Team

Germany

Shankar Mondal is innovation expert with strong focus on technology and business modelling. He has worked with start-ups, international projects, and large incumbent carriers and system integrators. He has actively developed prototypes of wholesale business models that are today a part of the mainstream industrial applications through partnerships with start-ups.
His ability is to clearly focus on rapid development of prototypes within the framework of current business models through structured interfaces. This preserves the current services and yet enhances the value creation in the long run.
Shankar has a undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering and graduate degrees in International Business administration and Business informatics. Apart from English Shankar speaks fluent German, Hindi and Bengali. Shankar lives in Germany and has completed engagements in the Netherlands, India, Kenya, Spain and Indonesia.

Germany

Reinhard is an experienced senior business development manager with a strong background on international sales and marketing and a solid technical understanding. His business focus is B2B software, such as e-business, collaboration, e-learning and more,  and high-tech. Reinhard gained his experience during his work for well known international industry leaders in computer hardware and software as well as startups in Germany, and many years in the United Kingdom and Switzerland. His particular focus is setting up new business lines, new product roll-outs and building/repairing new successful international subsidiaries.

Reinhard is a highly motivated self-starter with hands-on personality and persistence who works very well in and drives quickly changing situations. He is very strong in building teams and lasting business partnerships. Reinhard has very strong communication skills in German and English language on all organizational levels inside and outside of the company.

Reinhard has been a voluntary coach and juror for business plans for Swiss start-ups with “Venture.ch”, a joint venture between ETHZ Zurich Institute of Technology and McKinsey Co. from 2007.

Austria

Michael is a sales expert with years of experience in the ITC industry. He specializes in key account management and the acquisition of new customers. He also has several years of experience in CRM and in the design of distribution processes. He is also spezielisiert on FTTH networks on the commercialization and development strategy.

In the past 9 years Michael has worked at  A1 Telekom Austria as  International Key Account Manager and at Wien Energie GmbH in the field of FTTH networks.

Turkey

Tansu Çolakoğlu started his career as an Account Manager at G4 Communications (NH, USA) after graduating from Bentley University (MA, USA). He later returned to Turkey and took on Account Manager roles at Turkcell Superonline (ISP) & Ericsson (wireless and fixed infrastructure).

Tansu then created and managed his own Internet/WebTV company, HOT TV, catering to the youth market in Turkey. A collaboration with GDS giant Amadeus IT Group SA took Çolakoğlu to various locations in Europe and Middle East, in order to conduct Online Travel Seminar for Amadeus’ personnel & client OTAgencies. Tansu Çolakoğlu became senior account manager at Diebold, engaging Turkish finance instituions’ C-level executives. Finally, an Account Director position at a full service digital agency W3 Digital was his last stop.

Currently Tansu Çolakoğlu is a managing partner at Satis Fabrikasi and a visiting instructor at Bahcesehir University (Digital Media, MBA).

Tansu is based in Istanbul (Turkey).

Canada

Jason is an international business development professional with over 20 years of experience in international B2B sales and marketing. He has an accomplished track record of identifying new opportunities and bringing them to market.

Jason is recognized as a creative, autonomous, and results-driven professional with excellent analytical and problem-solving skills. With his experience in a private equity-focused financial advisory firm specializing in management buy-in and buy-out transactions, he is also very practiced at dealing with C-level executives.

France

Christophe is an innovative and self-motivated senior telecom software engineer with more than 15 years of professional experience in consulting,  education and sales engineering, with a strong specialization in VoIP and Unified Communications architecture and deployment.

Christophe has worked with the major telecom operators, equipment manufacturers and service providers across Europe, helping them implementing new communication services and keeping up to date with the technology.

Christophe is based in Nice (France).

Germany

Thomas comes to the table with a long history of international business relations. During his University time Thomas successfully positioned US companies like Supermicro Computer Inc. in the European market,  through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Gold Key Services Program.

Thomas has more than 20 years of international business experience in industries like hardware, software, consumer electronics, medical technology, finance and energy. He has proven again and again his deep understanding of technology and in particular he has helped companies to move into a better future. Thomas holds a dual US/German citizenship.

