Leadership Team
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Holger Knappenschneider

Managing Partner

Holger is one of the co-founders and Partner at IDA Group, and an expert in international law and economics. As the lead lawyer in the Transrapid consortium he learnt early on how political decisions can directly impact businesses. This experience, with the rise and fall of the renowned maglev train project, gave him a profound understanding of the importance of Public Affairs – especially in the high-tech sector.

Holger also utilized his knowledge as legal counsel for several global corporations like Siemens or Bombardier and successfully led several projects in countries like Brazil, China or Japan. He consulted several small to mid-sizes companies on their market expansion strategies and has accumulated over twelve years of hands-on experience in international negotiations, trade relations and business strategy.

An entrepreneur at heart, Holger started IDA together with Stefan Borst in 2010 and acts as the group’s Managing Partner. Due to his strong international background and his fluency in five languages, Holger is responsible for the international activities of IDA. In addition to this he also leads IDA’s headquarter in Berlin and oversees all operations of IDA in Germany.

Stefan Borst

Managing Partner

Stefan is one of the co-founders and Partners at IDA Group, and a seasoned expert in strategic communication. A lawyer by training, Stefan has accumulated over a decade of experience as a professional journalist for several renowned magazines in Germany and abroad. During his seven years as Correspondent for FOCUS Magazine in Brussels he has built a deep and robust network across the EU Institutions and within German and European media.

Today Stefan successfully heads the Brussels office of IDA Group, personally advises leading EU politicians on their communication strategies, consults and represents multinational companies in their corporate diplomacy efforts and very much enjoys maintaining and expanding his media contacts further across Europe.

Stefan regularly gives lectures on Public Affairs and frequently acts as moderator for panel discussions and events in Brussels and Berlin.

Due to his early role as a reporter covering the rise and fall of the New Economy, Stefan still has a strong background in all IT related matters and maintains an extensive network within the IT community and social media platforms.

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Ulf Dressler

Associate Partner & Head of Japan Office

Ulf is an Associate Partner and represents IDA Group in Japan. He is a seasoned marketing expert with a knack for strategic thinking.

Ulf advises foreign companies active in Japan’s industrial sectors in the areas of market access, marketing and communications strategy development, tactical planning, and executive communications counsel. Living and working for more than a decade in Japan and three years in China, he offers extensive insights into Japanese market dynamics and how they integrate into Asia at large.

Besides advisory, Ulf is founder and CEO of Bonuterra Inc., the operating company of Japan Industry News. Born out of conversations with Japanese industry journalists, Japan Industry News is building partnerships with the country’s leading industrial newspapers to publish their news to a global audience in English.

Ulf holds an MBA from University of Cologne in Germany and speaks English, Japanese and German.

Franz Kraus

Associate Partner

Franz is an Associate Partner. He is a seasoned public and governmental affairs expert who has twenty years of work experience in Brussels, both in the public and private sector, with an extensive network across national and regional authorities, as well as with civil society and International Organizations.

He came to Brussels to work for the BMW public affairs team, then stayed on to work as political advisor for two Members of the European Parliament covering a wide range of policies, from budgetary control, fight against fraud and social affairs to transport, environment, consumer protection and public health and has in depth knowledge about the political processes and procedures in Europe 

After eight years in Parliament, he worked for Kraft Foods (later Mondelez International) on a issues ranging from biotechnology, nutrient profiles, sustainable sourcing of raw materials to selective food taxes.

At IDA Group he coordinates a special project to provide global regulatory and scientific affairs support for food and food supplement clients.

Franz holds a university degree in English literature and European History. His working languages are English, French, and German. He has basic knowledge of Spanish, and to a limited degree of Dutch.

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Dr. Hermann Drummer

Associate Partner

Hermann is an Associate Partner at IDA as well as a Political Scientist, Linguist and Journalist. After being a part of research project at University of Constance he work for the Thurgauer AZ (Switzerland). Following his time in Switzerland, he became a member of the think tank of Johannes Rau (at the time Minister President of the North Rhine-Westphalia). At this time, Hermann also worked as a speechwriter.

After a short time with the Ministry of Environment Hermann moved to Brussels in 1991 and to lead the department for Environment, Agriculture and Consumer Protection at the Representation of North Rhine-Westphalia to the European Union. In 2001 he left the Public Service and set up the Public Affairs branch of Pleon. Since 2010 he is working as an independent consultant for European Affairs.

Ahmet Anbarci

Member of the Advisory Council & Head of Turkey Office

Ahmet is a Member of the IDA Advisory Council. He is a seasoned R&D and innovation leader with more than 30 years of experience in the food & beverages industry.

Over the past 20 years, Ahmet held a number of senior and executive positions at Kraft Foods/ Mondelez International, managing R&D for Middle East & Africa, directing scientific, regulatory affairs and nutrition for the CEEMA Region and, at Yildiz Holding, acting as President of Global R&D and, lastly, as Executive Advisor Global Scientific, Regulatory Affairs and Innovation.

