GREENTECH FESTIVAL SPEAKERS

Ayisha Siddiqa is a Pakistani human rights and land defender serving as a Youth Climate Advisor to the UN Secretary General. In 2020, she co-founded Polluters Out, a global youth activist coalition, and helped launch the Fossil Free University, an activism training course. As part of her activism, Ayisha has helped organize multiple school strikes for climate action that mobilized hundreds of thousands of young people. Her expertise in lobbying around climate negotiations has earned her recognition as a strategist among national and youth delegations in the UNFCCC. Ayisha was recognized on the cover of TIME magazine, as one of the Women of the Year 2023. To follow and support Ayisha’s work, visit futuregenerationstribunal.com

Diploma Electrical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University. Started her career at E.ON in different positions within decentral energy space, amongst others in product management being responsible for E.ONs first smart home product and afterwards leading the team integrating small scale assets into the virtual power plant. Worked with Oracle to digitize the largest german enterprises and migrate their workloads into the cloud as leader for the german cloud business. Lastly, before joining 1KOMMA5°, Barbara was responsible for Google’s Digital Native and Start-up business in Germany, scaling start-ups and scale-ups with Google technology. Part of the Google Cloud Germany leadership team. Now CTO at 1KOMMA5°, the one-stop-shop for climate technology.

As the Country Manager for Germany at Carbon Equity, Bas is pioneering significant advancements in climate tech investment. Carbon Equity opens up access to premier climate tech VC/PE funds, aiming to channel billions in private capital into combating climate change. Bas, whose commitment to sustainability began during his academic career when he founded a sustainability consultancy, firmly believes that climate tech investing represents one of the greatest financial opportunities of the coming decades. In addition to his work in climate tech, Bas founded a training platform for young VC investors, successfully training over 100 investors to date.

Whether co-working accelerator, conference or festival for social impact, Ben connects audiences with his uniquely powerful approach of combining the physical body and creative mind. As president of Berlin’s most established public speaking group, TEDx and winner of multiple speaking awards he has mastered his craft, intuitively weaving his creative and coaching profession into his presence on stage to inspire and motivate his audience.

As Leader Business Unit Projects – Residential LIXIL EMENA, Benedikt Reith is responsible for EMENA-wide residential construction projects. With his team, Benedikt drives the specification of GROHE products in new-build and renovation projects. The project team is organized in 5 segments – Hospitality, Residential, Healthcare, Commercial and Marine – to deliver a customer-focused support and service to decision makers and influencers. Before joining GROHE, Benedikt worked over 11 years in the MEA area as a project specialist. He is a German national and studied engineering at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt.

Dipl.-Ing. Björn Brecht serves as the Head of Business Development at Kieback&Peter. Since 1927, the company has been a leading provider of building automation. With a strong technical background and the ability to turn innovative ideas into successful products, Björn leads the strategic development of the company. Additionally, he is an active Board Member of the European Building Automation and Controls Association (eu.bac) and holds certification as an ESG Manager. His expertise and innovation have led to several patents.

Caroline Drischel leads the Corporate Responsibility department of Lufthansa Group which sets the strategy, framework conditions and drives major cross functional projects throughout the airline group. In her role Caroline drives the company to become carbon neutral by 2050 and secure the achievement of the SBTi validated reduction target until 2030. Under her responsibility the group successfully launched the Green Fares Europe and a broad portfolio of sustainable customer choices. Alongside with a strong rating and reporting strategy which was just recently awarded with an A- score by CDP, Caroline also takes the responsibility for an successful external communications and awareness campaign called #MakeChangeFly. The swiss- located mother of two boys holds several positions in Brand, Marketing & Customer Experience.

Carsten Dierkes has been working on stormwater management for more than 25 years, especially on the aspects of water household and pollutants in the urban water cycle aiming at the impact of polluted stormwater on groundwater and surface water as well as the impact of climate change on urban drainage. A hydrogeologist with a doctorate in civil engineering, he has worked on research projects in Germany, USA, Australia, etc. He held a professorship in water management at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, is a member of the Committee on Stormwater Treatment of the German Institute for Building Technology (DIBt) and a member of the DIN mirror committee “Water Recycling – Development of Standards for Rainwater and Greywater Utilization”.

