Dirk Markus

He received his doctorate in "Strategic Cooperation in the Multimedia Industry"[2] from St. Gallen and was a visiting research fellow at Harvard University.

[3] Markus started his career as a management consultant with McKinsey, where he focused on cost reduction as well as growth programs.

He then founded Mercateo, an online business procurement platform where he was responsible for finance and corporate development.

Following the sale of Mercateo to German utility E.ON, he co-founded a publicly owned industrial holding company.

[7] In addition, Markus is a passionate racing cyclist, completing the 2017 Castle Ride in Tonbridge, Kent, at a time of 08:03:32.