Meet the Team

Though we may be spread out all across Munich, we are united by our passion for empowerment through Social Entrepreneurship. We are a dynamic team, and not just because we all have to hop on our bikes to attend a team meeting! We come from different fields and disciplines, and we all believe that education paves the way to the future.

Anke Middendorf

Qualification

Anke has experienced the full spectrum of education, from being a student, apprentice, university student and participating in numerous further education programs. Through her teaching experiences, development of educational concepts and engagement in educational management, she has honed her skills in various aspects of educational work. These experiences have provided her with a comprehensive understanding of educational processes.

Anne Doerner

Startup Consulting

Since 2011, Anne Doerner is in charge of the areas of start-up support and Corporate Social Responsibility at SEA. A trained industrial engineer, she worked for many years at Siemens as a Marketing Manager on international projects. In 2003, she became acquainted with the CSR initiative startsocial and since then has worked to pass on her knowledge to social projects. In 2008, she started her own business as a consultant in strategic marketing, innovation and entrepreneurship. Parallel to her consultancy, she also implemented her own social projects and experimented with new working concepts within self-organizing networks. Anne has long been focused on identifying the success factors for innovation processes in social intra- and entrepreneurship.

Anne Schlieker

Qualification

Anne Schlieker is responsible for the project 'Impact For Future' and works in a cross-university consortium to anchor impact-oriented entrepreneurship teaching more firmly in university education.
In addition to her studies in education, sports didactics and environmental studies, she has also worked as a freelance speaker. Both in the context of this activity and as head of the workshop project at rehab republic e.V., she has already designed, organized and conducted numerous workshops and seminars - most recently in particular on sustainability-related topics. Her vision of a good world for all finally brought her via the non-profit sector to the topic of social entrepreneurship, into which she was quickly able to dive deeply thanks to the Social Entrepreneurship Academy. Here, she was most recently involved in the project management of the Global Entrepreneurship Summer School and as a trainer before switching to the intersection between Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship and SEA in 2022 as part of the Impact for Future project.
In her volunteer work as well as in her job, Anne wants to motivate people to change their perspective, to think outside their own "box", to question things, but also to "just do it" and get started.

Carola Vogel

Head of Qualification

Carola Vogel is an enabler: her passion lies in empowering people through education and networking, thereby providing them with the tools needed for more self-determination. At SEA, she fulfils this aspiration as “Head of Qualification”, where she also manages SEA:certificate. Before joining our team, Carola worked for JOBLINGE gAG and helped many adolescents and young adults ease into their professional lives. Since 2016, she was also involved in building up the second location of JOBLINGE in Munich, which was a Pilot-project for a nationwide compass-program directed at young refugees. The topic of education has been central to Carola since her first work experiences, as a consultant at the European Patent Office and a scientific associate at the School of Politics. She has also kept a keen interest in digitalization, IT and agile methods from her time as a Product Owner for websites and online-tools. Carola is also fascinated by languages and cultures, which is why she studied Cultural Economics and spent a lot of time abroad. The interpersonal exchange with inspiring minds and different nationalities continues to function as her everlasting source of motivation.

Chiara Dalle Molle

Communications

Chiara’s two greatest passions brought her to SEA: Sustainability and communication. Bringing these two topics together has been a matter close to her heart for several years, which is why she has been responsible for communications at SEA since October 2023.

She discovered Social Entrepreneurship in 2018 during her studies in Management of Social Innovations and now wants to contribute to making Social Entrepreneurship popular, attractive and well connected – and thereby inspire entrepreneurs to create an economy full of impact to ensure that the world remains liveable for future generations.

When she’s not planning her next travel adventure, you’re likely to find Chiara in the kitchen, dreaming herself into different cultures while trying out new recipes or relaxing with a good book under a house plant.

Ella Krings

Community and Project Management

Ella connects Social Entrepreneurs and people interested in starting a business with the right people for their project. As Community and Project Manager for the Social-Startup-Hub Bayern, she is responsible for expanding and strengthening our ecosystem of social entrepreneurs, support organizations, experts, donors, political players and industry partners to create a thriving breeding ground for impactful startups.

Ella first came into contact with Social Entrepreneurship during an extended trip to South Africa, when she learned about the diverse social business solutions for the living conditions in the townships of Cape Town. As part of her studies in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in Amsterdam, she had the opportunity to delve deeper into socially relevant issues. 

