AI Pioneers Program
Conquer AI in 10 Sessions

Marvin Hanisch is an Associate Professor in the Innovation Management & Strategy Department at the University of Groningen. His research focuses on organizational leadership and governance issues in response to significant disruptions, including discontinuous technological changes, grand challenges, and crises. Recently, his work has focused on the role of artificial intelligence in organizations and its impact on governance and strategic decision-making. Dr. Hanisch's research has been featured in leading academic and practitioner journals, and he has been honored with multiple international research awards.

Marianne Janik joined Google in October 2024 as the Vice President for EMEA North region. As Vice President, she drives the adoption of innovative, customer-centric cloud solutions in key markets including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and central eastern Europe. Marianne's leadership empowers businesses in the region to leverage Google Cloud's cutting-edge technology for transformation and success.

Dr Patrick Mannion has served as a Lecturer Above the Bar/Assistant Professor at University of Galway since 2019, where he is Programme Director of the PgCert in Artificial Intelligence for Professionals. Since 2020 he has served as Deputy Editor of The Knowledge Engineering Review journal. His main research interests are in the areas of multi-objective decision making, multi-agent systems and reinforcement learning.

Jochen Hartmann's research is situated at the intersection of digital marketing and machine learning, with a focus on the analysis of unstructured data (computer vision, natural language processing) and generative artificial intelligence (AI). His substantive research interests encompass social media, multimodal digital advertising, algorithmic fairness, diversity in advertising, and human-machine interactions. His work on text and image mining is among the most read and most cited articles in high-ranking marketing journals.

Bastian Burger is Director for Software & AI at TUM Venture Labs. He uses his expertise in the areas of business growth, AI, Web3, crypto and cybersecurity to support young founders in the first steps of their entrepreneurial careers up to Series A. His career began with the founding of blik, a pioneering startup in the field of industrial IoT and intralogistics, which he led as CEO from idea generation to market launch. He is also a lecturer and researcher in the field of psychological resilience and well-being of startup founders, with a special focus on well-being and narcissism.

Alex is the Cofounder of Pluno.ai. He holds a master’s degree in CS and has over five years of experience applying AI to real-world use cases. At Pluno, the team is building state-of-the-art AI for support deflection and has developed a new way to integrate AI with human support teams for the harder cases. This lets companies streamline their support and improve customer satisfaction. Pluno is used by software products across industries, including medical, finance, and AI, such as Lovable. Alex also cohosts the podcast Startup Tagebuch, where he and his cofounders share weekly raw insights from their startup journey.

Prof. Dr. Christoph Kreiterling is a Professor for Tech-Impact & Sustainability at University of Applied Sciences Trier (Hochschule Trier), specializing in digital finance, AI, and crypto assets. His research explores the evolving role of emerging technologies in financial markets, regulatory frameworks, and sustainable innovation. Prior to his academic role, he served as a Senior Adviser at BaFin, where he played a key role in shaping policy and regulation for blockchain, AI in finance, and digital assets. He has led major initiatives on financial innovation, risk management, and regulatory compliance, including work on EU regulations and ISO blockchain standardization. Prof. Kreiterling is actively engaged in international research and thought leadership, holding positions as a Research Fellow at University College London’s Centre for Blockchain Technology and an External Expert at the Frankfurt School Blockchain Center.

Andranik's research and teaching focus on digital transformation, blockchain technology applications, entrepreneurial and innovative behavior, and the future of work design. His work has been published in leading academic management journals and covered in the media, such as the Harvard Business Review, Financial Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Wirtschaftswoche, and Huffington Post.

Isabell M. Welpe holds the Chair for Strategy and Organization at the Technical University of Munich, Germany. Her research interests are in digital transformation of companies, business model innovation, the impact of digital technologies on the economy and organizations and the future of leadership and work/organizational design.

Theresa Treffers is an expert in individual and team behavior in entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as in artificial intelligence at work and in leadership. She holds dual roles as a Research Group Leader at the Technical University of Munich and as an Associate Professor at Seeburg Castle University. ​

Johannes Löwe is a PhD student at the TUM. He holds a master's degree in Artificial Intelligence and has over 3 years of work experience at the intersection of AI & Blockchain Technology, currently engaged as data lead at Stabelab.

Nathalie Schenk is a PhD candidate at the Technical University of Munich, holds an MSc in Information Systems from TUM, and researches at the intersection of (Gen)AI and entrepreneurship. With her experience in consulting, she has worked on digital transformations across various industries.