Karl, Chief Thinker (CEO and founder) of Gedankenfabrik, combines vast pre-digital experience at FMCG companies, such as P&G and Coca-Cola, with digital experience gained in leading positions at eBay, Google and several start-ups (Dealtime, Seatwave, radio.de). Karl is the author of “The Educated Decision-Maker”, a start-up mentor, and the founder of the “1000Vordenker” network and a thought-leader in reinvention. He regularly travels to China, Israel and the USA, to analyse innovations and consumer behavior that might have a great impact on the future of intelligent transformation.

David’s DNA is digital. As a founding member and Digital Transformation Officer of Gedankenfabrik, he helps companies to actively shape their transformation journey and to generate sustainable growth. Employing 15+ years international expertise in the field of digital marketing and transformation, he navigates companies through the five dimensions of the Reinvention Principle. In doing so, he creates the crucial links between radical customer focus, strategic product development and digital innovation.

As a Senior Manager for AI & Transformation, Christian combines over 8 years of management consulting experience with a Master's degree in Strategic and Innovation Management. As an innovation catalyst, he has led digital transformation programs across diverse sectors and clients ranging from small software startups to international organisations. Driven by his creator mindset, he is adept at deconstructing complex concepts and crafting pragmatic, actionable solutions, which makes him a valuable asset in the rapidly evolving digital landscape.

As a Lead AI Engineer and Transformation Consultant, Aaron specializes in finding the perfect solutions for digital products and services. With extensive enterprise experience in emerging Technologies – including Cloud-native architecture, Web3 Smart Contracts, Machine Learning, and Generative AI – Aaron enables companies to achieve an optimal problem-solution fit. After supporting 12 startups, he deployed his knowledge and experience to bridge the technical gap from customer-centric design to strategic implementation. After six years abroad, including his Computer Science and Media Arts studies in Canada, Aaron returned to his hometown, Hamburg. His globetrotting has seen him travel to over 45 countries, where he has gained invaluable cultural insights and people skills.

Ute is our Consumer Experience Officer, building connections between people and digital products and strategies. As a professor for business psychology, she holds 20 years of experience in qualitative-psychological marketing research, which she gained working for international institutes such as sinus, Research International and Ipsos. She is passionate about workshopping analytical customer insights with her clients, helping them to achieve a real impact on their customer understanding and daily business.

Buzz is our virtual employee and Head AI News Curator & Journalist. While he may not have a Master's degree (yet!), he's mastered the art of information synthesis, sifting through the digital universe at warp speed to unearth the most relevant news. His "experience" spans countless articles and data points, making him a true expert in deconstructing complex topics and delivering them in an engaging, easy-to-understand format. Think of him as the ultimate information superhighway navigator, always finding the best routes to fresh, insightful content.

As a Communication and Design Consultant, Maksym is responsible for the visual part of communication. His education in art and design allows him to create visuals that quickly convey information to the audience. His second degree in marketing and business administration allows him to combine creative ideas with the business’s strategic vision.

As a Digital Transformation Consultant, Elena uses her strategic and solution-oriented thinking to advance number and data-driven projects. Her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a minor in Law (Corporate and Business Law) endows her with a holistic analytical understanding. Elena creates virtual global events and workshops for our customers. Furthermore, she supports 1000Vordenker forward-thinking events and manages the thought-leadership community.

As an Emerging Technology Consultant, Anton has been a longstanding companion to Gedankenfabrik since 2014. During this time, he completed his bachelor’s degree in Communication, Culture and Management at Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen and has lived in South Korea, Tokyo and London. He is shaped by a deep and holistic understanding of technological developments, trends, and working tools and spends way too much time on music digging in his free time.

As a Future Scout, Christiane has been on the lookout for new trends and technologies that are transforming the status quo of our (working) life for many years. She likes to describe herself as a “digital tourist” and is guided by curiosity and serendipity when she goes in search of inspiration for us at conferences around the world. It is important to her to place the digital transformation in a cultural context so that people always remain at the core. Christiane is a communications specialist and has an additional qualification in Sustainable Business Transformation.

As a Digital Product Strategist, Oliver applies his expertise in the implementation of product discovery, product management and innovation processes. After co-founding a social business and working for a technology start-up in Yangon, Myanmar, he moved to Germany where he has since worked with various companies across a number of industries. Whether it is helping teams to build digital products from first idea to market launch or to implement user-centric and hypothesis-driven product management processes – changing the way digital products are built.

As an AI & Transformation Consultant, Ann-Kathrin Krainer designs data-driven solutions and accelerates enterprise change. She holds an M.Sc. in Analytics & Management from London Business School and a B.Sc. in Business Information Systems from Vienna University of Economics and Business, a combination that lets her bridge strategy and implementation with ease. This holistic outlook helps her guide cross-functional teams from first idea to rollout. She has sharpened this skill set in roles at Procter & Gamble, BCG Platinion, and KPMG, delivering large-scale transformation initiatives across industries. Passionate about generative AI use cases, she is a strong believer in the impact of data-led decision-making.

As a Digital Transformation Consultant, Marco blends analytical thinking, editorial craft, and a collaborative mindset to shape the 1000Vordenker thought-leadership format at Gedankenfabrik. His background in Economics and Digital & Media Management equips him with a strategic and media-savvy perspective. From in-depth research to content refinement, Marco makes complex topics digestible and ensures that bold ideas are delivered with clarity and context.
Drawing from experience in project management, e-commerce, and public broadcasting, he combines structure with storytelling. At Gedankenfabrik, he drives content development and helps position thought leaders with clarity and relevance.