Since September 2022, Ella has been supporting bold ideas as part of SEA and also enjoys getting involved in such ideas outside of her work. Most recently, she was involved in ‘Boerderij de Meent’, a community-run farm for and with refugees.

Jana Hollmann

Startup Consulting

Jana Hollmann works as a start-up consultant for the Social-Startup-Hub Bayern.
Supporting individuals and teams in turning their ideas into reality and thus achieving sustainable changes motivates her every day.

In her work, it is always important to Jana to create a place for a confident exchange, to invite people to change perspectives and to encourage future social entrepreneurs to try out new things.

During her time as start-up consultant at the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship, Jana supported those interested in founding and start-up teams in realizing their ideas.

Previously Jana founded Jakale and supported founders, start-ups and medium-sized companies in finding solutions to their challenges as a systemic consultant and workshop facilitator.

Jana studied business administration in Ingolstadt and educated herself further as a systemic consultant as well as a business coach and trainer. Jana always loves to learn new things and is currently doing a further training as a mediator.

At "Speed Up, Buddy", Jana is a mentor for first-time academics and supports them according to her favorite motto: "Everyone said: That's not possible! Then someone came along who didn't know and just did it."

Kristina Notz

Executive Director

Combining ideas, talent and resources to create impact in society is Kristina Notz’s passion. As Executive Director, she is responsible for SEA’s leadership, strategy and network. She also represents SEA within the university network and acts as a link to partners, government agencies and the ecosystem. In 2022, she initiated the Social-Startup-Hub Bayern on assignment by the Free State of Bavaria and is currently working together with the team to build a state-wide offering for impact- and public welfare-oriented startups.

Before joining SEA, she worked in profit, non-profit and academia. Like some of her SEA colleagues, she also brings her own social entrepreneurship experience to the table: She co-established the German idea competition Generation-D. Since then, she has been driven by the vision of empowering entrepreneurial minds to lead transformational change and shape a better world.

Kristina has now been active in the field of social entrepreneurship and social innovation for 15 years and has built up an international network and extensive experience during this time. She shares her profound expertise through keynotes, panel discussions and as a jury member of various awards. She also volunteers on several boards and councils. In 2023, she was awarded Euclid Network’s Top 100 Women in Social Enterprise.

Laura Janssen

Qualification

Lena Holzinger

Project Management

Lena Holzinger is project manager for the Social-Startup-Hub Bayern. She is responsible for coordinating the project and organizing events. With her cheerful and compassionate nature, Lena is keen to gain a deep understanding of her clients' needs. Before joining SEA, she advised prospective students as an admission manager at TU Munich. Prior to her work, she completed her studies in "Business Administration and Marketing Communication" and "International and Intercultural Management".
Lena got in touch with social entrepreneurship through her work at the Community Kitchen where she helps to rescue food and cooks at events.
With her proactive mindset, she contributes largely to the Social Entrepreneurship Akademie. Her can-do attitude inspires and supports founders in their social entrepreneurial endeavors.

Sonja Wilhelm

Qualification

Sonja Wilhelm came to SEA with a clear vision: She strives to make impact-oriented business models the new normal in our economy.

As a project manager in the cross-university project Impact for Future, she is committed to inspiring young students to do more than just start-ups in the traditional sense. Through targeted teaching formats for students and lecturers, the project aims to impart a holistic and systemic understanding and associated skills and competencies for the topic of impact-oriented entrepreneurship.

Most recently, she worked as a project manager in European research and innovation projects of international scientific and technical consortia on social innovation, energy democracy and innovative financing models for renewable energy. She completed her Master’s degree in Politics and Sustainable Development in Sweden. She volunteers as a team leader for the World Cleanup Day in Bavaria and Foodsharing Munich as well as a senior coach for the Impact Weeks initiative.

Valentina Vila

Working Student

Valentina has been supporting SEA as a working student in the area of accounting and administration since January 2024. She is studying for her Master’s in Management at the Technical University of Munich.

During her studies, she discovered her interest in social entrepreneurship and can now combine her great enthusiasm for innovative, impact-oriented start-ups with her talent for handling numbers at SEA. In her free time, she enjoys hiking in the Alps and exploring new countries and different cultures while traveling.

