Your Contacts

Hannes is the co-founder and co-CEO of Increase Your Skills. Within his executive position, he is responsible for the financial and sales side of the company and investor relations. He also takes a leading role in product development.

Further, Hannes is responsible for training staff in matters concerning information security and data protection. Alongside the usual tasks relating to his role as CEO, he is also active as a consultant on selected projects, frequently adding his knowledge and expertise.

Hannes completed his studies in General and Digital Forensics in 2018. Whilst studying, he founded a consulting firm with a focus on organisational information security and, since then, has been advising both medium-sized companies and large international corporations. After discovering during this time that the most significant security incidents are still the result of humans, Hannes, also in 2017, founded the full-service awareness portal that is Increase Your Skills.

Hannes loves the culinary arts and enjoys nothing more than sharing this pleasure with like-minded people in cosy, social gatherings.

Carolin is the co-founder and co-CEO of Increase Your Skills. As a member of the executive team, she is responsible for the marketing and graphics departments, human resources and also takes a leading position in product development.

In addition to her management position, Carolin is the interface between design and technology. She coordinates project management, oversees the international orientation of Increase your Skills, and takes responsibility for the awareness platform and awareness courses.

After graduating as a graphic designer in 2013, she worked as a freelance graphic designer for various companies. Among others, she helped small and medium-sized companies to enter the national and international markets. Before settling in Leipzig, she lived in Ireland in the small town of Quilty, directly on the Atlantic Ocean.

In 2018 Carolin completed her English course in Computer Science and Information Technology with a language certificate level C1.1 CEF. In 2019, she also obtained certification as a Quality Assurance Specialist TÜV (ISO9001).

Carolin dedicates her free time to travelling and combines her love of photography by capturing a country and its people through her camera lens, whether on foot or by bike.

Wilson is a web developer in the company. His responsibility is to develop and implement our learning platform, website, and software components.

Wilson completed several internships and worked both as a freelancer and employee after graduating in computer science. During this time, he has developed many projects based on TYPO3 CMS. For his work at Increase Your Skills, he mainly uses PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS5 and introduces technologies and frameworks from Web- API- and Javascript.

Wilson's passion is sports in his spare time, whether it be his football club in Halle or jogging to prepare for the next marathon.

Jascha is our animation designer within the company, responsible for all things relating to animation. His remit includes designing backgrounds and characters for the individual courses, and then he breathes life into them.

Jascha graduated as a Design Technical Assistant in Göttingen in 2013. He then moved to Leipzig, where he worked as a freelancer, among other things. Since 2015 he has been intensively involved in various animation techniques and storytelling and the corresponding character design.

Jascha is interested in pop culture in his spare time and works on various illustration and animation projects.

Mick is an Senior Account Executive in the company. He is the first point of contact for applicants. He is responsible for market analysis, product presentation, customer care, trade fair appearances, media, recruiting, social media, contract negotiations and closings.

After finishing secondary school, Mick worked for one and a half years in the editorial department of a radio station as part of a voluntary social year. In 2016, he completed his studies in Cultural and Media Education in Merseburg. He then completed his master’s degree in Communication and Media Studies in Halle in 2019. Mick supervised media projects at Martin Luther University Halle as a research assistant and was the first contact person for many of the academic staff.

In his free time, Mick is involved in many social and cultural associations or loves nothing more than travelling the world, preferably with a rucksack on his back!

Nicolai has been part of Increase Your Skills since 2021 and has worked as a lead developer since November 2022. As such, his responsibilities include keeping track of the PAS code base, making architectural design decisions, and being available to the team for questions and advice.

Nicolai studied physics at the University of Leipzig, specialising in computer simulations of statistical systems and their phase transitions. After graduating in 2018, he worked in a Leipzig-based startup, developing production planning software for the steel industry.

Nicolai enjoys being out in nature, where he devotes himself to landscape photography, hiking, jogging or cycling.

Alena is the company's animation designer and is thus responsible for creating and developing our animations. Her job is to breathe life into our courses' characters and revise existing animations. Alena is particularly adept when it comes to CI customisation.

In 2013, Alena graduated as a design assistant in Göttingen and then moved to Leipzig, working mainly as a freelancer. Since then, she has predominantly worked with graphics, illustrations and animations.

In her free time, Alena likes anything to do with the virtual world and enjoys engaging with pop culture or drawing with different media.

Jennifer is a sales assistant at Increase Your Skills. As a working student, her tasks vary from promoting the company’s brand awareness to customer care. She makes calls to potential customers and holds web presentations to introduce the products to prospective customers.

After completing her B.A. in Art History in Freiburg in 2020, she moved to Leipzig for the winter semester to obtain her Master's degree. Jennifer worked in sales during her degree and was employed by an internationally successful design company.

Art, music and animals are among her passions. Jennifer is a board member of the Kunstverein gegenwart e.V. and works with the association on exhibitions and workshops. In her free time, she can be found either in the museum, at the horse farm or somewhere in the countryside listening to her favourite playlist.

Lisa works in customer success and as a marketing assistant in the company. She supports customers in the onboarding process and with any implementation issues. As part of the marketing team, Lisa contributes to making the company visible to prospective new clients.

