Speakers - 2021 - Tax & Legal Excellence Forum

digital conference

Speakers

As befits a leading conference, the European Tax & Legal Forum will feature speakers who, as outstanding economists, will show you future prospects, who, as top decision-makers at the forefront, will manage strategic decisions on a daily basis, and who, as top officials in the ministries, will play a key role in drafting legislation. You will gain valuable insights into the background of decisions and future strategic considerations. The discussion with the experts will give you a knowledge advantage and show you possible scope for action in the practical implementation of complex issues.

Heribert M. Anzinger has been a university professor for business and tax law at the Institute for Accounting and Auditing at the University of Ulm since 1 July 2012. His research focuses on German, European and international corporate, financial and tax law.

Prof. Dr. Heribert M. Anzinger

Institute for Accounting and Auditing, University of Ulm

Henning Berger is a lawyer and Executive Partner of White & Case's Berlin office. He specialises in public commercial law, in particular financial regulation, and insurance law and has extensive advisory experience regarding European banking supervision and the pan-European activities of financial companies.

Dr Henning Berger

Lawyer and Executive Partner, White & Case

Varinia Bernau heads the two departments of Innovation & Digital and Success at Wirtschaftswoche. She has long reported on the digital business world for the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Most recently, she also worked as a business correspondent in NRW for the paper - and has observed how German industry is seeking its way into the digital age.

Varinia Bernau

Head of Innovation & Digital and Success, Wirtschaftswoche

Sebastian Biedenkopf has been the Management Board member responsible for Legal Affairs, Compliance and Human Resources as well as Labour Director at Fresenius SE since 01.01.2021. Previously, he headed the global legal department of the Bosch Group for over seven years. From 2008 to 2012, he worked in various functions at Conergy AG in Hamburg, most recently as CFO and interim CEO.

Dr Sebastian Biedenkopf

Member of the Management Board for Legal Affairs, Compliance and Human Resources and Labour Director, Fresenius SE

Matthias Bock is a member of the Executive Board and General Counsel of Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE. He began his career at Goldman Sachs in 1999 in the legal department of Goldman Sachs International in London and has been a member of the management of the German banking subsidiary of Goldman Sachs since 2008.

Dr. Matthias Bock

Member of the Executive Board and General Counsel, Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE

Arndt Böhme is a tax advisor, lawyer and has worked in the corporate tax department of Wilh. Werhahn KG since 2003. There he focuses on advising the consumer goods sector. Prior to that, he worked for several years in the tax consulting department of a Big 4 company.

Arndt Böhme

Tax consultant and lawyer, Wilh. Werhahn KG

Georg Borges holds the Chair of Civil Law, Legal Informatics, German and International Business Law and Legal Theory at Saarland University. He is co-editor of numerous publications on civil law, commercial law and IT law.

Prof. Dr Georg Borges

Chair of Civil Law, Legal Informatics, German and International commercial law, University of Saarland

Reinhard Bork has been managing director of the Seminar for Civil Procedure and General Procedural Law at the University of Hamburg since 1990. He is co-editor of numerous publications on civil law, commercial and business law as well as on civil procedural and insolvency law.

Prof. Dr. Reinhard Bork

Director Civil Procedure and General Procedural Law, University of Hamburg

Rolf Bösinger has been State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Finance since March 2018, where he is responsible for customs, taxes and federal financial relations. Previously, he was State Councillor for Economic Affairs and Innovation at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Transport and Innovation of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.

Dr Rolf Bösinger

State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Finance, Berlin

Jürgen Brandt is President of the German Fiscal Court Conference and Honorary Professor at the University of Wuppertal. He was previously a judge at the Federal Fiscal Court (Bundesfinanzhof) in the VIII Senate, which is primarily responsible for income from self-employment and capital assets, until April 2019.

Prof. Jürgen Brandt

Judge in the VIII Senate at the Federal Fiscal Court (ret.)

Florian Degenhardt is a partner in the financing department of White & Case's Hamburg office. As a leading lawyer, he has been advising banks, financial institutions, institutional investors and companies on "green" financing and sustainable finance solutions, including project finance and bonds in the renewable energy sector, for many years.

Florian Degenhardt

Lawyer and Partner, White & Case

Detlef Fechtner is deputy chief editor of the Börsen-Zeitung. After studying politics, economics and history, he worked for news agencies and regional newspapers. For eleven years he reported as a correspondent from Brussels, mainly on the regulatory response to the financial crisis.

