Board of Directors

Oliver Gajek is the co-founder of Brainloop AG, the leading supplier for the management of confidential documents, based in Munich and Boston.  Prior to Brainloop, he headed the European sales team of Commerce One, where he secured the first major customer accounts and established partnership agreements. Previously, Oliver was responsible for the European sales team of Actra Business Systems, a subsidiary of Netscape and General Electric, as well as the European OEM sales team for Netscape Communications.

Thomas Doppelberger is head of Fraunhofer Venture. Starting in 1999, he is responsible for the participation- and spin-off programs of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and has steadily built up and expanded the scope of Fraunhofer Venture. The team from the Fraunhofer Venture is responsible for the spin-off activities and the transfer of technology from the 56 Fraunhofer Institutes, has led a large number of ventures through the company-founding process, and continues to participate in many of these companies.

Mr. Wedell is a technology venture investor. For more than 10 years, he has invested in companies and venture funds in the US, Europe and in Asia. His primary interest are high growth information technology companies addressing global market needs, and emerging technologies. Prior to becoming an investor, he spent 20 years in the IT industry, the major part of these years as Regional Director for Microsoft in Europe. Mr. Wedell joined the company in 1983 when it launched its European business. As the Managing Director of the German subsidiary since 1987, he expanded Microsoft's sales and marketing operation into Switzerland and Austria, and later into the emerging Eastern European markets where he established subsidiaries in 8 countries. During his tenure at Microsoft, Microsoft's business in this region grew from zero in sales to more than $1 billion per year, making it the leading software vendor in Europe. Prior to Microsoft, he spent 5 years as the marketing manager at Modular Computer Systems, a computer company based in Florida, USA.

Christian Wedell has been a very engaged member of the board of Munich Network for more than 12 years. He joined the board in 1996 and was elected as Chairman of the board in 2001. Under his leadership, Munich Network launched many new strategic initiatives, such as the Alpha Summit, the Munich Business Angel Network, and strategic networking with fellow organizations globally. Since 2007, Mr. Wedell serves as Vice Chairman of the board.

Mr. Wedell has a degree in computer science and mathematics.

Markus Brehler ist derzeit Entrepreneur in Residence am Gründerzentrum gate in Garching. Vor über 10 Jahren hat er die EnOcean GmbH gegründet und bis Oktober 2011 als CEO geleitet. Das Unternehmen, das als Spin-off der Siemens AG gegründet wurde, produziert und vertreibt wartungsfreie Funklösungen für den Einsatz in Gebäuden und Industrieanlagen. Markus Brehler studierte Nachrichtentechnik an der TU-München. Fachübergreifende Kompetenzen hat er am MIT, Stanford, Insead und am Indian Institute of Management erworben. Er begann seine Karriere im Jahr 1989 bei der Siemens AG, wo er in verschiedenen Abteilungen tätig war und erfolgreich neue Geschäftsfelder aufbaute. Anfangs in der Forschung und Entwicklung tätig, wurde er später Entwicklungsleiter der Systeme für Straßenverkehrstelematik. Er wechselte in das Siemens/McKinsey-Team, wurde später mit der Marketingentwicklung des Zubehörgeschäfts für Mobiltelefone betraut, einer Einheit, die auf über 100 Millionen Euro Umsatz wuchs. 2001 ging er zum Siemens Technology Accelerator, um die Gründung von EnOcean vorzubereiten.

Jürgen Carstens became a Member of the Executive Board of Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG and head of Business Development and Corporate Marketing in March 2006. Rohde & Schwarz is a leading electronics supplier of solutions in the areas of measurement, broadcasting, surveillance and detection technology as well as secure communications. Founded more than 75 years ago, the independent company provides services and supports a dedicated service network in over 70 countries worldwide. The company is based in Germany (Munich).

After completing his mechanic apprenticeship in Marburg, Dipl. -Ing. Bernd Gombert studied  Engineering & Precision Engineering in Giessen with following general studies in Munich.

In his professional life, he has worked as a developer and business executive in promoting mechatronics as a core industry.  In this role, he has successfully brought numerous new technology products to market.  
Starting in the mid-80’s, he initially worked as a research assistant, later as Head of Development at the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics of the Deutschen Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR - German Aerospace Centre).  During this period he achieved development breakthroughs in robot technology (multi-sensory robot gripper ROTEX - the first robot in space), in drive technology (x-by wire systems for the automotive industry) and in medical technology (laparoscopic instruments for minimally invasive surgery).

