Flixbus/MeinFernbus, co-lead the investment in Axel Springer Digital Classifieds and helped to lead investments in Markit and Citco. He also supported General Atlantic's investment in Saxo Bank. Jörn currently serves a member of the board of directors for Klarna and Flixbus/MeinFernbus. He was on the board of Axel Springer Digital Classifieds.
Prior to joining General Atlantic, Mr. Nikolay worked for TA Associates in London focusing on investments in the Financial Services and Consumer Internet space, helping to lead investments in Jupiter Asset Management and eDreams. Before TA Associates, Mr. Nikolay was a Case Team Leader with Bain & Company in Duesseldorf and an Analyst with Morgan Stanley in Frankfurt.
Jörn Nikolay is a graduate of WHU - Otto-Beisheim Graduate School of Management, and also studied at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques, Sciences Po, in Paris. He serves as a mentor of "Deutschlandstiftung Integration", a foundation supporting young students with immigration backgrounds in Germany and as a mentor of "Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft".
Job Titles:
- Managing Director of NVIDIA ARC GmbH
- of NVIDIA ARC GmbH
Ludwig von Reiche is Managing Director of NVIDIA ARC GmbH in Berlin, part of Silicon Valley-based NVIDIA Corporation, the global visual computing leader. NVIDIA ARC develops 3D visualization software used to produce computer-generated images in entertainment, automotive design and marketing, as well as oil exploration. Ludwig joined the Berlin company prior to its acquisition by NVIDIA to help organize its expansion funding and later exit. Prior to that, he served as the CEO of a German banking software and services group on behalf of a Private Equity firm and before that, as an international executive with IBM for over 13 years.
Job Titles:
- Founder & Managing Director, Juniqe
Marc visited the WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management, where he was awarded with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Corporate Management. He worked for Credit Suisse Securities, was COO and member of the founding and management team at Casacanda and Vice President Logisitics Europe at Fab.com. In 2014, Marc Pohl, Lea Lange and Sebastian Hasebrink founded Juniqe - Art.Everywhere, in order to bring art into people's everyday life. In 2016 Marc was announced part of the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe - E-Commerce & Retail.
Job Titles:
- Event Manager at the German Startups Association LinkedIn
Since Dezember 2015, Nora has worked at the German Startups Association as an Events Mangager. In this role, she has supported and organized events such as the trips to San Francisco and Tel Aviv (German Valley Week, German Tel Aviv Week), the Startup Camp Berlin, Pitch and Sail, the Growth Company Forum as well as Startup Lounges.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Chairman of the German Startups Association LinkedIn
- Deputy Chairman, Bvds
Sascha Schubert started three companies and two non-governmental organizations in his entrepreneurial life. Sascha serves as Deputy Chairman of the German Startups Association and is responsible for the realization of their events such as Exit Con, Growth Company Forum, Startup Camp Berlin, German Silicon Valley Week, German NYC Week and the CeBIT Scale 11. Sascha shared his insights and experiences as a mentor at Startup Bootcamp, IBM SmartCamp and Founders Institute.
Job Titles:
- CEO & Co - Founder, Doctolib
- Co - Founder and CEO of Doctolib Germany
Simon Krüger is co-founder and CEO of Doctolib Germany, the online appointment service for doctors and patients. His professional career began in the area of office design. Having worked in sales for large design brands like Vitra and USM Haller, he wanted to found his own company. Together with friends he started eSupply and Vade, both start-ups in the office and real estate sector. Doctolib came across him thanks to various links within the start-up sector. Simon Krüger gained international growth experience as he was CEO and Co-Founder at eSupply in Pune/India. As Business Development Manager at Shreyans Lifestyle in New Delhi/India he was responsible for the pan-Indian market entry. He studied management, economics and English literature in Mannheim/Germany. With scholarships at the Università commerciale Luigi Bocconi in Milan/Italy and at the University of Warwick in Coventry/United Kingdom Simon Krüger broaded his international education.