Meet the team -

Virtual tour

Hamburg@work invites you to take a virtual tour around our office and get to know our team in person. Our thanks go to Claudia Berger and Reza Kiani from omnia360 for this impressive 360° 3D animation.

The unrivaled team at Hamburg@work

Uwe Jens Neumann

Hamburg@work

Speaker and Member of the Team Board | Co-Founder Hamburg@work & AI.HAMBURG

Uwe Jens Neumann is co-founder and has been Chair of the Executive Committee of Hamburg@work since the association was founded in 1997 and since 2001 Managing Director of the operating subsidiary Hamburg@work GFM mbH. Within the team, he has special responsibility for the strategic orientation and continuing development of Hamburg@work to become the digital cluster in the north of Germany. After studying business administration as an officer of the German Federal Armed Forces and working as a research assistant at the Helmut Schmidt University, his professional posts led him via leadership positions with IBM, AT&T, BMW Softlab and VIAG Interkom to the Management Board of HWF Hamburgische Wirtschaftsförderung, an organization that promotes economic development in Hamburg. Since 2016, Uwe Jens has been devoting himself entirely to his tasks at Hamburg@work.

Nicola Robert

Hamburg@work GFM mbH

Finance + Membership Management

Nicola is the first point of contact for all commercial matters of Hamburg@work and also looks after our member companies. She supports the board of directors and management in board projects.

Katrin Engelbrecht

Hamburg@work GFM mbH

Cooperation and topic innovation

Katrin Engelbrecht is an experienced project manager who makes a significant contribution to strategic and conceptual development at Hamburg@work. Through her work in the area of cooperation and topic innovation, she creates valuable networks and new event formats for Hamburg@work. She accompanies the entire process from inspiration to implementation and appreciates the creative collaboration within the team. As manager of the "People and Culture Circle" (formerly "Women's Club"), Katrin networks the members in a targeted manner and promotes their professional development through various lighthouse projects. She is convinced that change and growth are always possible and that the future can be actively shaped.

Laura Bernschein

IT-Executive Club

Clubmanagement, Vereinsgeschäftsführerin

Leonie Bartels

Hamburg@work GFM mbH

Event Management

Leonie Bartels, Event Manager at Hamburg@work, is responsible for the planning and execution of our events. After completing her studies in tourism, hotel and event management, Leonie spent several years organising a large number of events in the travel industry. In addition, Leonie has worked for our colleagues from the Aviation Cluster Hamburg.

Jennifer Barleben

JBMC Jessica Berg Marketing Consulting

Freelancer with Hamburg@work

Jessica Berg, marketing and communications consultant, is a freelancer responsible for the organisation of major Hamburg@work projects such as the CXO Lounge and our event format Hackers+Founders@work. During Nathalie Burmeister's parental leave, Jessica also assumes the role of Club Manager of the IT Executive Club.

Nathalie Burmeister

Hamburg@work GFM mbH

Project management (currently on sabbatical)

Nathalie Burmeister worked for a long time as Club Manager for the IT-Executive Club (ITEC) of Hamburg@work. Currently she supports our team on a project basis in different areas.

Hedi Engelbrecht

Hamburg@work GFM mbH

Official office dog + irreplaceable multi-talent

Hedi, the blonde Labrador Golden Retriever lady, is the most outstanding member of the Hamburg@work team. Her core competencies lie in supporting everyday team-building activities and increasing general well-being. In addition, she is also a reliable partner when it comes to tricky work orders, with a large portion of a paw-on mentality. For example, in competitions and raffles - in front of and behind the camera - she makes an excellent figure as a lucky fairy and knows how to stage herself. At the same time, Hedi is a real haven of peace in the middle of everyday office life: especially in the early afternoon she is characterized by absolute stress resistance.

Our 5-plus-1 Board

Uwe Jens Neumann

Hamburg@work

Speaker and Member of the Team Board | Co-Founder Hamburg@work & AI.HAMBURG

Uwe Jens Neumann is co-founder and has been Chair of the Executive Committee of Hamburg@work since the association was founded in 1997 and since 2001 Managing Director of the operating subsidiary Hamburg@work GFM mbH. Within the team, he has special responsibility for the strategic orientation and continuing development of Hamburg@work to become the digital cluster in the north of Germany. After studying business administration as an officer of the German Federal Armed Forces and working as a research assistant at the Helmut Schmidt University, his professional posts led him via leadership positions with IBM, AT&T, BMW Softlab and VIAG Interkom to the Management Board of HWF Hamburgische Wirtschaftsförderung, an organization that promotes economic development in Hamburg. Since 2016, Uwe Jens has been devoting himself entirely to his tasks at Hamburg@work.

Petra Vorsteher

AI.HAMBURG

Board of Directors International | Hamburg@work, Founder of AI.HAMBURG and Smaato

Petra Vorsteher is the association's representative in Silicon Valley and, as a member of the team board, responsible for all international activities of Hamburg@work. The "Mobile Woman to Watch 2010" is co-founder of smaato, Inc. in Hamburg and San Francisco. Petra especially drives the international networking of Hamburg@work with a focus on Silicon Valley. Petra lives in Silicon Valley and Hamburg and travels worldwide. Petra is Co-Founder & Chief Alliances Officer of Smaato, Inc. and co-founder of the AI for Hamburg initiative. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Thomas Sell

Thomas Sell Zeit zum Zuhören

Member of the team board for Partner Organizations | Hamburg@work

As a member of the team board, Thomas Sell builds new networks and maintains contacts with the other organizations. As the previous Head of Cooperations with associations and organizations at Telekom, he maintains dialog and develops new business models. Thomas is currently building up his own StartUp "Time to Listen".

