Conference Co-Chair
Senior Counsel,  Reed Smith LLP,  Munich

Christian von Sydow advises clients on corporate law, M&A, private equity, restructuring, corporate conflict resolution and estate planning. He has represented a large number of international and German clients, including strategic and financial investors, in acquisitions and sales of businesses in Germany and internationally in cross-border matters. Mr. von Sydow represents clients in a wide variety of industries, including automotive supply, consumer electronics, defence, energy, internet, optics, publishing, retail, software, technology and testing technology, travel and tourism.

Conference Co-Chair
Partner,  Reed Smith LLP,  Munich

Dr. Nikolaus von Jacobs advises private equity funds and German strategic players on private equity, venture capital and private and public mergers and acquisitions.

Before joining Reed Smith, he was a partner at an international law firm and headed its German private equity practice. He has also worked in investment banking and European capital markets for Merrill Lynch in London.

University Professor and Dean, University of Augsburg

Gregor Kirchhof, born in 1971, has held the Chair of Public Law, Financial Law and Tax Law at the University of Augsburg since 2012, where he is also the Director of the Institute for Business and Tax Law. He is currently also the The Dean of the Faculty of Law. After studying in Freiburg and Munich, obtaining a Master of Laws in the London Law Program at the University of Notre Dame (USA), and passing the examination to become a specialist lawyer for tax law, he held the professorship for constitutional and administrative law at LMU in Munich. Gregor Kirchhof’s main research areas lie in constitutional law, tax and financial law, public commercial law, and the fundamentals of the European Union. Gregor Kirchhof was a Fellow at the Forschungskolleg normative Gesellschaftsgrundlagen research facility in Bonn, and is amongst other things a member of the scientific advisory board of the Deutsche Steuerjuristischen Gesellschaft (German tax law society), of the Munich Unternehmenssteuerforum (company tax forum), of the Strategic Advisory Board of Die Familienunternehmer (Family Entrepreneurs) as well as of the Board of Directors of the Munich European Conference.

Conference Co-Chair
Partner,  Reed Smith LLP,  Munich

Dr. Nikolaus von Jacobs advises private equity funds and German strategic players on private equity, venture capital and private and public mergers and acquisitions.
Before joining Reed Smith, he was a partner at an international law firm and headed its German private equity practice. He has also worked in investment banking and European capital markets for Merrill Lynch in London.

Legal Counsel, Head of Gimv Germany, Munich

Schahin Haghani joined Gimv in March 2023 as a Legal Counsel for our Munich office. His focus will be on the German deals and portfolio. 

Prior to joining Gimv, Schahin was a partner in a leading German law firm advising international clients on M&A transactions. He has over 20 years of experience in national and cross-border transactions. 

Schahin Haghani graduated at University of Freiburg and holds a Master in Mergers & Acquisitions (LL.M.) from the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management. 

Partner, HWF Partners

Philipp is a Partner at HWF, who leads HWF’s offering in the German speaking countries and supports the US team with its expansion in North America. He has a wealth of knowledge in placing bespoke transactional risk insurance products (W&I, tax, contingent) in the context of M&A transactions. Philipp is regarded as a leading broker and clients value his commercial approach and technical excellence.

Philipp and his teams have advised on numerous complex transactions and have been able to spearhead innovative developments in the market.

Philipp is a trained lawyer, admitted in Germany and the USA. He is fluent in German and English.

Prior to joining HWF, Philipp spent several years as an attorney with leading international law firms in Germany and the United States and advised German and international clients on all aspects of corporate law, takeover law, and in connection with M&A transactions. In particular with respect to national and cross-border transactions. His focus has been on private equity and venture capital transactions over the previous years.

Managing Director, DC Advisory

Philipp is a Managing Director in DC Advisory's Frankfurt team covering the Industrials sector.