She studied Art History with a minor in Economics and successfully completed her master's degree in 2018. Lisa has already gained extensive experience in her professional life, having held several customer-focused positions. She enjoys working with people, letting her creativity rein free, and planning events.

She particularly enjoys being outdoors with her family and travelling in her free time. She also likes to be at home drawing or converting her camper van into a second home.

Simon has been working as a junior full stack web developer at IYS since October 2022. His current focus is on test automation and the implementation of new requirements in the backend.

During his Digital Humanities studies at the University of Leipzig, Simon started working with us in 2021 as a student trainee in software development. As part of his studies, he dealt with various methods of data analysis, such as the automated viewing of Let's Plays using emotion recognition.

After work he likes to play chess and computer games, tinker with his own software projects or go hiking.

Vero has been the team lead for graphics since November 2022. She started at IYS in July 2021 as a media content designer. As team lead, she manages and coordinates the graphics team.

She graduated as a technical design assistant in 2011 and has since worked in various agencies and companies until she moved to Leipzig in 2016. Here she worked in marketing for a well-known company. In the course of her career, she has worked on projects in the areas of branding, web design, print design and much more.

In her private life, Vero enjoys trying different things to learning new hobbies. From handicrafts in her flat to clicker training with her cat Muschas, to hula-hooping in the garden, she has certainly done almost everything at least – and then mostly only – once.

Daniela joined the accounting team in October 2021. Her role centres around preparatory accounting and human resources to help make life a little easier for everyone in the team.

Having already experienced various professional fields, most recently accounting for a smaller company, Daniela has been studying library informatics at the HTWK Leipzig since 2021. She is fascinated by the mix of humanities and computer science and the many creative people you find in this environment.

In addition to her varied professional life, Daniela enjoys both music and dancing. Even though she no longer pursues her passion for crafting professionally, she still enjoys implementing smaller projects in her free time.

Sascha joined Increase Your Skills at the beginning of 2022 to expand and support the development team as a full stack developer and scrum master. His responsibilities are currently focused on implementing new product features, helping with requirements engineering and, above all, introducing and adhering to an agile development process.

Sascha arrives with several years of professional experience in the areas of software development, agile transformation, agile methodology and personnel management. He was employed as a lead developer and team leader at his last employer.

In his free time, Sascha enjoys sports and music. He is also not opposed to a cosy glass of wine with friends and an exciting round of Magic: The Gathering.

Jessica joined the company as a Senior Sales Development Representative. Her job is to engage with prospective clients and find the best awareness solution for them through phone calls and web presentations.

She completed her training as an Industriekauffrau in Görlitz in 2014 and moved to Leipzig three years later. Since then, she has already worked in sales within several industries and brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience.

Jessica has an active social life and enjoys spontaneous weekend excursions to explore new places or to attend music or sporting events. After work, she prefers to meet friends and enjoy a relaxed dinner together.

Lotfi is the company's senior software developer. His daily work includes architecture design, development and automation of company software. Even whilst undertaking his studies, Lotfi had several freelance jobs. He completed his master's degree in computer science in 2017 and has been working as a software developer ever since. His main areas of interest are FOSS, information security and blockchain.

In his spare time, Lotfi enjoys keeping active by climbing, powerlifting or cycling. He is also a keen bass player and is currently learning the guitar.

Christopher works as the company's financial controller. His primary responsibilities include preparing financial plans, forecasts, variance analyses, and metrics. He also provides additional support to the accounting department.

Christopher completed his degree in business administration with a focus on controlling & finance, and logistics. He holds a master’s degree in project management and has also completed further training to become a state-certified accountant (IHK). Christopher has gained lots of experience in various companies and was most recently the head of an accounting and controlling department.

To relax, Christopher likes to spend his time in the garden - thanks to his green thumb, he sometimes provides the staff of IYS with fresh fruit and vegetables. When Christopher is not in the garden, he pursues his second passion, football.

Elina is a junior software developer at Increase Your Skills. She’s been supporting our team in web development and further development of our products since May 2022.

She completed her bachelor's degree in media informatics at the University of Applied Sciences in Leipzig. During her studies she completed several web development projects. Her final thesis was about the integration and web-based visualisation of raster and vector data.

Elina enjoys being out in nature, either for a brisk power walk or a relaxing hike. She recently discovered photography and enjoys making music on stormy days.

Ben is a Senior Sales Development Representative with a special focus on our English-speaking clientele and international markets. With this in mind, he takes an active role in all client-facing areas, whether it be through attending trade fairs, presenting our solutions to new prospective clients or giving talks on cybersecurity awareness.

Although he originally hails from New England, Ben has been living in Europe for more than a decade now. Clearly, the appeal of historic cities was too much to resist after he finished his M.Sc. in Social and Cultural History at the University of Edinburgh. Following a stint of teaching Business English in Berlin and Leipzig, Ben made a seamless transition into sales in the e-commerce industry before diving head-first into cybersecurity.

In his free time, Ben prefers to have an active lifestyle, which includes playing ice hockey, training for the next marathon/half marathon or simply meeting up with friends at one of the local bouldering gyms.