Faces & Stories
Many years of experience, profound expertise: With our knowledge, passion and network we support you with your circular business model - as partners every step of the way.
Dr. Matthias Ballweg
Co-Founder
Still learning - most excited as co-founder of CIRCULAR REPUBLIC building our different impact vehicles and driving our projects together with our partners. Co-Led the circular economy platform at the world's most reputed sustainability impact firm Systemiq and come with extensive experience in senior executives roles in the automotive industry and in consulting. Passionate about mountain sports and voluntarily serving as chairman of the largest mountain club of the world with >180.000 members.
Sabine Feller
Marketing & Communications
With many years of experience in marketing strategies and brand management at The Walt Disney Company and Messe München, I have refined my skills. As a former marketer for IFAT, the world's leading trade fair for environmental technologies, I gained valueable insights to circular economy knowledge. At CIRCULAR REPUBLIC, I am responsible for all brand, marketing, and communication activities. Collaborating with a team that shares the same vision of an economy that respects our planet highly motivates me.
Jakob Hirschfeld
Working Student
My personal experiences through the support of a NGO project in Ghana, during working on my international economics bachelor thesis shaped my interest in working on a functioning circular economy. As a master student in Sustainable Management & Technology I am getting more used to product life cycles and their environmental impact as well as the potential to transform linear products to circular products. By using my business experiences in digital marketing I am excited to support CIRCULAR REPUBLIC with promoting circular Business Models and their sustainability in an ecological and economical perspective.
Carina Hofmann-Wellenhof
Electronics & ICT
My dedication to addressing environmental pollution has led me to develop a keen interest in the circular economy. In my role as a project manager at CIRCULAR REPUBLIC, I focus on creating circular solutions for packaging and electronics, collaborating closely with our partners. Leveraging my background as a strategy consultant at BCG and my expertise in bioscience and environmental engineering, I effectively navigate both economic and technical obstacles to advance sustainable practices.
Polina Ivanova
Marketing & Communications
I did my Bachelor’s in Bioeconomy at TU Munich and am currently doing my Master’s in Management & Technology. During my studies, I’ve learned a lot about economic system change and developed my passion for the circular economy as a way to transform how we create value as a society. I’ve worked on several innovation projects around sustainability before and with this entrepreneurial mindset I developed, I am excited to support the CIRCULAR REPUBLIC team to make the circular economy our reality!
Michael Jung
Marketing & Communications
Fuelled by my passion for mountain sports and the Alps, I am highly passionate about sustainability. During a semester at Grenoble Ecole de Management and my bachelor thesis, I understood the massive potential that the concept of circular economy bears. Besides being a student in Management and Technology at TU Munich, I am voluntarily serving as a member of the EUSALP Youth Council, working together with EU-level politicians, non-profit organizations, industry stakeholders and society to make the alpine space resilient for future challenges.
Dr. Susanne Kadner
Co-Founder
Excited to drive the development of new entrepreneurial and circular ecosystems as Co-Founder of CIRCULAR REPUBLIC.
Gained extensive sustainability expertise in leading positions at acatech – National Academy of Science and Engineering and the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Founded the multi-stakeholder Circular Economy Initiative Deutschland, the first of its kind to develop a roadmap for the transition towards a resource-efficient and digitally enabled circular economy.
Sarah Laxhuber
Event- and Team-Coordination
As a driven circular economy enthusiast with 6 years at adidas TERREX, I've gained extensive experience in textiles and project management. Optimizing processes is a passion, and I thrive in proactive environments. My skills bridge stakeholder gaps and ensure effective communication. I'm a creative problem solver, committed to making a positive impact.
Dr. Niclas-Alexander Mauss
Co-Founder
Over years helped shape the substantial growth and fundamental transformation of measurement technology manufacturer Lorenz Meters to a multi-award-winning circular economy pioneer. Thereupon, during a doctorate at TUM initiated CirculaTUM as now largest circular economy research hub in Germany and parallelly led a new incubator at UnternehmerTUM, now counting +50 startups among its alumni. As co-founder of CIRCULAR REPUBLIC driven to contribute to large-scale industrial transformation by leveraging the full entrepreneurial impact of UnternehmerTUM's unique ecosystem.
Louisa Rohde
On Purpose Associate
I joined the OnPurpose leadership program (https://onpurpose.
Wolfgang Süß
Batteries & Vehicles
Bringing over ten years of practical experience in logistics, waste management, and recycling, I am part of CIRCULAR REPUBLIC as a project lead. With a background in business administration and a track record of leading and developing business units, facilities, teams and people, I am eager to manage large multistakeholder cross-industry projects. I am excited about the opportunity to drive the necessary economic transformations towards greater circularity, fostering sustainable and resilient business practices.
Leonhard Teichert
Enablement
Through my work at the sustainability consultancy SYSTEMIQ, I discovered the concept of circular economy. There I contributed to the development of an e-learning platform that addresses this central concept. Previously, I have been leading a team at Cognostics, a start-up that strives to strengthen human thinking in amidst complexity using AI technologies. In particular, I have been involved with designing models of economic system and relations. Complementary, I have been publishing in the field of Relational Economics.
Carl Warkentin
Textiles
Nearly a decade ago I founded my first venture with one of the first sustainable footwear companies. Sustainable designs developed towards recyclable products and new ventures in the recycling industry followed. Once I realized that circularity cannot be achieved by one stakeholder in the value chain, I started developing a multi-stakeholder approach turning linear industries towards circularity. CIRCULAR REPUBLIC and UnternehmerTUM are the ideal ecosystem to build such multi-stakeholder platforms.
Marie Wehinger
Textiles
At CIRCULAR REPUBLIC, I support the development and execution of our circular textile projects. Complementing these activities, I am a PhD student at the TU Munich, where I research the role of interorganizational alliances for a circular transition. Prior to joining CIRCULAR REPUBLIC, I worked as a Senior Associate at Systemiq, a think and do tank aiming to unlock system change; and co-founded a clothing rental start-up to tackle the fast fashion problem. In my free time you will find most likely find me surfing the atlantic coast or hiking in the bavarian mountains.
Join our team at CIRCULAR REPUBLIC
Currently, we are looking for a driven and passionate Working Student (f/m/d). Find the details about this opportunity on UnternehmerTUM's website. Join us and let's make a difference together! 💚