Philipp started his investment banking career in 2001 with Deutsche Bank and later spent several years with ABN AMRO / RBS and Commerzbank. Philipp is also registered as an attorney at law.

CEO, Partner & Co-Founder, OMMAX

Toni is the CEO and a partner at OMMAX, responsible for the overall development and strategy of the company and its finances, as well as leading OMMAX on its mission to build digital leaders. Toni advises numerous international corporations and medium-sized companies on digital transformation, having led over 500 digital projects in digital strategies, digital operational excellence, data science, and transaction advisory services throughout his 15-year career.

​He is a digital expert advising selected financial investors and has led over 150 commercial, digital, and tech due diligence projects. Having had articles published by computerwoche, CIO Magazine, IT Zoom, and more, Toni is considered one of Germany's top digital experts with a strong focus on sales, marketing, and data, supporting companies to implement and drive changes to thrive in the digital age.

​Prior to OMMAX, Toni worked among others at the global incubator company Rocket Internet, the world's leading asset manager DWS, and at Transfer Partners, a transaction management consultancy​. Toni is also an in-demand speaker at conferences and trade fairs such as SuperReturn and MuMac, a guest lecturer at universities such as Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (WWU) and Universität Mannheim (UniMa), in addition to frequently participating in podcasts and webinars. These experiences have allowed him to share his contribution to the successful development of digital business models, and his role as a strategically thinking practitioner and pioneer of the digital consulting age.

Toni holds a M.Sc. in Accounting from the University of Mannheim (Finance, Banking and Auditing).

Managing Partner, Vidia Equity

Johanna is Founding Partner of Vidia, where she is responsible for the firm’s general strategy, co-leading the transactions team and fundraising. She founded Vidia beginning of 2021 with the aim of driving decarbonization in the industrial segment, with a focus on scaling climate solutions for the highest emitting industries in the DACH and Nordic regions. Prior to founding Vidia, she was a Partner at Orlando Management, a Munich based midmarket private equity firm. She also founded Orlando Nordics in Stockholm, successfully establishing Orlando’s presence in the Nordics. Johanna started her career in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs. Johanna studied law at Bucerius Law School in Hamburg and the University of Sydney.

Partner,  Reed Smith LLP,  Chicago

Sid focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions and emerging company/venture capital transactions. He has experience representing public and private companies, private equity firms, and investment and hedge funds in an array of corporate transactions, including mergers, acquisitions (both asset and stock), divestitures, financings, fund formation and general corporate matters across multiple industries. Additionally, he regularly represents founders and investors (strategic and financial) in a variety of emerging company transactions, including angel and series investments.

Managing Director and Head of Germany, Lincoln International AG

Michael provides overall strategic and operational leadership for Lincoln International’s activities in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the Benelux region. He principals the procurement and management of clients, leads deal teams and recruits qualified personnel.

In addition to his operational roles within the firm, Michael is passionate about mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Germany. He has 25 years of experience advising on M&A, public takeovers, fairness opinions and corporate divestitures. His clients are comprised of large corporations as well as mid-sized privately-owned businesses and leading private equity groups. Michael brings global, cross-border expertise to his projects, helping clients navigate the increasing complexity of transactions, and creating a comprehensive deal experience.

Michael is currently Vice Chairman of Shareholder Value Beteiligungen AG and Vice Chairman of the German software company, SNP SE. Michael is lecturer on the topic of M&A at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.

Prior to joining Lincoln International, Michael led M&A at Sal. Oppenheim (Germany), Europe’s largest private bank. Previously, he worked in the investment banking division of Citigroup Global Markets in London and Frankfurt. Michael began his career at EY.

Michael holds a doctorate in corporate finance from Fribourg University. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst in the UK.

Partner, EMERAM Capital Partners GmbH

Sven Oleownik has extensive experience in Management Consulting and M&A Advisory as well as in the Private Equity business. In addition, he was repeatedly assigned as a supervisory board member of various family-owned businesses. As such, he also trains supervisory board member as part of the Deutsche Börse qualification program.

