Speakers : Horváth AI & Data Convention
Speakers
Tolga Aydin
Deputy Head of Corporate Controlling/Head of Corporate Reporting
Diehl Group
Tolga Aydin has many years of experience in finance, controlling, and IT management. Since 2018, he has been with the Diehl Group in Nuremberg, where he currently serves as Deputy Head of Corporate Controlling and leading Corporate Reporting. In this role, he oversees group-wide reporting and controlling processes, provides management with strategic financial insights and drives innovations in a group-wide finance excellence program. Before joining Diehl, he worked for seven years as a Senior Consultant and Interim Manager at VEND consulting in Nuremberg, supporting clients in finance, controlling, and IT projects. He holds a Master’s degree in Finance and Banking.
Martin Breitschädel
Manager
Munich Re
Martin Breitschädel has over a decade of experience as an IT and Management Consultant across multiple industries. He has developed deep expertise in data analytics and financial processes within the insurance sector. As Program Manager and AI Business Strategist, he leads digital transformation initiatives and drives the strategic adoption of Generative AI in finance, ensuring measurable business impact and sustainable value creation through data- and AI-driven innovations.
Achim Kempf
Digital Information Officer for Henkel Consumer Brands
Henkel
Achim Kempf is Digital Information Officer (DIO) at Henkel Consumer Brands, responsible for driving digital transformation across the Beauty and Laundry & Home Care businesses. With nearly 30 years at Henkel, he has held multiple international leadership positions in marketing, sales, and integration management in Europe and the US. He began his career in brand management and later led major integration and transformation programs. Achim Kempf studied business administration at the University of Cologne and the Stockholm School of Economics.
Markus Kirchmann
Partner
Horváth
Markus Kirchmann is a partner and responsible for the Competence Center CFO Strategy & Performance Management. Within this Competence Center, consulting activities around AI, BI and data are bundled across all functions of a company. He has more than 20 years of consulting experience in the fields of performance management and performance optimization and advises national and international corporations on the (digital) transformation. In addition to his project activities, Markus Kirchmann is a speaker at national and international conferences and has written numerous publications, e.g. B. the book "Group Reporting and Consolidation" published by Schäffer-Poeschel Verlag.
Jens Grahlmann
Strategy head for market & competitor intelligence
Siemens AG
Jens Grahlmann is Department Head of Market & Competitor Intelligence at Siemens Smart Infrastructure. With over 20 years at Siemens, he has driven strategic intelligence, M&A excellence, and market analysis, leading an international expert team across Germany, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland. He began his career in banking as a risk manager and derivatives trader at Westdeutsche Landesbank and later managed numerous corporate M&A transactions. He lectures in Finance and Leadership at Steinbeis University Berlin and studied economics and business administration at the University of Oldenburg.
Liudmilla Hack
Head of Digital Transformation & SAP HCM S/4 HANA Migration (HCM)
BASF SE
Liudmila Hack is Director of Digital Transformation & SAP HCM S/4HANA Migration at BASF SE, where she leads one of the company’s most ambitious global programs, transforming HR and IT for over 110,000 users in more than 90 countries. Her focus lies on digital strategy, process optimization, AI and automation, and the migration to SAP S/4HANA. Before assuming her current role, she held various leadership positions within BASF and started her career after completing her degree in business administration.
Danica Puhlmann
Change Expert
Horváth
Danica Puhlmann is Principal – Strategy & Transformation, People & Change at Horváth, where she focuses on digital transformation, AI-enabled change, and leadership engagement. She brings broad experience in steering organizations through complex transformation programs, with a strong focus on strategic communication, stakeholder alignment, and cultural development. Before joining Horváth in her current role, she held various management positions at Vorwerk. Puhlmann holds a degree in Business Administration from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and several professional certifications, including Systemic Coach.
Marcus Staude
Senior VP Global Shared Services
TÜV Rheinland AG
Marcus is leading TUV Rheinland's Global Shared Service Organization across locations in Poland, China, India, and Germany, while also heading the group-wide Digital Finance Transformation program. Prior to this, Marcus held various leadership positions both domestically and internationally in Controlling, served as Division CFO, and successfully led multiple transformation programs within TUV Rheinland and other companies.
Marina Sverdel
Head of Digital Strategy and Business Transformation
RWE Offshore Wind
Marina Sverdel is Head of Digital Strategy & Business Transformation at RWE Offshore Wind. With nearly 20 years of international leadership experience, she drives digitalization, AI initiatives, and organizational transformation to achieve measurable business impact. Passionate about innovation and customer experience, she designs digital roadmaps, fosters performance culture, and empowers global teams to translate transformation and new technologies into sustainable business growth across the energy sector.
