The BENEFACTORS
The Benefactors use their network expand reach and visibility of the TUM Speakers Series. Moreover, they provide guidance to the current team through the chairmen and represent the TUM Speakers Series in the professional world.
Bernd „Benno“ Blumoser
Co-Founder and Innovation Head, Siemens AI Lab
As the “Co-Founder and Innovation Head” of the Siemens AI Lab, which is located in the heart of Munich, Benno has made a name in AI strategy & innovation culture. Relying on his management consulting experience, he held leading positions in Siemens’ Open Innovation Program and was an essential driver for the development of the Siemens AI strategy. He is convinced that AI must be designed responsibly and “for the good”, and that students should familiarize themselves early on with the implications of emerging technologies.
Robert Flaechsig
Economist in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Economist of Saudi Arabia's Royal Commission (RCJY) for spatial planning and strategic industrial development of petrochemical hubs Yanbu (606 km2) and Jazan (103 km2) in view of the Maritime Silk Road. Previously a Director at the industrialization program (NICDP); in collaboration with the oil multinational ARAMCO, the chemical conglomerate SABIC, the mining corporation MAADEN, and with sovereign development funds. In 2009 appointed as Economic Advisor to the Council of Advisors under Special Advisor HRH Prince Abdul-Elah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. In 2020 appointed as member of expert commissions to update the National Industrial Strategy as well as to expand cooperation of in-kingdom institutions with World Bank, Organization for Industrial Development (UNIDO), and the Development Program (UNDP) of the United Nations.
Active in the Advisory Board of the German-Arab Friendship Association (DAFG), he delivered the keynote address at the TUM SPEAKERS SERIES symposium "Transformation of the Global Energy Markets" in 2015.
Benedikt Franke
CEO, Munich Security Conference
Benedikt Franke is the Chief Executive Officer of the Munich Security Conference and responsible for the day-to-day running of the organisation and the strategic development of its formats and activities. Additionally, he serves as the Executive Director of the Munich Security Conference Foundation. Before joining the MSC, he served as Senior Advisor for Strategic Affairs at the Headquarters of the Christian Social Union (CSU) and was part of the inner campaign team for the successful local, state and federal elections in 2013. Before that, he worked as Special Assistant for the former Secretary-General of the United Nations and Nobel Laureate Kofi Annan. Benedikt Franke holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and a Master’s Degree from the John Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He regularly publishes on foreign affairs.
Prof. Gunther Friedl
Dean, TUM School of Management
Gunther Friedl is Professor of Business Administration and holder of the Chair of Controlling as well as Dean of the TUM School of Management at the Technical University of Munich. His research interests are in the areas of corporate governance and executive compensation, performance measurement and business valuation. Research and teaching stays took him to Stanford University and the Warsaw School of Economics. His studies on executive compensation are regularly featured in Handelsblatt, Financial Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, The Huffington Post, ARD and ZDF.
Dr. Ingrid Hamm
Co-Founder and CEO, Global Perspectives Initiative
Dr Ingrid Hamm is Co-founder and CEO of the Global Perspectives Initiative. She is deeply involved in the international dialogue on global development. Dr Hamm has been working in major German foundations for three decades, including 15 years at the Bertelsmann Foundation. Most recently, from 2003 to 2015, she headed the Robert Bosch Foundation. In addition, Ingrid Hamm has served and continues to serve on German and international boards, including the University Council of the University of Tübingen, the General Assembly of the Goethe Institute, the Board of the European Forum Alpbach Foundation, and the Board of Trustees of the Karl Schlecht Foundation.
Klaus Martin Hecht
Founder and CEO, HKM Consulting
Klaus Martin Hecht is a Munich-based entrepreneur who built up his consulting company in the IT sector after graduating from TUM. In doing so, he specialized in cyber security solutions for the protection of intellectual property. He is a well-known and internationally respected expert in his field, and is considered a pioneer for the confidentiality of data in Data Leakage Prevention. He had established such solutions for IBM and Ferrari's Formula 1 Racing Team, among others, which later led to the clarification of the Formula 1 spying controversy as the first forensically proven data breach. To secure and prove the integrity of data, his company offers an Enterprise Integrity Management solution.
As part of the TUM SPEAKERS SERIES, he gave a presentation on "Cybersecurity and Data Leakage Prevention" in October 2015.
Hans-Jürgen Jakobs
Senior Editor, Handelsblatt
Hans-Jürgen Jakobs, born in 1956, is an economist and one of Germany's renowned business journalists. He worked for the "Spiegel", among others, and was head of the online edition and the business editorial department of the "Süddeutsche Zeitung". Since 2013 he has held various positions at the Handelsblatt publishing group, until 2015 he was editor-in-chief of the "Handelsblatt" and now senior editor. Most recently, he wrote the highly acclaimed book "Whom does the world belong to? The balance of power in global capitalism". In autumn 2016 he moderated an event on the future of Europe as part of the TUM Speakers Series.
As part of the TUM SPEAKERS SERIES, he moderated an event on the future of Europe in the autumn of 2016 and gave a talk on the inauguration of the U.S. president in January 2021.