Dr Detlef Fechtner

Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Börsenzeitung

Reinhard Felke is Director in the Economic and Financial Affairs DG of the European Commission. He is responsible for policy, strategy and communication. His responsibilities include the Commission's economic forecasts, economic surveillance of the euro area and, in the context of the European Semester, the implementation aspects of the new economic recovery and resilience facility.

Dr Reinhard Felke

Director in DG ECFIN, European Commission, Brussels

Marcel Fratzscher is President of DIW Berlin and Professor of Macroeconomics at the Humboldt University of Berlin. He is a member of the United Nations High-Level Advisory Board on Sustainable Development Goals. His work focuses on macroeconomics, distribution and integration of Europe.

Prof. Marcel Fratzscher, Ph.D.

President of DIW Berlin

Clemens Fuest is President of the Ifo Institute, Director of CES and Chair of Economics and Finance at LMU Munich and Managing Director of CESifo GmbH. His work focuses on economic and financial policy, international taxation, tax policy, transfers and labour markets as well as European integration.

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Clemens Fuest

President of the ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research, University of Munich

Michael H. Grote researches and teaches corporate finance and capital markets at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. He is academic director of the Frankfurt Institute for Private Equity and M&A, one of the founding members of the Global Network on Financial Geography, and co-president of the "Frankfurt Institute for Risk Management and Regulation" (FIRM).

Prof. Dr Michael Grote

Professor of Corporate Finance, Frankfurt School of Finance and Management

Michael Grupp is the founder and CEO of Bryter. He previously worked as a lawyer specialising in international arbitration and commercial litigation. In 2013, he founded the legal tech company Lexalgo, which was acquired by BRYTER in 2018. He is a member of the Executive Faculty of the Bucerius Center on the Legal Profession and the Task Force Legal Tech of the German Bar Association.

Michael Grupp

Founder and CEO of BRYTER

Martin Henssler is Director of the Institute for Labour and Commercial Law at the University of Cologne and of the Documentation Centre for European Lawyers' and Notaries' Law. He is also Director of the Institute for Lawyers' Law and Director of the European Centre for Liberal Professions.

Prof. Dr Martin Henssler

Director Labour and Commercial Law, University of Cologne

Christoph Herrmann has worked as a lawyer, notary and tax advisor at Bluedex PartG mbB since 2017 and advises mainly medium-sized companies in all areas of corporate and tax law. He also provides comprehensive advice to national and international real estate investors on their investments in Germany.

Dr Christoph Herrmann

Lawyer, notary and tax consultant, Bluedex

Dennis Heuer is a lawyer and partner in the capital markets practice of White & Case's Frankfurt office. He is considered a leading lawyer in the field of structured finance and advises credit institutions, multinational companies, investment banks, finance companies, funds and public institutions in this context. He is also a contact for ESG financing.

Dr Dennis Heuer

Lawyer and Partner, White & Case

Johanna Hey is Director of the Institute for Tax Law and Prorector for International Affairs at the University of Cologne. From 2010 to 2021, she was also academic director of the Institute of Finance and Taxation. Since 2008, she has been the editor with overall responsibility for the Herrmann/Heuer/Raupach EStG/KStG commentary.

Prof.in Dr. Johanna Hey

Director of the Institute for Tax Law, University of Cologne

Felix Hierstetter has been head of the International Taxes division for various business units of the General Electric Group since 2015. He is also Chairman of the Tax Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Germany.

Felix Hierstetter

International Tax Director, General Electric

Oliver Holzinger is a lawyer, tax consultant and since 2016 managing director of Excellence Media and founder of Tax & Legal Excellence. He previously held various publishing management positions at Wolters Kluwer, dfv Mediengruppe and Handelsblatt Fachmedien.

Oliver Holzinger

Lawyer & Tax Advisor, CEO / Founder, Tax & Legal Excellence

Claudia Junker heads Deutsche Telekom's Law & Integrity department as General Representative with responsibility for legal affairs, data protection and compliance, as well as the legal department as General Counsel. Previously, she specialised in the area of Corporate as a lawyer. She has been President of the German Association of Corporate Lawyers since 2021.

Dr Claudia Junker, LL.M.

General Representative Law & Integrity, Deutsche Telekom

Edith Kindermann works as a lawyer and notary in her own law firm in Bremen. In addition to family law, her focus is on liability, professional and remuneration law. She has been a member of the board of the DAV since 2009 and was elected president on 21.03.2019.

Edith Kindermann

President of the German Lawyers' Association

Ferdinand Kirchhof was Vice-President of the Federal Constitutional Court from 2010 to 2018 and was Chairman of the First Senate during this time. In addition, he held the Chair of Public Law, Finance and Tax Law at the University of Tübingen from 1986 to 2018.

