Eli Varn has 20 years of media experience and is Co-CEO of BurdaVerlag, the publishing division of Hubert Burda Media in the DACH region. Together with Manuela Kampp-Wirtz, she oversees product areas including Kids, Garden & Living, Food, Health, Women, Entertainment, and Screens, as well as Finance, Business Technologies, Operations, and B2C Sales.

Dr. Lydia Rullkötter has been Co-CEO of BurdaForward since June 2024, overseeing digital brands such as Focus Online, BUNTE.de, CHIP.de, and TV Spielfilm. She joined Burda in 2012 from McKinsey, held various leadership roles, and was most recently Managing Director of BurdaServices. Together with Daniel Steil, she now leads the digital publisher’s operations.

Daniel Steil has been Co-CEO of BurdaForward since 2024. Previously, as Chief Content Officer, he was responsible for advancing innovative content topics and, for over seven years as Editor-in-Chief of Focus Online, helped shape Germany’s digital media landscape. His career also includes positions at Huffington Post, Axel Springer, and Ringier.

Stefan Voß was an international correspondent for the German Press Agency (dpa) in Kyiv and Moscow for over a decade and speaks fluent Russian. After working in the political desk, he has been leading the verification team since 2017, which checks information, images, and videos on social media and expands the agency’s fact-checking expertise.

Bernd Oswald, born in 1974, has been deeply involved with journalism in the digital age since 2001: first as an online editor and department head at sueddeutsche.de, and since 2009 as a freelance author, moderator, and trainer. He focuses on all relevant trends in digital journalism, including online research, social media storytelling, multimedia formats, data journalism, and the right tools for each area.

Imke Jungnitsch is a Creative Director and coach specializing in text, creative strategy, and AI. She helps companies develop clear brand voices and runs workshops on efficient idea and text creation. After working at Jung von Matt, she founded her own coaching business and now also teaches and serves as Regional Director at the German Coaching Association.

Anne is an expert in AI, chatbots, and conversational interfaces, advising companies, startups, and NGOs on shaping an AI-driven future. A former assistant professor at the University of Zurich and co-founder of Delta Labs AG, she combines consumer psychology with technology research. She is co-author of You & AI, and her TEDx talk has been viewed over 1.8 million times. Her goal: a sustainable, human-centered AI future.

Pascal Deutschländer is a project and product manager at BurdaForward, focusing on generative AI and no-/low-code tools. Previously, he co-founded a startup, gaining hands-on experience in solving complex problems pragmatically. Today, he combines this entrepreneurial background with his work in AI, automation, and product management to quickly develop prototypes and create real user value.

Alexa Stark, born in Wiesbaden and raised in the Rheingau region, studied Media: Conception & Production at Hochschule RheinMain. In parallel, she worked as a flight attendant. In 2021, she moved to Hamburg and started at BurdaForward as a Video Content Manager. After a brief period as a Video Performance Operator, she has been leading the Video News team laterally as Professional Lead Video News since June 2023.

Oliver Markert is on the editorial board of Focus Online and leads BurdaForward’s video team. Active in media since 1998, he joined Focus Online in 2008, where he helped build Focus Online Local, developed news apps, managed a webinar platform, and integrated AI into editorial workflows.

Dr. Martin Scheurer is Head of Data Privacy at Hubert Burda Media and a visiting scholar at the TUM Center for Digital Public Services. Previously, he worked as a lawyer specializing in data protection law and as Legal Counsel for Data Privacy & IP. He earned his doctorate at the University of Passau in the field of data protection law and regularly publishes on topics related to data protection and digitalization.

Andreas Meier is a Senior Corporate Data Privacy Consultant at Hubert Burda Media and has been working in corporate data privacy for six years. He studied industrial engineering as well as IT law (LL.M.) with a focus on AI law and data protection, bringing solid expertise at the intersection of technology, law, and data privacy to his work.

Jörg Müller has 25 years of experience developing digital products—as a software developer, product manager, agile coach, and innovation manager, with over half of that time at ProSiebenSat.1. Since 2020, he has been working with generative AI and LLMs, exploring how this technology is changing the way we work. As co-founder of THE SKILL, he supports organizations in using AI in creative and knowledge-driven processes.

Flo Thiel has been with BURDA since 2021, starting at BurdaVerlag Data Publishing before moving to BurdaForward after an internship and traineeship. He is now Senior Product Manager in the AI Product Accelerator team, which identifies and implements promising AI tools to optimize workflows and enhance BurdaForward’s products.

For two years, Sarah Kilian has been working as an engineer on AI projects at BurdaForward. There, she develops AI features, prompt libraries, agents, and automations together with her colleagues to support the company in its AI transformation.

Dr. Lisa Precht is Head of Data & AI Strategy at IBM Technology DACH. She has worked at Siemens, the Airbus Group, and the BMW Group on developing best practices for artificial intelligence as well as designing user-centered AI solutions. At IBM, she now supports clients in implementing trustworthy and effective AI solutions while maintaining full data sovereignty.

Christian Steiner has been a “AI power user” for over 10 years. He supports clients in evaluating, testing, and implementing innovative technologies, such as currently generative AI tools. With his project experience, he is a highly practical trainer who can convey everyday-applicable knowledge in an engaging and accessible way.