Dirk Weipert

CFO Facelift brand building technologies GmbH

Financial Director | Hamburg@work

As Financial Director, Dirk Weipert bears the responsibility for the association’s financial and tax affairs. The lawyer and qualified auditor has been at home in the digital media and start-up industry for several years and is also responsible for all business matters of Facelift brand building technologies, where he holds the post of CFO.

Dr. Anna Schwan

Schwan Communications

Spokesperson Team Board and Communication & Marketing Officer | Hamburg@work

Dr Anna Schwan still knows Hamburg@work from the early days at the beginning of the 1990s when, as a working student from G+J EMS, she was involved in the editorial team of what was then newmedia-hamburg.de. Since 2016, she has been closely involved with the strategic orientation of Hamburg@work as Management Board Member responsible for Communication. Anna is the owner of the agency Schwan Communications. In addition, Anna is an external lecturer at the University of Hamburg.

Klaus Liedtke

Gruner + Jahr (ret.)

Honorary chairman & founder | Hamburg@work

Klaus Liedtke was editor-in-chief of National Geographic Germany and publisher of the personality magazine “Park Avenue”. Prior to this, he spent a long time working for the magazine STERN, including positions as White House correspondent, head of foreign affairs, war correspondent and editor-in-chief of the magazine. He wrote a book on the USA entitled: "Cowboys, Gott und Coca Cola" [Cowboys, God and Coca Cola] and presented the programme “National Geographic Explorer" on the TV channel Vox. Since 2010, he has been advising the National Geographic Society in Washington and is a member of the supervisory board and executive board of numerous international organizations. Klaus is "partially retired" and the owner of the editorial office Liedtke.

The Executive Board for the IT Executive Club

Raphael Vaino

Randstadt Digital Germany

Chair of Divisional Board | IT Executive Club Managing Director and Partner | Senacor Technologies

Raphael Vaino chairs the board of the IT Executive Club. As co-founder and co-initiator, he has played a and initiator, he has played a key role in shaping the structures of the club over the past few years. As a computer scientist and CTO/CIO of the listed company Netlife AG, he had held IT responsibility himself for several years early in his career. Over the last 25 years, he has worked in management positions at IT consultancies and SW houses, including the last 15 years at Senacor Technologies as Managing Director. Raphael is also involved as a board member of the expert council on digitalization "The Interface Society".

Karsten Kirsch

elpix AG

Board Member IT Executive Club | direkt gruppe GmbH

Karsten Kirsch is a board member of the IT Executive Club and, as vice-chairman, is responsible for networking and recruiting new members. Throughout his professional career, he has focused on networking people and creating trusting connections. In his function as a member of the Executive Board of direkt gruppe, his main responsibility is also to build and expand sustainable business relationships. One of Karsten Kirsch's key motivations is to find solutions to the challenge of combining different competences.

Thomas Kopecky

Recruiting 40Plus GmbH

Divisional Board Member | IT Executive Club Managing Director | Recruiting40Plus

Thomas Kopecky is a member of the Divisional Board and responsible for the finances of the IT Executive Club. After many years in the sale of services and products connected with IT, he now provides support as the Managing Director of “Recruiting 40Plus” for companies recruiting qualified IT employees. At the same time, his activities also include developing employer branding strategies so that companies can maintain their lead in the competition for talent.

The founders of AI for Hamburg

Uwe Jens Neumann

Hamburg@work

Speaker and Member of the Team Board | Co-Founder Hamburg@work & AI.HAMBURG

Uwe Jens Neumann is co-founder and has been Chair of the Executive Committee of Hamburg@work since the association was founded in 1997 and since 2001 Managing Director of the operating subsidiary Hamburg@work GFM mbH. Within the team, he has special responsibility for the strategic orientation and continuing development of Hamburg@work to become the digital cluster in the north of Germany. After studying business administration as an officer of the German Federal Armed Forces and working as a research assistant at the Helmut Schmidt University, his professional posts led him via leadership positions with IBM, AT&T, BMW Softlab and VIAG Interkom to the Management Board of HWF Hamburgische Wirtschaftsförderung, an organization that promotes economic development in Hamburg. Since 2016, Uwe Jens has been devoting himself entirely to his tasks at Hamburg@work.

Ragnar Kruse

AI.HAMBURG

Founder AI,HAMBURG & Smaato | Member advisory board of Hamburg@work for AI

Ragnar Kruse is CEO and co-founder of Smaato. From 2005 to 2019, he led the company to become the leading global real-time mobile advertising platform with over 90,000 mobile publishers and app developers and more than 450 demand partners serving more than one billion unique mobile users worldwide every month. As a serial entrepreneur with over 30 years of IT experience, Ragnar Kruse understands the unique challenges of bringing new technologies to market. In the USA as well as in Europe he built up several companies from the beginning to the market launch.

Petra Vorsteher

AI.HAMBURG

Board of Directors International | Hamburg@work, Founder of AI.HAMBURG and Smaato

Petra Vorsteher is the association's representative in Silicon Valley and, as a member of the team board, responsible for all international activities of Hamburg@work. The "Mobile Woman to Watch 2010" is co-founder of smaato, Inc. in Hamburg and San Francisco. Petra especially drives the international networking of Hamburg@work with a focus on Silicon Valley. Petra lives in Silicon Valley and Hamburg and travels worldwide. Petra is Co-Founder & Chief Alliances Officer of Smaato, Inc. and co-founder of the AI for Hamburg initiative. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)