Prof. Dr Ferdinand Kirchhof

Vice-President of the Federal Constitutional Court (ret.)

Gregor Kirchhof has held the Chair of Public Law, Financial Law and Tax Law and is Director of the Institute for Economic and Tax Law at the University of Augsburg since April 2012. His research focuses on tax and financial law, as well as public economic law, the foundations of the European Union and constitutional law.

Prof. Dr Gregor Kirchhof

Director of the Institute for Business and Tax Law, University of Augsburg

Dr. Astrid Klesse is head of the sub-division "Fundamental Issues of Economic Policy" in the Economic Policy Department at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation House of History of the Federal Republic of Germany and a member of the Supervisory Board of PD - Berater der öffentlichen Hand GmbH.

Dr. Astrid Klesse

Head of Economic Policy Division, BMWi Berlin

Ralf Köbler is President of the Darmstadt Regional Court. He is a member of the working group "Modernisation of Civil Procedure" of the Higher Regional Courts and a member of the board of the German EDP Court Conference. From 1999, he was responsible for the modernisation of the entire Hessian judiciary and information technology in the judiciary for 15 years.

Prof. Dr Ralf Köbler

President of the Regional Court Darmstadt

Moritz Koch has been with Handelsblatt since 2008 and initially worked for nine years as a correspondent in New York. In 2017, Koch moved to Berlin and since March 2021 he has headed the Handelsblatt office in Brussels. His focus is, among other things, reporting on the EU and economic policy topics.

Moritz Koch

European correspondent and Bureau Chief Handelsblatt, Brussels

Georg Kofler teaches since 01.10.2020 at the Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. Prior to this, he was a professor at the Institute for Financial Law, Tax Law and Tax Policy at JKU Linz from 2009. He regularly publishes on issues of international and European tax law.

Prof. DDr. Georg Kofler, LL.M.

Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law, WU Vienna

Fritzi Köhler-Geib is Chief Economist at KfW and heads the Economics Department. She has over 17 years of experience at the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and in the financial sector, most recently as Chief Economist for Central America at the World Bank from 2017 to 2019.

Dr Fritzi Köhler-Geib

Chief Economist of Kfw Banking Group, Frankfurt a.M.

Jasmin Kölbl-Vogt is a member of the Executive Board of Citigroup Global Markets Europe AG and responsible for Legal and Regulatory Affairs. As Division Counsel, she is responsible for Germany, Austria and Scandinavia and has been advising on banking and capital markets law for over 20 years, with a focus on structured finance and banking supervisory law.

Dr Jasmin Kölbl-Vogt

General Counsel and Member of the Executive Board, Citigroup Global Markets Europe AG

Robert B. Koopman is Chief Economist and Director of the Department of Economic Research and Statistics at the World Trade Organization. Previously, he served as Director of Operations and Chief Operating Officer for the United States International Trade Commission.

Robert B. Koopman

Chief Economist of the WTO, Geneva

As State Secretary, Jörg Kukies is responsible for the Financial Market Policy Division (Division VII) and European Policy (Division E) at the Federal Ministry of Finance in Berlin.

Dr Jörg Kukies

State Secretary at the BMF, Berlin

Katja Langenbucher is Professor of Civil Law, Business Law and Banking Law in the House of Finance at the Goethe University Frankfurt/M. Since 2011 she holds an affiliated professorship SciencesPo in Paris. She has also been a member of the Board of Directors of the Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, Paris, since October 2017 and a member of the Board of Directors of BaFin since June 2019.

Prof. Dr Katja Langenbucher

Business and Banking Law, Goethe University Frankfurt a.M.

Prof. Dr Matthias Loose is a judge at the Federal Fiscal Court and an honorary professor at the Ruhr University in Bochum. In the Second Senate of the Federal Fiscal Court, he is mainly concerned with questions of inheritance and gift tax as well as land transfer tax. He is the author of numerous publications and articles.

Prof. Dr Matthias Loose

Judge at the II. Senate of the BFH

René Matteotti is a full professor of Swiss, European and International Tax Law at the University of Zurich. He is, among other things, a member of the Tax Section of EXPERTsuisse, a member of the VAT Consultative Committee appointed by the Federal Council, Editor-in-Chief of the tax law journal ASA and President of the Swiss Association of Tax Law Professors.

Prof. Dr René Matteotti

Ordinarius for Swiss, European and International Tax Law, University of Zurich

Gunter Mayr has been Head of the Section for Tax Policy and Tax Law at the Federal Ministry of Finance in Vienna since 2012 and teaches at the Institute for Financial Law at the University of Vienna. His research focuses on Austrian and European corporate tax law.