Udo Taddigs
Head AI Shared Services
Deutsche Telekom Services Europe SE
Udo Taddigs is an experienced leader with a solid background in consulting and AI-driven financial programs.
After almost a decade in consultancy, he transitioned to Deutsche Telekom, taking the helm of the AI Shared Services Team since 2020.
Successfully spearheaded the AI in Finance Program, leveraging cutting-edge AI solutions to optimize financial operations and drive innovation across Deutsche Telekom. Proficient in strategic planning and team leadership.
Breakout session facilitator
Ingo Alzner
BI, AI & Data Expert
Horváth
Ingo Alzner is currently working as Senior Project Manager – BI, Analytics & Data Science at Horváth. His skills include, among other things, his extensive knowledge in the areas of BI, AI and data as well as international program, project and product management. Alzner has been able to gain a lot of experience in his previous projects, including the organizational structure of the Data Office (DAX40). Alzner completed his Bachelor of Science in Business Information Systems at the Stuttgart Media University in 2011 and then joined Horváth.
Thomas Johanndeiter
Expert BI, AI & Data
Horváth
Thomas Johanndeiter is a Principal at Horváth and has over 12 years of consulting experience in Controlling & Finance as well as BI & Data Management. He advises companies on BI & data strategy and architectures and leads projects for the implementation of BI, planning, AI, and data warehousing solutions. Thomas holds a Master of Science in Business Informatics from the University of Duisburg-Essen.
Johannes Porsch
AI, BI & Data Expert
Horváth
Johannes Porsch is an expert for data strategy, data management and data governance at Horváth in Stuttgart. As a senior project manager in the Competence Center CFO Strategy & Performance Management, he is responsible for and designs data and AI topics for decision support as well as projects for corporate management from conception to implementation in various industries, including technology support. Before joining Horváth, Johannes Porsch studied technically oriented business administration at the University of Stuttgart until 2018, with a focus on controlling, BI and production technology.
Dr. Oskar Schneider
Senior AI Expert
Horváth
Dr. Oskar Schneider has been working as a data science consultant in the Horváth Steering Lab since 2022. His main areas of activity and his skills relate to the development of optimization models with Gurobi, Cplex, Scip or, for example, time series analyzes and forecasts. Schneider completed both his bachelor's and master's degrees in computational and applied mathematics at the Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg.
Gabriel Senftle
Horváth
Gabriel Senftle is an expert in the practical application of artificial intelligence, specializing in the SME sector. He founded and scaled a successful AI consultancy in Germany, guiding over 200 companies in deploying custom software and agentic AI solutions to solve critical business challenges. His work is grounded in a deep technical background as a Data Analyst, where he built predictive models and business intelligence systems to inform executive strategy. As a recognized keynote speaker on AI adoption, Gabriel is driven by the vision of establishing Europe as a global leader in applied AI.
Philipp Stempfle
Experte Data & AI
Horváth
Philipp Stempfle is a Senior Project Manager at Horváth and has over 5 years of consulting experience in the areas of AI, BI, and data. He advises companies on implementation and manages projects for the introduction of BI, AI, and data warehousing or lakehousing solutions. He has also successfully implemented projects in these areas himself. Philipp holds a master's degree with a focus on computer science and business analytics.
Caroline Spiekermann
Senior AI Expert
Horváth
Caroline Spieckermann has nearly ten years of experience in data-driven decision-making, combining methodologies from operations research and machine learning to help organizations turn data into decisions. One of her focus areas is data-driven pricing and sales analytics, supporting companies in optimizing their commercial strategies. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Master’s degrees from the Technical University of Munich and the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, USA).
Facilitator
Dr. Matthias Emler
Partner, Head of AI, BI & Data
Horváth
Dr. Matthias Emler is Partner at Horváth and Head of AI, BI & Data. His consulting focus is on data- and AI-driven performance management and digital transformation in performance optimization. Cross-functional strategies and governance concepts for the data- and AI-driven company are also a focus of his consulting activities. Dr. Emler has many years of international program management experience with large corporations and global medium-sized companies. Since 2019, he has been chairing the Horváth AI & Data Convention (formerly "Forum digitale Unternehmenssteuerung").
Maximilian Radlmair
Expert for AI, BI & Data
Horváth
Maximilian Radlmair is Senior Project Manager for AI, BI & Data at Horváth. With his expertise in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, he supports organizations in developing their AI strategy, identifying relevant use cases, and implementing solutions that create lasting value. He brings extensive project experience across diverse industries and functions, including collaborations with several DAX 40 companies. As host of the event, he looks forward to inspiring discussions and practical insights on the future of AI in business.
Kontakt
Yvonne Rau
