The Jury

Intelligent Manufacturing Award
The Jury

October 25, 2023

Microsoft Intelligent Manufacturing Award

The winners of the Intelligent Manufacturing Award will be chosen by an Advisory Board consisting of top-class decision makers from industry, event organization, academia, technology companies and consulting firms.

The top-class jury will evaluate each case and select a total of six winners who set benchmarks in the implementation of digitalization and Industry 4.0 with their exceptional use cases.

Jury members
Jury
Portrait of Dr. Christof Bosbach
Dr. Christof Bosbach
President of the Division Board, DIEHL Metering GmbH
In addition to his role at DIEHL, Dr. Christof Bosbach is a member of the Advisory Board of the MIOTY Alliance and a member of the Industry Advisory Board at Microsoft Germany. His work focuses on digital transformation in the corporate environment and the shift away from pure play manufacturing companies towards service and solutions providers.
Jury
Portrait of Jochen Gleisberg
Jochen Gleisberg
Senior Partner Operations, Roland Berger
Jochen Gleisberg is a member of the Industry Advisory Board at Microsoft Germany and Co-Head of the Operations Practice Group at Roland Berger in the DACH region. In this role he is a trusted advisor to the automotive and industrial sector. He has extensive project experience in this field, particularly in engineering, procurement and production.
Jury
Portrait of Dr. Joyce Gesing
Dr. Joyce Gesing
CEO, SEVERIN Elektrogeräte GmbH
Joyce leads SEVERIN, a German quality brand and globally active mid-sized manufacturer of intuitive, innovative and sustainable electrical household appliances. Prior to this role, she had several senior management roles within the plant-engineering and naval shipbuilding division as well as the Global Shared Services organization of thyssenkrupp. Joyce also worked several years as executive search and leadership advisory consultant at Egon Zehnder and as Partner at McKinsey & Company.
JURY
Portrait of Nico Hartmann
Nico Hartmann
Manufacturing Industry Lead, Microsoft
Nico Hartmann is responsible for Microsoft’s business with clients in the Manufacturing industry in Germany and builds on operative management experience in the industry as well as more than 15 years in strategy consulting for Manufacturing customers. His teams support these clients in their transformation journey – both in IT and business transformation.
Jury
Portrait of Muntaser Kalahji
Muntaser Kalahji
President and COO, SHURFAH HOLDING

Muntaser Kalahji is the President and Chief Operations Officer for Shurfah Holding, a conglomerate group present in diverse business sectors, among them: Real Estate Development, Industry, Recycling and Circular Economy, Food & Beverage Education and Investments. He has extensive project experience in this field, particularly in industry and investment.
Jury
Portrait of Philipp Leutiger
Philipp Leutiger
Former Group Chief Digital Officer, Holcim
As Group Chief Digital Officer, Philipp Leutiger oversaw global digital transformation projects across all stages of Holcim's value chain and product groups. He founded and headed the innovation platform Holcim Maqer, the leading partner for technology companies in the building materials industry. The focus of his work was on digital solutions for the decarbonization of industries.
Jury
Portrait of Prof. Dr. Oliver Niggemann
Prof. Dr. Oliver Niggemann
Institute of Automation Technology, Helmut Schmidt University/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg
Prof. Dr. Oliver Niggemann's research is currently directed at the development of AI algorithms to meet the needs of engineering applications. Previously he held leading positions in industry and was deputy director of Fraunhofer IOSB-INA.
Jury
Portrait of Riccardo Picca
Riccardo Picca
Executive Director - Global Operations Transformation, Sandvik Coromant
Executive Director - Global Operations Transformation, Sandvik Coromant.
Riccardo Picca works as an Executive Director - Global Operations Transformation where he is responsible for the operations transformation of all production sites focusing on digital, high-tech, lean manufacturing and sustainability.
He has a M.Sc. Mechanical Engineering at Politecnico of Milan, a M.Sc. Industrial Engineering at Ecole Centrale de Lyon and did his Executive MBA at the SDA Bocconi – Milan
Jury
Portrait of Dirk Ramhorst
Dirk Ramhorst
CIO Evonik
Dirk Ramhorst is one of the leading managers of the digital transformation: he was the first Chief Digital Officer (CDO) on the German DAX market and joined Wacker in 2016 as CDO and CIO. In 2018, CIO magazine named him one of the top CIOs in Germany. Since last year, he has also been the spokesperson for the "Arbeitswelt 4.0/Neue Arbeit" platform. He joined Evonik as CIO in May 2022
Jury
Portrait of Arno Reich
Arno Reich
Senior Vice President Trade Fair & Product-Management, Deutsche Messe AG
Arno Reich is Senior Vice President and member of the Management Board at Deutsche Messe AG where he is responsible for trade shows on Industry, Energy & Logistics in Germany and abroad, including the flagship HANNOVER MESSE. A business administration graduate, he is also a member of the Supervisory Board at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI).
Further reading