Prof. DDr. Gunter Mayr

Head of Taxation at the Federal Ministry of Finance, Vienna

Christoph Meinel is Managing Director and Scientific Director of the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Engineering gGmbH (HPI) and Dean of the Digital Engineering Faculty at the University of Potsdam. His special research interests lie in the areas of internet and information security as well as in the field of innovative internet applications and systems.

Prof. Dr Christoph Meinel

Chair of Internet Technologies and Systems, University of Potsdam

Martin Mildner has been CFO at United Internet since October 1, 2020 and is responsible for the areas of finance and controlling, risk management/internal auditing, legal, taxes, M&A, investment and personnel management. Prior to this, he spent 13 years with the Otto Group in Hamburg as Group General Counsel and at the same time was Global Head of M&A with worldwide responsibility for company acquisitions and sales.

Martin Mildner

Chief Financial Officer of United Internet AG

Rolf Möhlenbrock is the head of Department IV (Taxation - Direct Taxation) of the Federal Ministry of Finance in Berlin.

Dr Rolf Möhlenbrock

Head of the Tax Department at the Federal Ministry of Finance, Berlin

Reinhard Müller joined the political editorial team of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in 1998. Since July 2012 he has been the responsible editor for "Zeitgeschehen" and since 2017 for the podacast F.A.Z. Einspruch. In the same year, he received the Press Award of the German Bar Association for his "overall performance as a reporter and commentator on legal policy issues".

Dr Reinhard Müller

Editorial Director FAZ

Felix Müller is an employment law specialist at Bluedex PartG mbB and advises companies on employment law, in particular on the structuring of employment relationships, dismissal protection proceedings, works constitution law matters and restructuring. He is also responsible for the firm's international secondment practice.

Felix Müller

Lawyer, Bluedex

René Niessen has been Advocate General at the Supreme Court of the Netherlands in The Hague since 2004. Previously, he was professor of tax law at Maastricht University. Since 2007, he has also been a professor of formal tax law at Radboud University.

Prof. Dr René Niessen

Advocate General Hooge Raad, The Hague

Gregor Nöcker is a judge at the Federal Fiscal Court in the X. Senate, which is primarily responsible for the taxation of sole traders and pension taxation. Senate. He began his judicial career in 2002 at the Münster Fiscal Court.

Prof. Dr Gregor Nöcker

Judge in the X. Senate at the Federal Supreme Finance Court

Oliver Nussbaum has headed BASF's global tax function since June 2011. He represents BASF in various associations and is Chairman of the Tax Committee at the VCI and head of the International Tax Law working group at the BDI.

Oliver Nussbaum

Global Head of Tax, BASF AG

Dr Dirk Pohl heads the German tax practice of McDermott Will & Emery. His practice includes international tax law, group tax law and integrated legal, tax and organisational advice. The JUVE Handbook Taxes 2021 ranks him among the leading litigators before tax courts and the Federal Fiscal Court.

Dr. Dirk Pohl

Lawyer, McDermott Will & Emery

Andreas Prechtel was Managing Director of several companies in the Fidelity Group of Companies before taking over as Managing Director of the Association of Foreign Banks in Germany in 2020. He has extensive experience in the regulation of banks as well as in stock corporation and capital market law.

Dr Andreas Prechtel

Managing Director of the Association of Foreign Banks in Germany e.V.

Achim Pross is Head of the Division for International Cooperation and Tax Administration at the OECD's Centre for Tax Policy and Tax Administration. His department is responsible, among other things, for a wide range of BEPS actions as well as aspects of the work on taxation of the digital economy.

Dr Achim Pross

Head of Department International Cooperation, OECD

Robert Risse has been teaching at the Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration since May 2020 and is honorary professor for tax compliance at the Chair for Business Taxation at the University of Leipzig. Prior to this, he headed the tax and customs department of Henkel AG & Co. KGaA for twenty years.

Prof. Dr Robert Risse

Institute for International Tax Law, WU Vienna

Bettina Rodenberg has headed the Tax and Customs Department at Henkel since May 2020 and bears global responsibility for all tax and customs issues and projects. Prior to this, she worked for Beiersdorf AG from 2013 to 2020, where she was most recently responsible for the Tax and Customs Department.

Bettina Rodenberg

Corporate Vice President Tax & Trade, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA

Frauke Rostalski holds the Chair of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure, Philosophy of Law and Comparative Law at the University of Cologne. After research stays at Nanjing University and Seoul University, she founded the interdisciplinary research unit on "Law and Ethics of Digital Transformation" at the University of Cologne. She has been a member of the German Ethics Council since April 2020.