Since 2017, Ahmet has been acting as Freelance Executive Advisor on food R&D, regulatory and scientific affairs.

At IDA Group, he co-heads a special project to establish and provide global regulatory and scientific affairs support in food, beverages and supplements.

Ahmet is originally from Istanbul where he visited the German High School. He has a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Technical University Karlsruhe and a PhD from the Institute for Food Processing & Technology of the same university. Ahmet speaks Turkish, English and German.

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Sylvia Schreiber

Member of the Advisory Council

Sylvia Schreiber is a Member of the IDA Advisory Council and expert on EU Research Communication. Sylvia has been working for more than 25 years in journalism, international communications, scientific writing, editing and publishing. Furthermore, she holds a Master Degree in economics and consumer economics with studies at the Universities of Stuttgart-Hohenheim, Hamburg, Wageningen and Duke University.

Syliva has specialized in European research and innovation policies with a special focus on food, biotech and life sciences. Moreover, Sylvia has been the European Director of a Research and Innovation Office in Brussels.

As journalist, she has been working as editor and EU correspondent for leading news magazines such as “Der Spiegel”, “Handelsblatt” and the German Public Broadcast. Next to her work for IDA Group, she is currently contributing to the international magazine PARISBERLIN.

Sylvia has worked on several HORIZON 2020 projects focused on bioeconomy and biotechnology. Being in Brussels for more than 15 years, she has access to a wide European network in politics, economics and research.

Sylvia is native German and speaks English, French and Dutch.

Martin Trybus

Member of the Advisory Council

Martin is a member of the IDA Advisory Council. His particular expertise and research interests are in the area of European defence and security integration, with a special emphasis on the economic aspects of this integration process, in particular defence procurement and the European defence equipment market. He conducted research and published on these issues and participated in relevant studies for the European Defence Agency, OECD/SIGMA, the European Commission, and EU Member State governments.

Martin’s main occupation is Professor of European Law and Policy at the University of Birmingham and he previously worked for the Universities of Nottingham and Sheffield and the OECD in Paris. From 2010 to 2016 Martin served on the Procurement Review board of the European Space Agency.

Martin is originally from Germany where he studied (FU Berlin) and qualified as a lawyer. he also holds an LLM and a PhD degree from the University of Wales. He speaks, English, French, and German.

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Ivy Lo

Director & Head of Hong Kong Office

Ivy has great experience in international communication between Europe, Hong Kong and China from her work as advisor for British industry associations on the one side and the communication to China on the other side.

Located in Hong Kong, connecting east and west, she speaks fluently English, Chinese, Cantonese and Mandarin.

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Florent Mailly

Director & Head of Paris Office

Florent is founder of Cap Brésil Développement, part of IDA Group in France. He spent seven years developing projects and implementing business units in Brazil which enabled him to acquire a good knowledge of the country and to develop a professional network there.

A native French, he speaks English and Brazilian Portuguese fluently and is an experienced business developer.  Florent has an engineering from the prestigious Arts et Métiers institute and over twenty years’ experience in leadership positions within the GDF Suez Group and SOREGIES in the waste and energy sectors.

Florent also directed the earliest projects to reduce greenhouse gases under the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (Kyoto Protocol) in between 1999 and 2005. In France, Florent has a strong business network and is responsible for developing IDA Group’s trade projects in different areas.

Markus Gallmeier

Creative Director

Markus is IDA’s Creative Director. As Creative Director, Markus supports IDA’s clients in creating professional presentations, design and graphics that deliver. Transforming strategic issues into visual concepts and creating simplified graphics from complex subjects.

Markus has over 22 years of experience in business to business communication with a large variety of industries. Based on his education in graphic design, Markus started gaining experiences with strategic communication and design as the internet business was rising. As a graphic designer and creative director, Markus was engaged by publishing houses and advertising.

Furthermore, the diversification of communication channels especially driven by the internet motivated Markus to explore the consequences for brands and to develop strategies for consistent visual presentation throughout all communication channels.

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Clemens Maria Schuster

Director Digital & Head of Zurich Office

Clemens is IDA’s Digital Director and Head of IDA’s Zurich Office. He is a long-term, digitally skilled entrepreneur and experienced leader who descended from humanities. Born and raised in Austria, he is currently living and working mainly in Switzerland. Clemens embraces complex challenges in business and society, creating a lasting impact, and strives to make any stakeholder happy and successful.

He co-founded several start-ups. His recent venture creates transparency and accountability within the political process by tracking affairs and votes from parliaments as well as affairs and amendments. Based on open government data, those data will be refined by using artificial intelligence and machine learning, then visualized for any professional stakeholders within politics.

He leads campaigning, public affairs, policy, technical, communications, marketing, and IT decisions at all levels of development, both national and international (including banking / fintech, tourism, insurance / insuretech, manufacturing industry, transport, fundraising).

