The Team
Management Team
Peter Pauli
CEO
- 14 years CEO and Member of the Board, Meyer Burger Technology Ltd,
- 17 years in management at Forbo-Siegling Group
- Industrial Eng. Diploma (FH) and EMBA from INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France and Swiss board school HSG, St. Gallen, Switzerland
Marina Shestakova
CFO
- 19 years of experience in investment management
- Risk manager for private and listed investments
- Certified Financial Analyst® and Certified Alternative Investment Analyst®
Benjamin Wilkening
COO
- 25 years of experience as a senior executive in VC, PE and strategic consulting (McKinsey)
- MBA from Wharton and MA in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania
Norah Kirimi
CCO
- 5 years as Tax consultant at Deloitte
- 2 years as Founder and Projects Manager at EAGLE Youth Mentorship Program
- Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Finance
- Master of Arts in International and Development Economics
Rafael Paniagua
- Over 25 years of experience as an engineer and manager at ABB, most recently as President and CEO for ABB in Brazil
- Institutional experience with plant engineering and long-term off-take agreements
Claas Helmke
- Founder & CEO of newtrail.capital GmbH
- 6 years of investment banking/origination of high-impact growth-stage companies
- Over 20 years of experience in management positions (CMO, CTO, VP BD) in the renewable energy industry (Masdar, ECD, ThyssenKrupp)
- 6 years of research management with the European Commission
- Ph.D. from Newcastle, UK, Dipl.-Ing. from Trier, Germany
Advisory Board
Tanja Faller
- Over 20 years of experience at the public-private sector (PPP) interface with a focus on renewable energy
- Climate finance expert with more than 20 years of experience in multilateral climate finance sectors
Jochen Wermuth
Chair Supervisory
- 20 years of impact investment experience across asset classes, including clean-tech
- Investment Committee €24bn German Sovereign Wealth Fund “Staatsfonds KENFO”
- Founder & CIO of family office WAM, Green Growth Funds, Climate Endowment Group, ex-Director at Deutsche Bank
- MA in Economics, BA in Mathematics Brown University (honors), Oxford University Econ
Dirk Habermann
- CTO and Founder of H2GEMINI
- CTO Nexwafe GmbH
- Chief Innovation Officer and CTO at Swiss-based Meyer Burger Technology AG
- CTO/VP R&D at SCHMID GROUP
- Assistant Professor in Experimental Physics TU Bergakademie Freiberg
Uwe Habermann
- Founder and CEO of H2GEMINI
- 3 years Head of Project Engineering at Meyer Burger AG
- 7 years Director for Integrated Fab Solutions in the SCHMID-Group
- 13 years of international business development and OEM manufacturing
- MBA Marketing & Communication
Olga Hamama
- 15 years of experience in Magic Circle international law firms specialising in international dispute resolution, including the energy sector, renewables, and regulatory matters of the European dimension
- Co-founder of venture platform Planet FC, accelerating sustainable business transition in sports and beyond
- Co-founder and President of the Board of the United for Ukraine Association, a global NGO, nominated as top five innovation of the year in the social impact category by SXSW, Austin, USA, and in legal by Financial Times (2023)
- Admitted to the German bar (2012). Law studies at the Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany, specialising in International and European Law (2009). Sustainable Business Strategy, Harvard Business School Online (2020-2021)
Steffen Kellner
- Over 15 years of experience as a manager and consultant for Fortune 500 companies such as Red Bull and Mercedes-Benz
- Experience in strategic marketing and communication, transformation and early-stage venture building.
Press and media inquiries
Holger Michel
- Founder & CEO of LAUT UND DEUTLICH GmbH
- 17 years of experience in political communication and media relations
- Diploma in public and business communication from UDK-Berlin and LCC-London