Prof. Dr. Dr. Frauke Rostalski

Chair of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure Law, Philosophy of Law and Comparative Law, University of Cologne

As Director and Head of Tax at AXA Konzern AG, Christoph L. Rummel is responsible for all tax matters. In addition to corporate tax, his area of responsibility includes investment taxation and the taxation of insurance products.

Christoph L. Rummel

Head of Tax, AXA Group AG

Pascal Saint-Amans is Director of the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration at the OECD. He joined the OECD in 2007 as Head of the International Cooperation and Tax Competition Division at CTPA. He played a key role in driving the OECD's tax transparency agenda at the G20.

Pascal Saint-Amans

Director of the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, OECD

Gerald Schachner is a partner at the international law firm bpv Hügel. He is head of the tax law practice and specializes in national and international corporate tax law. In current rankings of various lawyers' directories he is frequently recommended in tax law and for restructuring.

Gerald Schachner

Lawyer, tax advisor and partner, bpv Hügel Rechtsanwälte

Benno Scharpenberg has been President of the Cologne Fiscal Court since 2009. In 2005, he was appointed President of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Finance Court, where he had already served as Vice President since January 2005. After his appointment as President of the Cologne Fiscal Court, Benno Scharpenberg took over the presidency of the 2nd Senate.

Benno Scharpenberg

President of the Finance Court Cologne

Jochen Scholten is General Counsel for Global Legal at SAP. He has worked for SAP in several legal roles since 1998. His practice focuses on contract and IP law, competition law, antitrust law and litigation.

Jochen Scholten, MBA

General Counsel, SAP SE

As Global Head of Tax, Ulrike Schramm has been in charge of the worldwide tax functions of the corporate tax department of Continental AG since March 2017. She was previously responsible for the International Tax Law department at Volkswagen from 2009 to 2016.

Dr Ulrike Schramm

Global Head of Tax, Continental AG

Kerstin Schulz is Global Head of Tax and Customs at Beiersdorf. Previously, she worked for eight years as Vice President Corporate Tax at Fresenius, where she dealt with financing, M&A and strategic projects, among other things. Before joining Fresenius, she worked at KPMG for six years.

Kerstin Schulz

Global Head of Tax and Customs, Beiersdorf AG

Rainer Spatscheck has been a partner in the commercial law firm Kantenwein, Zimmermann, Spatscheck & Partner since April 2018. Prior to this, he was a partner at Streck Mack Schwedhelm for 24 years, where he headed the Munich office. He is one of the most prominent criminal defence lawyers in Germany and has extensive consulting experience in the field of criminal tax law.

Dr. Rainer Spatscheck

Lawyer and Partner at Zimmermann Spatscheck & Partner

Andreas Steck has been working as German Senior Partner in the Frankfurt office of the international law firm Linklaters since 2016. He specialises in banking supervisory law, investment law and insurance supervisory law and advises ministries, public authorities and financial service providers on restructuring projects.

Andreas Steck

Lawyer and Senior Partner Germany, Linklaters LLP, Frankfurt a.M.

Sven-Holger Undritz heads the German restructuring and insolvency practice of the international law firm White & Case and is a partner at White & Case in Hamburg. He has extensive experience in advising German and international clients on corporate reorganisations and restructurings. He has also been regularly appointed as an insolvency administrator since 1998.

Dr Sven-Holger Undritz

Lawyer and Partner White & Case LLP, Hamburg

Armin von Bogdandy is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law and Professor of Public Law at the Goethe University Frankfurt a.M. Previously, he was President of the OECD Nuclear Energy Court, member of the Science Council as well as of the Scientific Committee of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.

Prof. Dr Armin von Bogdandy

Director at the MPI for Comparative Public Law and International Law

Volker Wieland is Foundation Professor of Monetary Economics and Director of the IMFS at the Goethe University Frankfurt a.M.. He is also a member of the German Council of Economic Experts. His research interests include monetary and fiscal policy, business cycles and macroeconomic models as well as inflation and deflation.

Prof. Volker Wieland, Ph.D.

Director of the IMFS, Goethe University Frankfurt a.M.

Monika Wünnemann has headed the BDI's tax department since February 2019. Previously, she was responsible for the Taxes and Customs Department at the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) from the end of 2013 to January 2019. (VDA). Her professional focus is on wage tax, corporate taxes and tax procedural law.

Dr Monika Wünnemann

Head of Department Taxes and Fiscal Policy, BDI Berlin

Nikolaus Zorn is President of the Senate at the Administrative Court in Vienna and University Professor of Tax Law in the Financial Law Department of the Institute of Corporate Law at the University of Innsbruck.