Daniel Kilger
Chairman, Founders Syndicate
Daniel is an entrepreneur by heart. He started his first business at the age of 14 and throughout his life continued to create new projects. He loves starting companies that create real impact. He founded the startup Smokeless, which is an innovative new technology to conquer smoking addiction and aims at saving a million lives a year. Furthermore, he is a big believer in the Munich startup ecosystem. Following his Mantra „strongertogether“, he founded the Founders Syndicate, which among other initiatives runs the Startup SAFARI Munich. The Startup SAFARI Munich is one of the biggest ecosystem events in Germany covering 4 days, 60 locations, 120 sessions and engages 2.500 people. Daniel deeply believes in giving first and paying it forward. He is a mentor at Techstars and various other initiatives dedicated at helping fellow founders to be successful.
Dr. Benedikt Lickleder
Personal Assistant to the President of the Bavarian State Parliament
Benedikt Lickleder, born in Kelheim in 1979, studied forestry in Freiburg i. Br. and received his doctorate there in December 2009. He deepened and broadened his knowledge as a sustainability expert during his traineeship for the higher forest service in Bavaria, which he successfully completed in 2011 with the “Große Forstliche Staatsprüfung”. Subsequently, he worked as a science manager at the Technical University of Munich and, as Personal Assistant and Head of the Presidential Office, he was one of the closest associates of the President Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Wolfgang A. Herrmann. Since 2020, Dr. Lickleder has been Personal Assistant to the President of the Bavarian State Parliament, Ilse Aigner.
Hendrik Loven
Team Lead, BR24
Born in 1980, he has worked for ARD and BRD since 2007. Initially he worked as a radio and television reporter, later as an editor for the ARD political magazine Report Munich. Since 2019, he has been team lead of BR24NewsLab, BR's digital information brand. Hendrik Loven received numerous awards such as the Georg Schreiber Prize in 2010 or the Environmental Media Award in 2015, he was a scholarship holder of the “Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists” in the USA and received both the Foundation "Rufzeichen Gesundheit"- and the DDG Media Award in 2017. Above all, internet, economic, energy and consumer topics as well as innovative digital formats in the field of news and information occupy the trained political scientist.
On June 1, 2015, he moderated the TUM SPEAKERS SERIES symposium on "Transformation of the Global Energy Markets".
Bénédicte de Peretti
Founder and CEO, B2P Communications Consulting
During her career, Bénédicte de Peretti has worked at the economic interface between France and Germany. She has been living in Munich for more than 32 years and has worked for 20 years as the Germany correspondent for the business newspaper "La Tribune" and for the trade magazine "Journal du Textile". In 2008 she changed to communications consulting, five years later she founded B2P Communications Consulting with offices in Berlin, Munich and Paris. The consultancy advises organisations and companies on all aspects of strategic communications, from conception to implementation. Bénédicte de Peretti is also president of the French Foreign Trade Advisors in Bavaria.
She advises the TUM SPEAKERS SERIES and gives important impulses for the organisation of the lectures.
Georg VI. Schneider
Owner, Weisses Bräuhaus G. Schneider & Sohn
Georg Schneider has managed the Schneider Weisse brewery in Kelheim since 2000. Since 1872 the Weisses Bräuhaus G. Schneider & Sohn GmbH has been managed by the male line Georg. The core product is still the Schneider Weisse Original, which is brewed unchanged according to the original recipe of the brewery founder Georg Schneider I. in the oldest wheat beer brewery in Bavaria. A total of six wheat beer specialities are successfully positioned in Bavaria, Germany and 27 countries worldwide.
In 2014 he gave a lecture as part of the TUM Speakers Series on the topic "Export of Bavarian beer culture from a medium-sized perspective - Bavaria in the world".
Dr. Helmut Schönenberger
Co-Founder and CEO, UnternehmerTUM
Inspiring people for entrepreneurship and innovation - this has been Helmut Schönenberger's goal since 2002 as co-founder and managing director of UnternehmerTUM, Partner of UnternehmerTUM Venture Capital and TUM Vice President Entrepreneurship. While studying economics at TUM, the aerospace engineer founded a consulting company with fellow students and developed a strategic concept for the university management to strengthen the university's start-up culture - the starting point for UnternehmerTUM. Helmut Schönenberger was instrumental in designing the services for founders, scientists and companies at UnternehmerTUM.
He was the first chairman of the TUM Business Club and one of the founders of the TUM Speakers Series.
Alessia Sinzger
COO, DLD Media
Alessia Sinzger is Chief Commercial Officer of DLD Conference Munich as well as its global spin-offs like DLD Europe, DLD NYC, DLD Singapore, and DLD Tel Aviv. Joining the Burda group in 2012, Alessia has held several positions in strategic partnerships and new media activities. Her background is in political sciences, economics and communications. She holds an Executive Master of Science in Management from London School of Economics, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and Peking University. Connecting dots, recognizing patterns in people and bringing the international digital elite together at DLD is her biggest passion.
The CHAIR
The Chairmen manage the TUM Speakers Series Alumni Network and organize several events with the Advisory Board of the TUM Speakers Series. They form the link between the Advisory Board and the current Presidents of the TUM Speakers Series, while also representing the initiative externally.
Felix Rank
Co-Chair of the Advisory Board
TUM Speakers Series
Simon Dietlmeier
Co-Chair of the Advisory Board
TUM Speakers Series