Management Team

Simon Schneider, General Manager, Grand Challenges and Head of EMEA

Simon is General Manager, Grand Challenges and Head of EMEA at Innocentive. Simon was CEO and Co-founder of OmniCompete.  Before his MBA at London Business School, Simon worked as Consultant for IBM in New York, where he managed multi-million Dollar technology projects. Prior to IBM, Simon founded and led two technology start-ups in Germany and the US, one of them backed by a venture capital fund. Simon sits on advising committees for innovation for the German and UK government. He also invented a patent that has been licensed to IBM. Simon vowed to give away half of his money to charity by the age of 50 – so he is working hard to make a fortune soon in order to make a meaningful gift.

Greg Eredics – Director of Finance, Grand Challenges and Deputy Head of EMEA

Greg is Director of Finance, Grand Challenges and Deputy Head of EMEA at InnoCentive. Before joining OmniCompete, he worked for Hungarian governmental and political bodies for six years in various project management and political supporting roles, related to economy and business development, and political PR and marketing. Greg holds a BA in International Economics and a MSc in Transportation Engineering. As of late, he has been heavily involved in fighting project proposal deadlines and number crunching, meanwhile silently humming to himself as he misses the brilliant Choir of the Technical University of Budapest.

Siobhán Gibney Gomis, Senior Director of Operations, Grand Challenges and Deputy Head of EMEA

Siobhán is Senior Director of Operations, Grand Challenges and Deputy Head of EMEA at InnoCentive. Prior to joining, she worked on communications, event-planning and publications at international think-tanks in Brussels and Canada. Siobhán has also done correspondence and policy work with the Liberal Democrats. She was previously Assistant Editor of The Euros and has written for a number of other publications. Siobhán completed her BA (Hons) at Queen’s University, Canada and holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Recently, Siobhán co-authored Handball!, a book about football with her father, Eugene.

Dr Alexander König, Director of Health, Grand Challenges

Alexander König is Director of Health,Grand Challenges at InnoCentive. Alexander is also affiliated with Harvard Medical School, Boston, where he researches stroke rehabilitation. Prior to joining, he obtained his PhD from ETH Zurich, Switzerland with a focus on robot-assisted gait rehabilitation after stroke or spinal cord injury. He is co-organiser of the world’s largest medical technology conference EMBC 2011, and has authored over 20 publications in the field of rehabilitation technology. Having worked in the field of medical technology for several years, he has close ties to industrial and academic leaders. In his spare time, he enjoys playing the violin, skiing, boxing and travelling. Alexander and Simon wrote two books together, both published by O.G. press.

Jonathan Slater, Director of Energy and Clean Tech, Grand Challenges

Jonathan is Director of Energy and Clean Tech, Grand Challenges at InnoCentive. He was previously Technical Director of a start-up which evolved into a multinational multimillion pound company listed on AIM London. Two years ago, he decided to switch from dot.com's to work in the energy field. He has a master's degree in renewable energy and has designed and built over 15 MW of power generation systems around the world. Jonathan recently spent two months electrifying rural locations in Kenya.

Moritz Neutard, Business Development Manager, Grand Challenges

Moritz is Business Development Manager, Grand Challenges at InnoCentive. He previously gained experience working on brand strategy and strategic marketing at BMW, and market development for IBM Global Business Services. Moritz studied business at Ludwig Maximillian University of Munich and University of Westminster. He went to the same high school as Felix, Alex and Simon.

Felix Endres, Competitions Executive, Grand Challenges

Felix is Competitions Executive, Grand Challenges at InnoCentive. Felix has a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Munich. During his studies, he worked  in a  Cluster of Excellence called Cognition for Technical Systems (CoTeSys). His project was focused on laser material processing, developing a new system for the welding and cutting industry. He recently completed his thesis in medical technology. 

Jay Stow, Ideation & Design Executive, Grand Challenges

Jay is Ideation & Design Executive, Grand Challenges at InnoCentive. He has a BA in History from Sussex University and an MSc in Environmental Economics and Policy from Imperial College London. During his MSc course, Jay specialised in Systems of Innovation and wrote his final thesis on ‘Innovation Prizes, Electric Cars and the Innovation System’, winning two highly-acclaimed academic prizes. During his spare time, Jay enjoys reading, writing and overly-ambitious personal research projects. He has done a fair bit of travelling in his time: exploring Europe, Asia, Australia and South America in a series of long adventures.  

Carolina Besmer - Competitons Executive, Grand Challenges

Carolina is a Competitions Executive, Grand Challenges at InnoCentive. She holds a BSc (Hons) in Psychology from Goldsmith University, where she focused on consumer behaviour and has worked on personality research.  For her MSc in Management at Birkbeck College, Carolina wrote her thesis in the field of innovation and R&D. Before joining Grand Challenges, Carolina has gained experience in executive search and consultancy. She was also an enthusiastic equestrian and won several international dressage competitions.

James Rix - Competitions Executive, Grand Challenges

James is a Competitions Executive, Grand Challenges at InnoCentive. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Business Management at the University of East Anglia. Before joining the company, James led community projects with Essex County Council and other management consultancy firms. He has won national competitions in public speaking, website development and business awards in academia. In his spare time, James enjoys exploring the country on long cycling rides and following the latest technology trends.

Bogdan Batrinca – Web Development