Mr. Gombert has founded several companies, including logiCAD 3D GmbH, now owned by Logitech, the world's largest computer mouse manufacturer, eStop GmbH to develop pioneering braking technologies, and the Technology Park Seefeld (TPS).  The goal of TPS is to establish a Center for Mechatronics to promote and develop the latest technologies in Seefeld, near Munich. He has now expanded the Technology Park to include the Development Center for Mechatronics (ECM ) and the Academy Seefeld.

In addition generating 180 international patents and writing over 120 scientific publications, Mr.  Gombert has received numerous awards, among which are the Alfred Kuhlenkamp Prize for outstanding achievements in the field of mechatronics, the Hermes Award (International Technology Award of the Hannover Fair), the Rudolf Diesel Medal in Gold (oldest honorary award for commercially successful inventions and innovations) and in March 2009, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his outstanding engineering achievements.

Bernd Gombert's credo: "True innovation cannot be stopped!"

Dieter Kraft, Investment Partner at RBVC, is worldwide responsible for the search area Automation & Controls and the European Venture Business of RBVC. Being 21 Years with Bosch Dieter holds contacts to the Bosch management organization and is broad based in technology. Before he joined RBVC in June 2009 he was heading the Systems engineering Division of Hybrid Electricand Electric Vehicles within Bosch worldwide. Dieter’s professional background is operational business within Hardware / Software of automotive electronics and Software for telecommunication networks. Heading a Corporate Research Division he was in charge of communication and energy networks, Software methods and architectures, electric drives, human machine interaction and new business areas for Bosch. Dieter got his PhD at University of Frankfurt in nuclear and atomic physics and got some insights to mathematics, pharmacology and nuclear medicine during his studies.

Prof. Dr. Klaus Sailer is professor for Entrepreneurship at the Munich University of Applied Sciences and CEO of the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship (SCE). He´s a co-founder and in board at Social Entrepreneurship Akademie and also in board at Munich Network.

Klaus Sailer holds a Ph.D. in physics. He studied at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich and did his Ph.D. at the Research Center for Environment and Health. At Infineon AG Klaus Sailer was responsible for the project management and marketing of new semiconductor technologies.

In 2000 Klaus Sailer co-founded a company with partners in the area of communication technologies and as its chairman was able to successfully establish it in the market and realised with further start up teams his innovative ideas.

His main issues are in innovation process, business modelling, networking, co-creation and societal innovations.

Seit über elf Jahren arbeitet Wolfgang Seibold als Investor in Hightech-Unternehmen mit Fokus auf Green Technologies & Services. Daneben hat er sich in internationalen Start-up Initiativen engagiert, z.B. als Aufsichtsratsmitglied bei Silicon Saxony und CTI Invest. Ferner ist Wolfgang Seibold Aufsichtsrat bei Light Blue Optics und Beirat bei Ubitricity.

Vor seiner Zeit bei Earlybird war er Unternehmensberater bei der Boston Consulting Group. Erste Berufserfahrung sammelte er in der Nachrichtentechnik bei ALCATEL. Wolfgang Seibold hat Physik und Mathematik an den Universitäten Ulm und Newcastle upon Tyne studiert und später einen MBA am INSEAD, Fontainebleau, erworben.

Dr. Hermann Sterzinger is Head of International Business Development and Partner Management at Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) and is a Group Vice President and Member of Executive Management.  He has served in this role since 2005.

From 1988-92 he studied Mechanical Engineering with a focus Precision Measurement, Instrumentation Control and Industrial Engineering at the Technical University of Munich. From 1992 - 1994 he earned his Master's Degree in Economics and Labor (AWA), and in 1997 he completed his dissertation at the Department of Private and Patent Law at the Technical University of Munich in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute.  Since 2001 he has served as Lecturer on Networks for Payments at the Technical University of Munich.

While with G&D from 2002-2005, he lead the group that developed 'Cash Point Solutions,' an international business for banknote processing machines used by commercial banks. In 2000 he was a founder and co-shareholder of MySpace LLC (Virginia, USA), maker of an electronic code lock with input from standard input devices such as mobile phones, remote controls or PC’s.

In parallel during 2000-2002, he was a member of the management team at Leicher GmbH & Co.  He started at Leicher in 1995 in product management for the electronic high-security safelockT product.    In 1997 he took over as the Head of Development and Construction.  His team developed the Mietfach and Cash Automation products and then integrated them into the bank network and related data centers. In addition, the team created electronic locks and locking systems in combination with biometric identification systems.