As Principal Strategic Development Manager at Adobe, Thomas Maeder oversees strategic innovation processes. He is also a product specialist for Adobe Firefly and helps clients understand and leverage the versatile applications of Adobe Firefly in their daily workflows.

Studied Media Management at the Stuttgart Media University. Afterwards, held several positions in online product management at media companies, including Sky Germany and Springer Science & Business Media. Has been working at Valiton as a Senior Business Consultant for 13 years.

Studied Business Administration at Offenburg University of Applied Sciences. Immediately afterwards, joined BurdaSolutions in the Platform Services team. For the past four years, has been working as a Project Manager, serving as the interface between technology and business administration for projects, processes, and changes in Business Solutions.

Robert has been working at Burda for eight years on digital products for brands such as BUNTE.de, Focus Online, and Chip. He combines methods like Jobs-to-be-Done and Design Thinking with AI tools like ChatGPT to develop practical and impactful products and features.

Roxanne leads Immediate Media’s generative AI content strategy, partnering with editorial teams to design tools and workflows that enhance creativity and unlock new workflow and user opportunities. She has spent the past three years immersed in generative AI, shaping strategy and practical applications across some of the UK’s best-loved media brands.

Project Manager AI at Business Technologies, responsible for the text domain and AI agents.

Project Manager AI at Business Technologies, responsible for the image domain.

Christopher Kuhl is the founder and CEO of The AI People and an expert in AI integration and digital transformation. He helps organizations strategically implement AI and sustainably integrate it into workflows. Drawing on his interdisciplinary background, he teaches in workshops how leaders can identify, evaluate, and successfully apply AI potential within their teams.

Jonas Liedel works as Senior Project Manager AI at BurdaVerlag. With his extensive expertise in AI and processes, he actively supports the "Business Technologies" department in the development of "AISSIST."

Richard Weber is Managing Director at BurdaForward, shaping the digital strategy for brands like Focus Online and BUNTE.de. He focuses on turning 40 million monthly users into lasting relationships through products that blend trusted journalism with data-driven innovation, leveraging AI to create practical, scalable solutions.

Chris brings international digital experience from Nero in Japan and the USA and his own ventures. Since 2023, he leads Data & Analytics at netzstrategen, focusing on integrating AI into work processes. Netzstrategen is a digital strategy consultancy with offices in Karlsruhe, Cologne, and Barcelona.

Dennis Tschorn is a Senior Account Executive at Microsoft Germany in Munich, strategically managing key clients in the media and agency sectors. He has extensive experience in digital transformation and AI, specializing in privacy-compliant Azure OpenAI solutions and hands-on workshops for integrating AI into business processes.

Gildas holds a PhD in bioinformatics and has worked at Klinikum Rechts der Isar and Factfield, progressing from data scientist to team lead. He is now moving into business development, focusing on data-driven decision-making and product development, and is always happy to make time for others.

Javad Bahmani is Team Lead Data Quality & Data Innovation, responsible for advancing data quality and implementing innovative data solutions. As an experienced Data/ML expert, he follows the motto ‘Clean Data, Make Models.’ He is particularly interested in developing software that solves business problems in the most efficient and automated way, while always seeking opportunities to evolve.

Nora Nießen started in design with a focus on user experience and is now Director of Product & UX at XING. She combines research, design, and product development to create user-centered digital experiences and drives innovation at the intersection of business, design, and technology.

Ivan Rubio has over 20 years of experience developing digital products for startups and large organizations. Since 2019, he has been Director of Engineering at XING, focusing on scalable architectures, team leadership, and value-driven outcomes.

Peter Erkinger leads the Business Intelligence team at Burda Facts. The team’s main task is to collect information that decision-makers use as a basis for their decisions.

Konark Modi, founder of Tesseracted Labs GmbH, helps organizations bring their product visions to life. Following the “Break it to learn it” principle, he has identified and fixed security vulnerabilities in web browsers, fitness trackers, government services, and travel apps. He is also an experienced international speaker at conferences such as DEFCON, CCC, PyCon, and Berlin BuzzWords.

Lara Nüßle has been with Burda for about 3.5 years, working in various areas ranging from her role as a management trainee to positions in data and AI.

Nadine Hettegger has been with Burda for about 6 years, driving AI product innovations.

Hanna holds an MBA in Communication & Leadership from Quadriga University Berlin as well as degrees in Communication and Political Science from LMU Munich and Sciences Po Paris. In her academic work, she focused on the impact of AI on journalism. She previously gained professional experience in a communications consultancy and in radio.

Oleg is a full-stack developer at Burda Forward. Among his projects, he has brought our data scientists’ work into production. He also started the formal adoption process for Cursor AI and Claude Code within the company. Occasionally, Oleg shares his experience and insights at meetups and conferences.

Kiran Kulkarni is a Cloud Architect at Google Cloud, focusing on media customers. He has a front-row view of how Google Generative Media tools are transforming the creative content production process across the media industry. He brings hands-on experience on how AI agents are accentuating the creative spark.