The minds behind the system.

Meet the many bright minds behind OAO.

A courier in a neon green tracksuit and helmet stands in an office doorway, holding a black box

The people

Academic background meets practical vision.

OAO is the result of many different perspectives, ideas and backgrounds: progressive business academics and active leaders from Harvard and MIT, HEC and NHH professors, ex-BCG'ers, a network of top creatives and innovative engineers. They all come together to create something new.

The OAO team

Founders

René Eber

René Eber

Co-founder

Academic director for the Executive MBA Major ‘Managing Data Transformation’ at HEC Paris & Berkeley, senior lecturer for the custom program and MBA at HEC Paris. Studied at Harvard, MIT, U Montpellier and the University of St. Gallen.

Julian Schirmer

Julian Schirmer

Co-founder

Academic director for the Executive MBA Major ‘Managing the digital revolution’ at HEC Paris & Berkeley, senior lecturer for the custom program and MBA at HEC Paris. Studied at the University of St. Gallen, HEC Paris and U Montpellier.

Eirik Sjåholm Knudsen

Eirik Sjåholm Knudsen

Co-founder

Professor of Strategy at NHH Norwegian School of Economics, Academic Director of the EMBA in Strategy. Board member, and consultant to both large and small companies on strategy, innovation and technology.

Marcel Holzapfel

Marcel Holzapfel

Co-founder

Former Director Operations at Avi Medical and Project Leader at Boston Consulting Group. Previous experience at Merrill Lynch in New York and Commerzbank. Degrees from HEC Paris, Northeastern University, ESB Business School and the school of music Franz Liszt Weimar.

Partner and senior advisors

Simon Fakir

Simon Fakir

Strategic partner

CEO and founder of Fakir Technology Consultants GmbH, a software engineering company with special expertise in cloud applications in the NLP and SaaS space. Simon and his team of Fakir developers work with OAO on tech development.

Tom Morgan

Tom Morgan

Strategic partner

Head of Strategy and Co-founder of Nonspace, a creative agency that works at the intersection of creativity, culture and technology. Tom and his team from Nonspace work with OAO on product development, brand and design.

Knut Kjær

Knut Kjær

Senior advisor

Executive Chairperson of Sector Asset Management and professor II at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU). Previously founding CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, Partner and Chairperson FSN, founding partner Trient Asset Management.

Alan Boehme

Alan Boehme

Senior advisor

Former CTO of H&M Group, Global CTO Coca-Cola, Chief Technology Innovation Officer Procter & Gamble, C-level positions at ING, Juniper Networks and General Electric. Also a seasoned advisor to numerous successful startups.

Roland Scharrer

Roland Scharrer

Senior advisor

Fellow & Visiting Scholar at Stanford University and Senior Fellow at MIT. Previously Group Chief Data, AI & Emerging Technology Officer at AXA, and Chief Data Scientist at Capgemini Invent. Also a contributor to the World Economic Forum.

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