Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
I've spent 25 years trying to make energy systems work for people, not the other way around. It started in my parents' basement in Trier, assembling PCs and writing software for local businesses. It led to factory floors at 3am, debugging SCADA systems that controlled things that could explode. Then trading desks, boardrooms, and kitchen-table conversations with families who just wanted a fair electricity bill. Along the way, I've been a founder, a CEO, a consultant, and occasionally the person called when everything's on fire and someone needs to fix it by Monday. Some highlights from the journey: I ran Greenpeace Energy's gas business - yes, Greenpeace has a real utility, with trading desks and customers and invoices. I led Hotmobil, where 1,200 bright white heating units criss-cross Germany keeping hospitals warm when boilers fail. I built a green electricity company from scratch, selling Ökostrom to people who'd never thought about where their power comes from. What I do now: At Engrate, I'm helping build something that didn't exist before: an AI-native platform that lets energy companies actually talk to each other. APIs instead of fax machines. Automation instead of 2am phone calls. We're a small team - Swedes, a German, and a lot of ambition. I also sit on the Advisory Board of sun2wheel, where we're turning parked electric cars into power plants. And through my own company, n:lead, I help renewable energy producers navigate the beautiful chaos of European markets. What I care about: Systems thinking. The messy intersection of technology and human behavior. Organizations that actually believe in something. The energy transition - not as a slogan, but as millions of small decisions made by real people. I learned from Peter Senge and Otto Scharmer that change doesn't happen in PowerPoints. It happens when people see the system they're part of - and choose to act differently. If you're working on something interesting in energy, climate, or the future of utilities — I'd love to hear about it. The best conversations start with a simple message.
Energy markets are stuck in the 1990s. Fax machines. Excel hell. Phone calls at 2am to fix scheduling errors. I joined Engrate to change that. We're a small team of Swedes and one stubborn German, building something that didn't exist: an AI-native platform that lets energy companies talk to each other — and to grids — through clean, simple APIs. My job? Listen to traders in Hamburg, grid operators in Stockholm, and renewable developers in Vienna. Translate their frustrations into products that actually work. Ship fast. Learn faster. The energy transition won't be won by the biggest companies. It'll be won by the ones that can connect, adapt, and move. That's what we're building.
What if every electric car was also a power plant? That's the question sun2wheel is answering in Switzerland. Vehicle-to-grid. Bidirectional charging. Flexibility markets. Words that sound technical but mean something simple: using the batteries already parked in our garages to balance the grid. I advise on market entry, regulatory strategy, and how to talk to utilities who are curious but cautious. Most board work is reading documents. This one is about shaping a future where your car earns money while you sleep.
After decades inside big energy companies, I wanted to work differently. Smaller. Closer. More honest. n:lead is my vehicle for that. I help renewable energy producers and suppliers navigate the chaos of European markets - not with PowerPoints, but by rolling up my sleeves. Interim management when someone leaves suddenly. Market entry when regulations feel impossible. Strategy when the path forward is foggy. Sometimes I'm in the room for six months. Sometimes for one crucial conversation. The work is different every time, but the question is always the same: What does this organization need right now to move forward?
Helion installs more solar panels and heat pumps in Switzerland than almost anyone. The problem? Once you put them on a roof, you need to sell the electricity. And buying. And billing. And regulatory reporting. I was brought in to build that missing piece - the "energy company inside the installation company." Ten months. A small team. Big ambitions. We designed products, negotiated with grid operators, and learned that cheap renewable electricity isn't a dream - it's a logistics problem. I left when the foundation was built, but the mission continues: make clean energy simple for every Swiss homeowner.
Tibber is the most loved energy company in Scandinavia. Seriously - people wear their t-shirts. They have fans. My job was helping them crack Germany, a market that loves rules, hates surprises, and has 900+ grid operators with different requirements. Not exactly fan territory. I worked with product teams in Förde, Stockholm and Berlin, translating Norwegian speed into German precision. Dynamic pricing. Smart meter integration. Customer communication that doesn't sound like a utility bill. The German energy market is a maze. We found some doors.