A small town boy with a big man’s voice” is how 24-year-old Brit Chris de Sarandy describes himself. Having grown up in the quiet suburbs of London before moving to the Cornish coast, Chris studied graphic design at the BRIT school and Leeds Uni, but always found himself returning to his first passion – music. Whilst still a student at Leeds, Chris moved to Berlin for his studies… a move that became a defining experience in his journey to music. Berlin became and remains Chris’ creative home, where he collaborates with producers, writers and other artists.

Listen here to Chris de Sarandy on Spotify.

Having been raised between Belgium, France the UK and Germany, Christian is what we call a true European. After growing businesses in the consulting as well as the sustainable food sector he now gives it all for Nature on our continent, restoring forests and other Ecosystems. As Director for the German speaking Market he is growing strong partnerships with committed companies which want to be active on a local level, focusing on a holistic approach which combine the crucial aspects of Biodiversity, Carbon and Water.

Christian is heading the German office of EIT Manufacturing since January 2019. In his role, he is responsible for EIT Manufacturing’s activities in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland and Ukraine. His mission is to bring European manufacturing actors together in an innovation ecosystem that adds unique value to European products, processes and services and inspires the creation of globally competitive and sustainable manufacturing. Prior to his current position, Christian has been working at the Technical University of Darmstadt (Germany) as Head of Cutting Technology Research at the Institute of Production Management, Technology and Machine Tools.

After completing his degree in Engineering & Management, Christian gained valuable experience at aircraft engine manufacturer MTU. He now applies his acquired knowledge to his startup, OCELL, co-founded with friends in 2019. Utilizing aerial photography, the Munich-based startup develops data-driven, high-quality forest carbon projects to support local landowners. The mission is to maximize forest potential for climate mitigation. Christian and his team do so by leveraging aerial images and artificial intelligence to create digital twins of forests. These twins offer insights into forest growth and carbon storage, providing optimal forest management strategies that are key to OCELL’s tech-driven climate projects.

Christian Feuerherd has been the CEO of BEW Berliner Energie und Wärme (former Vattenfall Wärme Berlin AG) since September 2022, which manages the entire value chain from the generation and provision to the sale of heat in the capital.

Christian Krug is a German journalist and media consultant. His professional beginnings, alongside his studies in political science, led him via the Hamburger Morgenpost to STERN and SPIEGEL TV. He later took over as editor-in-chief of the lifestyle icon MAX, founded his media company Krugmedia and opened a hotel in Marrakech with his wife Ina. From 2014 to 2019, Krug was editor-in-chief of STERN. With two partners, he founded Scrollytelling GmbH in 2021, which has developed a leading software for digital storytelling.

Christian Lindner is Germany’s Federal Minister of Finance and a member of the German parliament (Bundestag). Lindner was elected party leader of the Free Democrats in December 2013. As chairman of the Free Democrats Parliamentary Group (2017-2021) Christian Lindner established a constructive and successful parliamentary group in the German Bundestag. In the 2021 elections the FDP achieved one of its best results ever. After successful coalition negotiations Christian Lindner became Germany’s Federal Minister of Finance in the first ever three-party coalition on December, 8th 2021.

Dipl.-Kfm. ­Christoph Ritzkat has been at Kieback&Peter since 2017. As Chairman of the Board, he bears overall responsibility for the company. An economist by trade, he has many years of experience as a managing director in renowned German family companies with a focus on the metal and electrical industries. Mr. Ritzkat is an internationally educated manager who worked in Brazil, China, France and the United States. Born in Cologne, he is a member of 1. FC Köln and an enthusiastic marathon runner. He is married and has two children.

Christoph is a dedicated professional with over a decade of experience within the automotive industry. Currently serving as project manager for sustainability at AUDI AG, he has played a pivotal role in shaping the company’s decarbonization strategy. His contributions extend from the corporate to vehicle level, ensuring that sustainability is integrated throughout Audi’s operations and products. He holds a Master’s degree in Automotive and Mobility Management. Furthermore he is an active One Young World ambassador, where he advocates for the sustainable development goals of the United Nations.