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.

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!"

Olaf Jacobi joined Target Partners in 2007 as a venture partner and became a partner in 2009. He is also a member of the Supervisory Board of Scoreloop AG.

In the past he invested in new companies in the IT and Internet sector as a business angel. In 2005 he founded Collax Inc. (Boston and Munich), which provides a Linux-based server system to medium-sized German companies.  He lead the company as CEO until the end of 2006.

Previously, Olaf Jacobi worked with Cobion AG as investor and Sales Director. Cobion AG , was  a provider of security software  and was successfully sold in 2004 to ISS Internet Security Systems Inc. ( Atlanta). From 1999 to 2002 he was part of the management board of the publically listed company ACG AG. Starting in 1994, he was active in various management positions in the IT sector, including as Senior Vice President of Marketing and a member of the Board of Minolta GmbH. 

He is also a member of the Supervisory Board of Scoreloop AG.

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.

Gerhard Kratzer is the managing partner of Kratzer Automation, Munich. The company employs over 110 employees and delivers solutions for controlling, monitoring and optimizing industrial processes and applications for the management of vehicle fleets and field service workers, based on modern mobile data networks. He is responsible for marketing, organization and business operation issues.

Prof. Dr. Klaus Sailer is Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Munich and Director of the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship GmbH ( sce ).

Klaus Sailer studied at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LS Hänsch) in Munich and received his PhD in Physics at the Research Center for Environment and Health ( GSF). In parallel he also graduated from the University of Kaiserslautern where he studied Total Quality Management. During his studies he founded his first company.

At Siemens AG/Infineon AG he was responsible for project management of new semiconductor technologies and afterwards moved into marketing where he was responsible for worldwide PC security modules. In 2000, he and three partners founded a communication technologies company, and as CEO, he successfully established the company’s market presences.

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.