Advisory Board

Marco-Alexander Breit is Head of the Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologies Working Group at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. From 2008 to 2014, he held various positions in the State Chancellery of Saarland, including Head of the Office of the Head of the State Chancellery and Minister for the Federation, Culture and Media and, from 2011, Head of the Office of Minister President Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. From April 2014, he served as Personal Assistant to the Head of the Federal Chancellery and Federal Minister for Special Tasks, Peter Altmaier. From April 2018 to July 2019, Mr. Breit headed the Digital Policy Principles and Coordination Unit at the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi). Since August 2019, he has headed the Artificial Intelligence Unit at the BMWi.

Michael Haenisch is the founder and CEO of Freaks 4U Gaming, one of the world’s leading gaming and esports agencies. The company was founded in 2002 and now has over 190 employees in 3 business units and 6 offices.

Ralf Wirsing has been with Ubisoft since 1997. After holding positions in product management, PR and business development, he headed what is now Ubisoft Blue Byte from 2004. In 2007, he took over responsibility for Ubisoft in Germany and the GSA region, first as General Manager and later as Managing Director. Ralf Wirisng has been involved at the association level since 2016, when he was elected to the board of the BIU. After the merger of the German games associations into game, Wirsing took over the chairmanship of the new association and is also a member of the board four years and two elections later.

Karsten Petry has been with Deutsche Sporthilfe since January 2021, and in November he was promoted to Chief Marketing and Sales Officer. The foundation has already supported around 53,000 athletes since it was established in 1967. Its track record is impressive: 270 gold medals at the Olympic Games and 358 gold medals at the Paralympics.

Hans began his esports journey in the late 90s with Quake and StarCraft. What started as a hobby became his profession. Over the last 20 years, Hans has worked across all areas of esports. He served as Head of Esports at FC Schalke 04 and led the EU business unit for Splyce (now Mad Lions). Since 2018, Hans has held leadership roles at Riot Games: He was responsible for creating the Prime League, managing Russian and Turkish esports operations, and currently leads the business strategy for all esports in EMEA.

Ralf Reichert has shaped the development of global Esports like hardly anyone else. He has been active in gaming and Esports for over 20 years, making him a true pioneer. In 1997 he founded SK Gaming and in 2000 the ESL (Electronic Sports League). Today he is Chairman of ESL FACEIT Group.

Felix has been managing director of game since February 1, 2018. He previously held the same position at BIU, where he helped implement the merger with GAME. From 2009 to 2016, Felix was managing director of the Entertainment Software Self-Regulation Body (USK).

Evangelos Papathanassiou has been self-employed in digital strategy consulting for media and sports for 13 years. His clients in sports include FIFA, UEFA, DFL, Bayern Munich and ESL, and in media RTL, Pro7, Sport 1 and others. Evangelos has been active in the digital economy for over 20 years and was, among other things, head of innovation strategy at Deutsche Telekom. Together with Jörg Adami, he founded the esports player foundation.