He already financed his studies as a shareholder in a trade fair construction company, which he founded jointly with two other partners. After graduating, he began his professional career at an investment company financed by family offices. In the context of new investments and the support of portfolio companies, he also became Managing Director of a portfolio company active in the field of manufacturing industrial goods. He then spent nine years at Dr. Wieselhuber & Partner, a leading management consultancy focused on the advisory of family-owned companies, ultimately as a partner and member of the management board. Sven mainly led projects in the field of strategic development, restructuring, buy and build projects up to the integration of new acquisitions, their financing up to IPOs as well as changes of shareholders and succession. For further twelve years he was Managing Partner of Corporate Finance Advisory at Deloitte in Munich. His sector focus was primarily on consumer goods and technology companies as well as private equity. Before joining Emeram, for seven years he headed the German office of Gimv, an international private equity firm listed on the stock exchange in Brussels, building up its team and investment business in DACH.

VP, Deputy General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, EPAM Systems

Kate Pytlewski is VP, Deputy General Counsel – Global Corporate for EPAM Systems, Inc., a global, publicly traded IT services company.  Kate leads a team of legal professionals responsible for M&A and acquisition integration, corporate governance, capital markets, global subsidiary management, and other key areas for EPAM operations in 50+ countries. Prior to EPAM, Kate was Senior Corporate Counsel for a financial services company and spent eight years as a corporate associate in private practice in New York and Philadelphia.

Director, Senior Legal Counsel, Robert Bosch LLC

Heather Schroder is a Director and Senior Legal Counsel for Robert Bosch LLC. Ms. Schroder is based out of Robert Bosch GmbH’s North American headquarters in Detroit, Michigan, and serves as the M&A and Corporate legal team leader for North America.  In her role, she is responsible for overseeing all cross-border M&A activities into and out of the U.S. and Canada.   A New York native, prior to joining Bosch in 2014, Ms. Schroder was Senior Corporate Counsel at ATMI, Inc., a publicly-traded, semiconductor company in Connecticut; prior to working in-house, Ms. Schroder worked as a Corporate Law Associate in private practice in New York City. Ms. Schroder is admitted to the bars of New York, Connecticut, and Michigan. She is also a Director on the Board of Advisors for Syracuse University College of Law.

Member of the Board, Chairman of the Ratings Committee and Member of the Index Committee, Global Green Xchange AG

Martin was infected with the “Wall Street virus” at a young age and consequently started his professional career in 1996 with a multi-faceted banking education. He lived out his creative streak and passion for graphics, design and the web after hours. Thus, at the age of 18, he founded his first company with his trainee colleague. Subsequently, the native of Allgäu expanded his regional focus and knowledge spectrum through career stations in Munich and London. There, Martin was able to learn valuable skills in institutional asset management. Highlights included managing the Kuwait Investment Office and successfully launching an issuing platform for a German infrastructure development institution - against all odds, in the midst of the 2008 financial market crisis. At BayernLB, he was responsible for a smooth new product process for equity and commodity products. His interest in alternative investments and financial innovation has accompanied him since that time.

Partner, Summa Equity

Matthias Fink is a Partner at Summa Equity, responsible for the firm’s activities in the DACH region. Founded in 2016, Summa is an impact investor focusing on three thematic areas: Resource Efficiency, Changing Demographics, and Tech-Enabled Transformation. The purpose of Summa is to invest in solving our global challenges.

Summa has c. EUR 5 billion in assets under management and has made over 30 platform investments across the three funds raised to date. The investments have the potential for long-term sustainable outperformance because they address some of the social, environmental, and governmental challenges we need to solve as a society.

Previously, Matthias was a Partner at The Riverside Company and a Consultant at Boston Consulting Group. Matthias holds a Master of Science in International Business Administration from WU Vienna and an MBA from the University of Cambridge.