Austria

Andreas is a high profile sales expert. His competencies lie in contract negotiations, project development and implementation of start-ups and business expansion.
He has extensive experience in development of joint ventures, business acquisitions and management of business partnerships. His international background and cross-cultural awareness add to his strength in communicating with any audience.
Andreas holds a Bachelors Degree (Honors Class) in Business Studies from the University of Buckingham. He speaks fluent German, Dutch, English, and Spanish and has good knowledge of French and Italian. Andreas was born in Mexico, and lived in Spain, The Netherlands, Germany, UK, USA and Austria. 
Recent Positions held: Complex Sales Senior in International Wholesales (focus on South Eastern Europe), International Carrier Manager, Project Coordinator Business Solutions, Key Account Management for Acquisitions, Marketing and Product Development.

Andreas is based in Vienna (Austria).

USA

Robert B. (Ben) Gore brings over 30 years of business planning, analysis, operations, and M&A success to the i2i team.
With deep roots as an executive in the telecommunications industry, Ben possesses the spectrum of knowledge and experience needed in planning, operations, product management, corporate transactions, as well as regulatory and business development in the global wire line, mobile, fixed wireless and satellite businesses.
Ben was an Executive Vice-President at TerreStar Networks, Inc. and TerreStar Global, Ltd. where he served in several executive positions.
In addition to his operational experience, Ben possesses extensive transaction related experience. While with Deutsche Telekom, he was head of the U.S. based Mergers and Acquisitions group and led the negotiations and due diligence of several major acquisitions for the company in the US and Europe. Prior to Deutsche Telekom, Ben was Senior Vice-President of Business Development for CAI Wireless Systems, Inc. and executive with Bell Atlantic (now Verizon Corporation).
Ben earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Virginia Military Institute and a Masters of Business Administration from Virginia Tech. He is based in the US in Virginia.

USA

Andres has spent the last thirteen years of his extensive global career, building value via entrepreneur and innovation ecosystems in corporate and startup domains. He has consulted for the likes of BCG, E.ON, Oxford Analytica, BAIN, Fraunhofer Research. Prior to Factor6, he co-launched an innovation practice for a $1B business unit of Deutsche Telekom (Fortune 60). In his role as Vice President of Innovation and “intrapreneur” he mentored innovation teams via agile approaches, time-to-market imperatives and best-in-class strategic partnerships. His record of making an impact is backed by the generation of $100M in foundational revenues via new products, services and startups.
Andres is a multicultural professional. He has lived and worked in multiple countries and with diverse
cultures, and speaks fluent Spanish. He is also a mentor, thought leader, author and public speaker with invitations to speak in prestigious organizations including UNDP, The Milken Institute, Frost & Sullivan and TM Forum. Andres holds a Masters in International Business and a BS in Finance and is a certified design thinker. He resides in the Washington DC Region, USA.

Australia

Connecting with your customers – whether they are consumer/business, or internal/external stakeholders – is what drives Jody. He believes that it is the customer, not the technology, who is at the heart of any new innovation.  And it is they who will ultimately decide its success.
He is a Marketing and Communications consultant who can provide Strategy, Product Development and Implementation advice.  He specializes in Telecommunications having gathered experience on premier brands such as 3 Mobile, Telecom NZ and Deutsche Telekom.
His experience is complemented with over 13 years in Advertising with leading agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi and DDB.
Include Jody as early as possible in your product development lifecycle to be sure that your product meets with a receptive audience.

Germany

André is a senior Business Development Executive with over 20 years of experience in the ICT market. He has worked for companies like BenQ Mobile (former Siemens Mobile) and the messaging service provider tyntec, for which André was active in several GSMA working groups. Prior to this, he has been working for consulting companies like Andersen Consulting (Accenture), gedas (the IT-service daughter of Volkswagen), and Proxicom.

Besides working for large international enterprises, André has been working at startup companies, where he was in charge of developing products and services, hiring and training people, defining structures and processes. In his various roles and assignments, André has gathered a vast set of experience, reaching from marketing, sales and strategy to international supplier, partner & alliance management.

André is based in Munich (Germany).

Turkey

Serdar Salepcioğlu started his business career as a sales engineer at Turkcell Superonline where he was later promoted to be the director of corporate sales. He then worked in Meteksan Sistem and Altus Bilişim as sales director.