Founders and directors

Prof. Dr. Klaus Sailer

CEO Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship

Since 2006, Klaus Sailer is a professor for entrepreneurship at the Munich University of Applied Sciences (HM) and managing director of the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship (SCE). He is a co-founder of the Social Entrepreneurship Akademie and a board member of the Munich Network. Klaus studied physics at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich and went on to obtain his PhD. at the German Research Center for Environmental Health. At Infineon AG, he was in charge of project management and the marketing of new technologies in the area of semiconductors. He co-founded a high-tech company in the field of communications and successfully established it on the market as CEO. He is especially interested in social innovation processes, sustainable business models, networking and co-creation.

Andy Gold­stein

Andy is Co-Founder of the LMU Entrepreneurship Center & German Entrepreneurship GmbH (now Start2 Group). He is also a Partner at Deloitte and Co-Founder & Managing Director of Deloitte Digital Ventures, an entity dedicated to building digital businesses for Fortune 500 level firms.
A serial entrepreneur with 34 years of experience in founding, financing, building and accelerating companies, Andy sold his software company to the publicly listed Avanquest Software in 2003, served as COO Europe until 2009 and as a Board Member until 2014. Andy served for 3 years as a Board member at Carpooling.com (acquired by Bla Bla Car) and 4 years at Feingold Technologies (acquired by ShareCare). His accelerator at the LMU, the top ranked university in Germany, has spawned over 220 companies in 10 years and the German Accelerator, a project of the German government has graduated over 100 companies in 4 years. Andy is Co-Founder and Board Member of the Social Entrepreneurship Akademie in Munich and started the “Global Entrepreneurship Summer School” in 2008. He a founding member of 4Entrepreneurship, the Entrepreneurial Think Tank of the 4 Munich Universities and holds teaching positions at the LMU and at the EM Lyon Business School in France.

Prof. Dr. Bern­hard Katzy (†)

Professor at Universität der Bundeswehr and Universität Leiden

Dr. Bernhard Katzy was a professor for Technology and Innovation Management at the Bundeswehr University Munich, as well as founder and managing director of the university entrepreneurship center CeTIM (Center for Technology and Innovation Management). Professor Katzy’s main area of research interest was innovation management, with a focus on high-growth tech companies. He dedicated himself to expanding the CeTIM into an internationally-oriented center for the support of innovation and start-ups. After obtaining his PhD in engineering at the RWTH Aachen University, Professor Katzy completed his post-doctoral work and habilitated at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. From 1990 to 1994, he worked as a researcher in the RTWH Aachen’s Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL). Following this, he began to teach at the University of St. Gallen’s Institute for Technology and Management.
In addition to his professorship at the Bundeswehr University, which he held from 1999 onwards, Professor Katzy taught at the School of Management at Leiden University in the Netherlands. In 2015, Professor Katzy passed on far too soon, to our great sorrow. In loving memory of him, we award the “Bernhard-Katzy prize“ for unconventional thinkers every year during the Global Entrepreneurship Summer School.

Kristina Notz

Executive Director

Bringing ideas, talent and resources together to generate impact has long been Kristina Notz’ hobbyhorse. This is why she has been at SEA since 2012 and is quite appropriately in charge of networking. As the team’s spokesperson, she represents SEA in and outside of universities and is the voice of Social Entrepreneurship Education at the Social Entrepreneurship Netzwerk Deutschland. She is responsible for SEA’s leadership as Executive Director. Prior to her work at SEA, Kristina was in charge of network expansion as Community Manager at Munich’s Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU). Like many of her SEA colleagues, she has personal experience in Social Entrepreneurship, as she helped develop Germany’s GENERATION-D ideas competition. Before this, she worked at a think tank. Until 2005, Kristina Notz studied political science, European law and French at the LMU and the Institut d'Études Politiques in Aix-en-Provence, France.

Contact: kristina.notz@seakademie.de

// “Over ten years ago, I found my way into social entrepreneurship. Then as now, for me, SEA is the place I want to work. I am very happy with our amazing team and with being able to work with so many exciting and committed people.“

Co-founder

Prof. Dr. Dr. Ann-Kristin Achleit­ner

Professor at TU München

Since 2001, Dr. Ann-Kristin Achleitner holds the chair for Entrepreneurial Finance and is Scientific Co-Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial and Financial Studies (CEFS) at the Technical University of Munich. In 2010, she co-founded the Social Entrepreneurship Akademie and since then has continued to actively support us.

