Advisory Board

Dr. Herbert May

Chairman of the Advisory Board

Dr. May held various positions at the Alcatel group in Germany and France. He served as head of the group's Communications division before being named CEO of DeTeSystems in 1994. He actively contributed to the growth of this wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Telecom (now known as T-Systems) to serve 200 of Germany's biggest companies. In 1995, Dr. May was appointed to the board of Deutsche Telecom AG as major accounts manager for network and multimedia solutions. Today he runs his own consulting and investment firm and sits on the boards of trustees for companies specialized in telecommunications, new technologies and multimedia.

Jochen Schmidt

Vice Chairman of the Advisory Board

Mr. Schmidt is a Managing Director in the Investment Banking department of Berenberg Bank, Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. KG, responsible for the supervision of the TMT (Telecom, Media, Technology) Industry Group. Mr. Schmidt is also a licensed attorney-at-law in Hamburg.

After his bank apprenticeship and the completion of his legal studies (including first and second state examinations) at the Universität Hamburg, Mr. Schmidt was employed for five years by M.M. Warburg & Co., Privatbankiers, in Hamburg and Berlin in the Corporate Finance department and was head of the Berlin office. Subsequently, he was a member of the managing board of Jenoptik AG, responsible for the Investments/Corporate Development department. From 1996 until April 2010 Mr. Schmidt headed the TMT Industry Group at Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. KGaA in Cologne/Frankfurt. As a lawyer he is also admitted to the bar of the Landgericht Hamburg.

Mr. Schmidt has originated, developed and accompanied more than 200 corporate finance transactions in financial markets and M&A matters.

Dr. Peter Meissner

Member of the Advisory Board

Dr. Meissner has over 30 years of experience in various telecommunication fields including more than 15 years of general management responsibilities with operators of mobile communication networks. In addition, he has extensive experience in research, technology strategy and management, emerging technology assessment, innovation transfer, and organization development.

From 2000 until 2006, Dr. Meissner held positions as a senior executive in Orange. He started as Chief Technical Officer with Orange Communications SA, Switzerland, and finally was responsible for Quality and Performance as Corporate Vice President with Orange SA, Paris. Prior to joining Orange, he was more than 7 years with EPlus Mobilfunk GmbH as General Manager, Systems Engineering.

Dr. Meissner has held numerous board positions in mobile-related organizations including: the Research Association for Radio Communication; the UMTS Forum; the GSM Association and the Swiss Business Continuity Management Association. He has served as a scientific advisor of the German Research Foundation since 1996.

Since July 2006, Dr. Meissner has been running his own company as an independent business consultant, focusing on innovation, strategy, and organization development in key areas of the telecommunications industry. One of his appointments is supporting the world’s leading operators and manufacturers as Operating Officer of the Next Generation Mobile Network (NGMN) alliance.

Dr. Meissner holds degrees in Telecommunications from the Technical College of Lübeck and University of Hannover.

Michael Müller-Berg

Member of the Advisory Board

Michael Müller-Berg started his carreer in 1989 with Lion, a subsidiary of e.on where he took a Managing Director Position in the board of the Lion Group. He signed responsible for the e-commerce business and SAP communications projects, consultancy and project business. In several daughter companies of Lion he held CFO and COO positions.

From 2002 on Michael Müller-Berg was following a wide ranging career at Microsoft (e.g. Director Communications Sector, Global Accounts, Solution Business) incl. being the Office Manager for the NRW branch office. Since Spring 2010 he is Senior Vice President at T-Systems for ICT PreSales in Bonn.

Dr. Walter Grassl

Member of the Advisory Board

Dr. Walter Grassl is Partner at Munich Venture Partners. Before entering the company, Dr. Grassl was a Partner with Carmel Ventures, a leading international Venture Capital firm, specializing in software investments in the US, Israel and Europe. He built up Carmel’s European activities and was responsible for the Carmel office in Munich.

Prior to Carmel, Dr. Grassl was a member of the Management Board of Siemens IT Service, a $2.5 Billion subsidiary of Siemens AG, providing technical IT services for Fortune 100 companies worldwide. Dr. Grassl was responsible for the Corporate Strategy of Siemens IT Service.

Dr. Grassl is an industry veteran with 20 years in-depth experience in software, hardware, and IT Services. He holds a M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Computer Science, and a Master in Management of Technology from the MIT Sloan School of Management. In 1987, he received the Wacker Research Award for his work on Integrity Constraints in Relational Databases.

Michael Sailer

Member of the Advisory Board

Michael Sailer joined Munich Venture Partners (MVP) as a Partner and the CFO in May 2006. From 2001 until entering MVP he was a Partner and investment controller at Star Ventures.

Prior to Star Ventures, Michael Sailer was Financial Manager at T-Online International AG, the Internet and Media Division of Deutsche Telekom AG, responsible for the stand-alone financials of T-Online International AG, US GAAP Accounting and Consolidation, Accounting Quality Management, and Corporate Finance.

From 1994 to 1999, Michael Sailer was Senior Accountant at Ernst & Young AG, Munich, for international clients like France Telecom, Renault, as well as for transaction support in corporate finance projects.

Michael Sailer holds a diploma in economics from the University of Augsburg.