Executive Board
Christine Skropke
Chairwoman | Politics, Communication
Christine Skropke
Christine Skropke has headed the Public Affairs team at secunet Security Networks AG since 2017, where she is responsible for governmental affairs, political communication and political networking, as well as association activities in Germany and Europe around topics such as IT security, regulatory affairs and digital and security policy.
She previously worked as Head of Marketing and PR at secunet and can also look back on over 20 years in the financial services industry. Since 2018, she has been part of the board of Bitkom’s Defence Working Group and the Security Steering Group. She is also involved in various activities at European level, for example by ECSO.
Andreas Lüning
Vice Chairman | Training, Partner Management
Birgitte Baardseth
Assessor | Professionals, eurobits women academy
Birgitte Baardseth
Birgitte Baardseth is Authorized Signatory of ISITS AG International School of IT Security. Since 2002 she has shaped the structure and development of ISITS, from an original start-up in the new economy to a sustainable, international conference and training provider for the field of IT security and information security.
Ms. Baardseth is spokesperson for the T.I.S.P. board at TeleTrusT Bundesverband IT Security, and has been involved in Eurobits since its very beginnings, having taken the post of Chair in December 2016.
Dr. Heiko Koepke
Assessor | School Cooperation, Foundation, Start-ups
Dr. Heiko Koepke
Dr. Heiko Koepke studied Economics at the Ruhr University of Bochum from 2005 until 2010, specialising in Controlling, International Corporate Accounting and Economic Policy. In 2010 he became a scientific research fellow with a focus on Controlling at the Chair for Business Administration at the Ruhr University of Bochum. He completed his doctorate in autumn 2015. Herr Koepke has acquired practical experience at E.ON and KPMG (IT advisory).
In 2014 he began collaboration on the foundation of PHYSEC, and in 2015 took on the full-time post of Managing Director at PHYSEC.
“My motivation for working with Eurobits is to create a strong visibility for Bochum as a specialist location for IT security. From with outstanding research institutions, to a vibrant start-up culture in the IT security sector, and a number of major corporations, the Ruhr offers a unique ecosystem of IT security that has huge potential and a great deal more to offer. That’s something we start-ups can really profit from.”
Dr. Thomas Wollinger
Assessor | Member Management
Dr. Thomas Wollinger
Dr. Thomas Wollinger was a major player in the founding of ESCRYPT GmbH, a spin-off of the Ruhr-University in Bochum, Germany, in 2004. As a pioneer in automotive cyber security and with his great passion and expertise for security, he helped to pave the way of the former start-up into the leading company for automotive security. By the time ETAS/Bosch acquired ESCRYPT in 2012 and was fully integrated into ETAS as the Solution Field Cybersecurity in 2022. Thomas Wollinger also played a key role in guiding the company’s international expansion into the core U.S. and Asian markets. In March 2023 Thomas Wollinger started at the Bochum economic development as Vice President Innovation.
Thomas Wollinger holds a master’s degree from the Worcester Polytechnical Institute, USA, and a PhD with honors from the chair of embedded security at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. He regularly publishes articles and is welcomed as invited speaker for IT security.
“I am very enthusiastic to hep enlarging the eurobits network and support the numerous activities with my expertise to impact Bochum and beyond. We have a unique potential in Bochum with the strong research, education programs as well as industry (including startups and internationals) in the area of IT-Security. Let’s rock Cybersecurity!”