Serdar worked for T-Systems Turkey between October 2009 and October 2011 as Deputy General Manager in charge of sales. Between October 2011 and September 2012 he worked for Altus Bilisim as Deputy General Manager in charge of sales & marketing. Since September 2012, he is General Manager of NetSafe Information Security Technologies, board member of Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Turkey, MBA instructor at Bahcesehir University and founding partner at Satis Fabrikasi.

Serdar is a Certified Business Trainer (RWP) and the author of “Dikkat Satıcı Giremez” (Crea Yayincilik- October 2010) and “Ne Olmazsa Satış Olmaz” (Crea Yayincilik- April 2013). He is based in Istanbul (Turkey).

Austria/Germany

Thomas is a highly experienced Austrian legal counsel. He did his master’ degree and doctorate at the University Graz. He started his career at a law firm he is still cooperating with. Thomas specialized in International Contract Management, especially in the field of Telecommunication. He did Supply Management, Contract Management for British Telecom (BT Germany, BT Austria, BT Slovenia, BT Lebanon), MTCAG, SD&T – O2. He is also well experienced in building up nodes / sites as he did e.g. in Ljubljana and Beirut.

Also being responsible for Finance and Commercials he negotiated very successful for years an large number of Wholesale contracts – International Carrier Management & Global Supply Management (e.g. bandwidth, dark fiber, rent, housing, microwave links). In addition Thomas is experienced in team-coordination, leading part in several international teams he worked closely with e.g. in Germany, Croatia, Macedonia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Turkey, Italy, Romania, Georgia, Lebanon, Israel. English is spoken fluently, native language is German.

Thomas is based in Munich (Germany) and Graz (Austria).

Denmark

Ivan Sølvason has founded numerous high tech companies after being editor-in-chief for a computer magazine for 6 years. In 1988 he founded the world’s first interactive television program, using touch-tone technology to remote control a live program on air. Two years later Hugo was created and was an instant hit among TV viewers – during the next 14 years, the show was sold in 43 countries, and 10 million computer games on 5 different platforms were sold in 14 different languages.

After exiting his company to a venture capital company, he founded GoIP International, a white label VoIP company, where he worked with his team to market this technology into over 30 countries, working closely with Deutsche Telekom on several clients. GoIP International company was backed by a venture capital company with over 3,2 million dollars.

On the development side, Ivan invented several second screen convergence technologies for television and educational purposes.

Ivan lives in Copenhagen (Denmark).

Austria

Thomas brings with him 30 years of experience in the automotive, aerospace, biotech and defense business. His focus is on global and international cooperation and licensing, business development and business building. He held various top management positions in international companies in the field of maritime and special vehicle engines, and is the CEO of two biotech start-ups with successful venture capital acquisition.

Thomas’s academic background is in international marketing.

Norway

Per Wien has been with Telenor for more than 40 years. He has a broad experience from different positions in Telenor/Norway and the international carrier business, as responsible for Strategy, Regulatory Issues, Product Management, Pricing, Finance, International Accounting and Customer Relation. During that period the company changed from being a public enterprise (national incumbent operator) to a successful international group operating in 13 countries in Europe and Asia.

Per has a wide international experience from assignments for ITU/UNDP in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Jordan, South Africa – for other consultancy companies in Uganda, Ghana and Singapore. For one year he was engaged as Senior Advisor at a mobile operator in Malaysia.

During many years Per was responsible for Telenor’s activities related to ITU-T SG3. He was also Telenor’s representative at different CEPT Study Groups related to international telecom services, costs and prices.  He led collaboration groups between telecom operators in the Nordic region.

Per holds a Bachelor Degree in Social Sciences (Political Science, Sociology and Public Law) from the University of Oslo – as well as an Engineer Degree from the Norwegian Telecommunication Academy.

Based in Oslo, Norway.

Austria

Wendy Williams works internationally as an expert in sustainable business strategy. Wendy has 20 years of experience advising both government and the private sector on issues of green IT, sustainable mobility, environmental labelling and sustainable innovation. She is based in Vienna, Austria and works across Europe.

Wendy has undergraduate & graduate degrees from universities in Canada, Switzerland and Austria, including a Doctorate from the Vienna University of Business & Economics. Her doctoral thesis, titled “Eco-labelling: A Socio-economic Analysis”, was recognised by the City of Vienna as an outstanding contribution to understanding issues of environment and business. Wendy is an international guest speaker and university lecturer on topics of sustainability and innovation, sustainable business strategy, and environmental communication.