Dr. Achleitner completed her studies, her two PhDs and her habilitation at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. From 1994 to 2000, she was a professor for banking and finance at the European Business School (ebs) in Oestrich Winkel, prior to which she worked as a business consultant for McKinsey & Company, Inc. and the MS Management Service AG in St. Gallen. Her preferred fields of research are venture capital/private equity, family businesses and Social Entrepreneurship. Dr. Achleitner has received many awards and honors for her accomplishments in research and teaching, including the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

OUR TRAINERS

We love to work with people who share our vision and mind-set. Therefore please meet our trainers of the SEA:start workshop. They have all been trainted by us and will share their experience and expertise that they’ve gained in several workshops throughout Europe with you in our workshops.

Inform yourself about the upcoming SEA:start workshops and apply in time.

Christina Hunn

Coach

Natalie Sennes

Innovation architect and founder

Natalie works as an agile coach and facilitator to shape the future of the working world. In cooperation with Leadership³, she’s currently developing new concepts & formats for collective leadership & new work. There she accompanies the teams on their way to a humane and effective working together.

Parallel she advises customers of the German Entrepreneurship GmbH, as an innovation architect, on innovation- and corporate acceleration projects. With Moving Mountains, she accompanies high potentials and high-performing teams on their way to explore and use their own potential in hiking coaching and mountain retreats - all in motion and in nature. Previously, Natalie led the Accelerator of the LMU Entrepreneurship Center and developed entrepreneurial programs for young people.

Christina Fedaie

Coach

As a master teacher, she has the knowledge to create study surroundings and learning experiences that are fun and motivating. She is a certified coach for personality development and encourages people to develop their potential professionally. She is convinced: "Those who live their potential grow beyond themselves and open themselves to the concerns of others!
Her goal at SEA:start is, to convey to people that are interested in social entrepreneurship, the know-how behind it and to help to find a few first ideas for a „better“ world.

Dr. Laura Bechthold

Professor

Laura is a social scientist from Munich. During her promotion in the field of „female entrepreneurship „she worked in the Munich centre for digital technology and management team. In this capacity, she has initiated and taught courses in social entrepreneurship, including in cooperation with the UN World Food Program Innovation Accelerator.
Laura is an independent trainer of the SEA and professor for entrepreneurial leadership at the MBA „innovation and business creation “at the technical university of Munich.

Johannes Hochholzer

Head of Transformation process monastery Schlehdorf

Head of Transformation process monastery Schlehdorf
Johannes has a passion for complex systems and ecosystems. Therefore, he prefers to work with people of different disciplines in co-creative processes and brings his passions for art, music & theatre, nature and systemic change.
He is the founder of MIWO e.V., a club that wants to open a dormitory for international students in Munich. He leads the transformation of the monastery in Schlehdorf to become a lively cohouse where living, working, further training, free time and rehabilitation are in perfect balance.

Christine Bleks

Lecturer and founder

Christine founded the social start-up: Tausche Bildung für Wohnen e.V. in 2012. In 2018, she worked for the charitable start-up “Musik Bewegt”, an online donation platform, that stands up for social justice, together with well-known German artists in berlin.

Today Christine is a guest lecturer and project leader in the field of social entrepreneurship at the Pop Academy in Mannheim and at the university Witten/Herdecke.

Marit Brademann

Coach

Marit is coach, trainer and product manager for and with agile methods since 2014.
As a co-founder of two non-profit organisations in the field of education and science, she is motivated by accompanying budding founders on their creational way to achieve an unbeatable team. As a sociologist and design thinker, she combines cognitive, psychological and systemic methods equally together.

Maria Prahl

Founder and CEO

Maria worked in the field of Foundation and higher education, before she teamed up in 2012 to found the social enterprise Working Between Cultures.
After completion of the SEA:certificate program, she became also a social entrepreneurship educator and continues a training in systems thinking for social change. Connecting perspectives continuously motivates her, which is why she’s currently organising a pilot project called „SEA:start together“. In this project, Maria wants to bring together people from many different backgrounds to work together on social challenges.

Marlon Fricker

Coach

Since studying business administration, Marlon has been passionate about business that creates social impact. In his bachelor thesis he has intensively studied the topic of social entrepreneurship. He was a team member of the SEA for quite a long time and is very familiar with the Munich startup ecosystem.

Marlon is enthusiastic about innovative ideas and their digital implementation. As Digital Marketing Manager at Media Lab Bayern, he supports startups in the founding process. His passion for creative, innovative work, combined with his enthusiasm for teaching social entrepreneurship, has led him to work as a freelance trainer for the Social Entrepreneurship Academy.