Peter Ganten

CEO Univention

Peter studied Physics and Psychology and was working in various fields of research and consulting before founding Univention. He has been involved with Linux since 1994 and has become well known as the author of a user guide about Debian GNU/Linux. Today he is leading the Univention management team and is responsible for the strategic direction of Univention. In his capacity as Chairman of the OSB Alliance, he has worked in both politics and business to promote a European perspective of digitalization that is based on openness and trust.

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Ann Cathrin Riedel

Managing Director of NExT e.V.

Ann Cathrin Riedel is a publicist and expert in digital policy, administrative innovation, and democracy. As the managing director of NExT e.V., she drives initiatives to modernize public administration, leveraging digitalization as a key to a sustainable society and stable democracies. Previously, she was responsible for international digital policy at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom and led the organization LOAD e.V. – for liberal net policy – from 2018 to 2024. In 2022, she was appointed to the Federal Government’s Digital Advisory Council and the Digital Council of the State of Saxony-Anhalt. She also serves as an advisory board member for the think tank Center for Middle East and Global Order (CMEG). Her dedication has earned her numerous accolades, including the “Gold” award as “Women in eGovernment/Leadership 2024,” recognition as one of Capital Magazine’s “Top 40 under 40” in “Science and Society” in 2020, and selection as a Young Leader by Atlantik-Brücke in 2023. Her expertise is frequently sought in political bodies such as the German Bundestag. She publishes and speaks on topics including digitalization, public administration, and geopolitics – notably in her award-winning newsletter, Ann Cathrin’s Digital Digest.

Milen Starke

CIO Thuringian

Milen Starke has been State Secretary and State CIO/CDO at the Thuringian Ministry of Digital Affairs and Infrastructure since June 2025. Prior to this, she worked at Q-SOFT GmbH, where she was head of sales from 2015 and became managing partner in 2018. She was also involved as a member of the federal executive committee of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs in Germany.

Mario Schmid

Government School Director, Baden-Württemberg

Mario Schmid is the Deputy Head of Department 23 for Digitalization, Media Education, and the digital education platform SCHULE@BW at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports in Baden-Württemberg.

Jutta Horstmann

Co-CEO of the Heinlein Gruppe

Jutta Horstmann is a computer scientist, entrepreneur, and open source expert. Since September 2025, she has been serving as Co-CEO of the Heinlein Gruppe, enabling companies and public institutions to achieve digital sovereignty, security, and sustainability. With more than 25 years of experience in IT and leadership, she is a strong advocate for digital resilience and open source technologies.

Frank Karlitschek

Founder and Managing Director Nextcloud

Frank Karlitschek is the founder and Managing Director of Nextcloud GmbH. The IT specialist from Berlin developed open source software for over 25 years and was active on the KDE board. He founded initiatives such as the “User Data Manifesto” (2015), which called for data protection in the cloud at an early stage. In 2016, he founded Nextcloud, a European open source alternative to US and Chinese cloud services. He has spoken as a keynote speaker at MIT and advises the UN on open source.

Zehra Öztürk

Acting Head of Division

Zehra Öztürk is acting head of department at the Hamburg Senate Chancellery, where she is working to make the IT landscape of Hamburg’s administration – and beyond – more future-proof and enhance it with new technologies such as AI. She campaigns for greater diversity and is committed to digitalization, including at Re:form. She initiated the Co-Pioneer Award for reuse.
As a graduate computer scientist, she first worked in the field of AI before finding her calling in Hamburg’s administration.

Dr. André Göbel

President of FITKO

Dr. André Göbel, President of the Federal IT Cooperation (FITKO). Previously, Dr. Göbel worked for Kyndryl Deutschland (Head of Public Sector), DigitalAgency of the State of Brandenburg (managing director), Capgemini Deutschland (Head of Public Sector, Business & Technology Solutions) and Harz University of Applied Sciences (laboratory director, course director and appointed professor of administrative management). He volunteers on the board of NEGZ and in the German Society for Informatics.