Thomas Richter

Senior Advisor

Thomas is one of IDA Group’s Senior Advisors with more than five years of helping business to influence decisions, shift majorities and improve their narrative at the EU level. Thomas currently advises numerous international companies from the IT, manufacturing and chemicals sector on EU legislation, regulatory challenges and trade policy.

Before his time with IDA, Thomas worked for Peter Altmaier, the current Chief of Staff of the German Chancellery, and a Senior Member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He also served briefly in the political and protocol section of the German Permanent Representation to the European Union. During his time in those institutions, Thomas has gained hands-on knowledge about the political processes in Europe and the United States.

Apart from his consulting activities, Thomas successfully leads the IDA corporate events team in organizing high-level panel discussion, stakeholder dialogues or EU workshops & trainings for clients in Brussels, Berlin and around the world.

A political scientist by training, Thomas holds a Master in International Studies and Diplomacy from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London (SOAS). He is fluent in German, English and speaks conversational French and Dutch.

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Pablo Nicolitz

Senior Advisor

Pablo is one of IDA Group’s Senior Advisors, leading the company’s engagement with Latin America. An international analyst by training, Pablo works as the lead advisor for clients on internationalization of Latin American companies.

Before joining IDA, Pablo acquired professional experience working for different international companies, such as the German Chamber of Commerce in Brazil, IBM and Aon plc. During his time in those organizations, Pablo has gained strong capabilities in sales, project management, international business consultancy and relationship with clients.

Due to his experience with international clients, Pablo advises Latin American companies and organisations regarding market expansion projects in Europe and Asia.

Pablo holds a Master in Peace and Conflict Studies from Otto-von-Guericke Magdeburg University and is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, German and English.

Ana Roios

Senior Advisor

Ana is a Senior Advisor at IDA Group working on EU affairs and consulting for the past four years. Currently, Ana advises companies on EU legislation and regulatory challenges, primarily in the areas of transport, environment, energy and health issues.

Prior to working at IDA Group, Ana worked for the European Emergency Number Association as an advocacy officer and gathered experience at Sacchi Consulting. During that time, she gained the in-depth experience of working with Members of the European Parliament, international associations and non-governmental organisations, as well as developing project management and communication skills.

Outside her work for IDA, Ana worked as a researcher at the Quid Novi Foundation, an institute for Economic Policy Analysis. Her main areas of focus are related to TTIP and the Gulf countries.

Ana holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Catholic University of Portugal and a master’s in political science and International Relations. She wrote her Master thesis on the political and economic relations between the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council. Born in Portugal, Ana is fluent in Portuguese and English and speaks basic French.

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Amanda Borra

Senior Advisor

Amanda is the Advisor for security, defense and transatlantic affairs for IDA Group. Her past experience and education give Amanda the knowledge and dexterity to confidently handle these fields, and fortuitously create new approaches in a variety of fields.

With already over a decade of experience in the political sphere, and experience working with high-level individuals and institutions, Amanda has the professional capability and ingenuity to achieve influence over dialogue, and the resulting conclusions.

Amanda holds a Master’s degree from KU Leuven in European Studies, with a focus on the European Union’s external relations, and bachelor degrees from Emmanuel College, Boston, USA in Political Science and International Relations. While completing her master’s Amanda also managed the creation, development and implementation of income generating activities to fund a regional hospital in Zambia.

Steffen Hasenohr

Assistant

Steffen works as an Assistant for IDA Group. His duties include monitoring of legislative processes and issues, assembling and collating information, supporting senior staff in their day-to-day work, support events as well as participating in relevant political stakeholder events.

Born in Germany, he speaks German, English and Dutch fluently as well as French on an intermediate level.

Steffen recently obtained his MSc in International Public Management and Public Policy at Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences of Erasmus University Rotterdam. During his studies, Steffen worked as an intern for the German-Dutch Chamber of Commerce as well as for the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ).

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Eva Cunningham
Eva Cunningham

Assistant

Eva works as an Assistant for IDA Group. Eva is currently doing an internship at IDA, her duties include collecting and collating information and proof-reading various documents. Eva grew up deeply imbedded in the Brussels Bubble and speaks English, French and Swedish fluently. She is also learning Spanish.

Eva recently completed a BSc in Anthropology at University College London and is looking to begin a Master’s degree in September. Prior to her internship at IDA, most of Eva’s work experience has been as an English as a Foreign Language Teacher, a job she held on the side of her undergraduate studies.

Anita Lindstädt

Executive Assistant

Anita is IDA Group’s Executive Assistant responsible for the general office management, appointments for the board, managing accounting, travel arrangments in addition to the coordination of the various IDA offices in Berlin, Brussels, London, Sao Paulo and Shanghai.

Prior to working for IDA, Anita served as Executive Assistant to the Technical Director at Transrapid International GmbH until 2008. Her role included a variety of responsibilities among which compiling reports, organizing campaigns and general office management. For many years she worked in the international project team Transrapid Shanghai, responsible for coordination with international partners, ministers and foreign clients. She has a deep knowledge of the processes Ministry, funding and application.

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