Meet the team
Aid Pioneers is comprised of more than 30 volunteers and full-time employees that leverage their diverse skills and backgrounds to deliver maximum impact.
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Co-Founder & Managing Director
Alexis holds an MSc in Political Science from the London School of Economics and a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of York. Through his work at Aid Pioneers and his interdisciplinary academic studies, he strives to adopt diverse viewpoints to devise effective solutions to complex yet often overlooked problems in global development cooperation.
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Co-Founder & Managing Director
Julian has read English Law at King's College London and is currently preparing for his German State Examination at Humboldt University in Berlin. He also holds a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Durham and was an assistant teacher at Colby College in Maine, USA.
Through his work at Aid Pioneers, but also through his diverse academic background (between common law and civil law), he seeks to build international bridges and promote international cooperation.
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Founder’s Asscoiate
As the Founder's Associate at Aid Pioneers, Sabeena is working on providing access to clean energy for humanitarian aid institutions in the Global South. She is responsible for the project management of initiatives that provide sustainable electricity to communities in need. Beyond her core role, she leads the development of our B2C marathon fundraising initiative, blending sports and impact to generate crucial funding for our mission.
Sabeena is passionate about building community engagement through innovative fundraising efforts to support our broader mission.
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Director of Business Development
As Director of Business Development, Alex Brandl is on a mission to position Aid Pioneers as the leading force in delivering medical supplies and solar installations to underserved areas worldwide. Building on her background of consulting at McKinsey, co-founding her own start-up fighting single-use plastic, and conducting field research in Sierra Leone, her role involves growing Aid Pioneers’ network of donors and project partners to enact meaningful change.
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Head of Medical Department
After her legal studies, Mareike gained a PhD in law and a wide range of professional experience in both corporate and legal fields. As a result, she supports AidPioneers in a multidimensional role that includes the implementation of medical projects as well as their financing and legal issues.
Mareike has already worked intensively on human rights issues, particularly in Africa, as part of her law studies and several volunteer work experiences. Having gained this expertise, she now wants to make an active contribution at Aid Pioneers toward ensuring that people in crisis regions have equal access to crucial resources and that their rights are recognized.
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Co-Lead Legal and Solar
Henri manages solar projects at Aid Pioneers, coordinating the entire process from inital sizing of systems to the shipping. He divides his remaining time for Aid Pioneers between HR and legal topics. As a fully qualified lawyer with experience at multiple law firms Henri drafts contracts, solves diverse legal challenges and ensures that Aid Pioneers conforms with national and international regulations.
Henri is motivated to end energy poverty and fight climate change by reducing emission intensive modes of energy production.
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Photovoltaic Engineer
Girmay holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and a master’s in Renewable Energy from the University of Oldenburg. He co-founded a solar start-up in Ethiopia, serving as both manager and solar engineer for two years, and has prior experience at a leading specialist for PV-powerplants in Germany.
At Aid Pioneers, Girmay designs PV systems, selects appropriate equipment, performs financial analysis, and evaluates system performance. He is dedicated to enabling hospitals and schools to access solar energy, transforming societies into a sustainable and bright future.
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Partnership Manager
Currently studying medicine in Berlin, Nikolaus brings his medical expertise and deep commitment to global health to Aid Pioneers. Driven by a passion for making a tangible impact, he uses his skills to support local organisations. At Aid Pioneers, Nikolaus contributes by organising and fundraising for shipments of essential supplies to communities in need.
Prior to joining Aid Pioneers, he developed a charity shopping platform to help non-profit organisations raise funds more efficiently, demonstrating his innovative approach to helping those in need.
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Co-Lead Gender Equality
Lisa co-leads the Gender Equality workstream, which aims at working with organizations that to achieve gender equality and support all women and girls. Alongside her team, she focuses on topics such as addressing menstrual health and fighting sexual and gender-based violence.
Lisa holds a BA in International Relations and Development Studies from the University of Utrecht and a MSc in Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Lisa works in FDI strategy, advising on location strategy, in particular talent and labour availability, attraction and retention, as well as cost, business and regulatory environments and logistics and connectivity.
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Co-Lead Medical
Michael co-leads the Aid Pioneers medical procurement department. In this role, he is responsible for all projects that help our hospital partners to provide to health care to more people.He joins Aid Pioneers from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, where he serves as a Strategy Associate in the Office of the CEO. Previously, Michael was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and a Policy Advisor to the Mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone. He holds degrees from the University of Oxford and Columbia University.
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Team member of the Gender Equality and Marketing Team
Bachelor in Conflict Studies and Political Science. Pursuing a Master’s in Conflict Resolution and Governance from September 2023 at the University of Amsterdam and the University of St. Andrews
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Gender Equality Team Member
Olga is currently pursuing her bachelors degree in sociology at the university of Amsterdam. In the gender equality team she mainly focuses on research on possible future partners. Olga plans on starting a masters degree in September, either in Global management in Rome or in international development politics at Kings college in London.
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Lead HR & Member of the Supervisory Board
After having been with Aid Pioneers from the very beginning as one of the Co-Founders, Nikolai is now a member of the supervisory board. On an operational level, he is responsible for the Ukraine project and all topics around HR.
After having studied Business Administration in Munich, Nikolai moved to Berlin where he worked in a Startup in Business Development and Project Management. Currently, he is living his best life in Paris where he is also studying at HEC Paris and Ecole Polytechnique.
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Co-Lead Marketing Department
Gillian co-leads the Marketing department, ensuring that Aid Pioneers can tell its story clearly and effectively across social media as well as internal and external communications. She works on developing cohesive content to showcase our team and projects and crafts Aid Pioneer's tone of voice.
Gillian previously worked as a Senior Copywriter at Ogilvy New York for clients fighting hiring bias and advocating for gun control, alongside work for IBM, Samsung, and Audi. She is currently pursuing her M.S. in Journalism at Columbia, while freelance writing for film and commercial projects.
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Lead Tech Department
Jane co-leads the Technology team, overseeing the development of our logistics tracking tool, website maintenance and our ongoing WEB3 partnerships.
Jane is a full time software engineer at Endeavor Streaming and actively been in WEB3 and startup space where she was part of the founding team for Hopin, an interactive virtual events company.
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Valeria is part of our Funding Department communicating with multiple stakeholders and partners. She's part of the Gender Equality Department and Emergency Response for Ukraine.
Valeria is currently pursuing her Masters at Mannheim University, focusing on American Studies and Nonprofit Management. She has worked for a female founders hub and is passionate about contributing to a world of equal opportunity.
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Founding Sponsor & Strategic Advisor
Christiane has a Magister in German Studies and History from LMU. She worked as a journalist for ZDF in New York City and London. Alongside being a mother of 6, she founded a refugee organization in Oberursel, Germany, and later a Language Learning NGO called "Combox," both focused on the better integration of refugees into German society. She now runs the Altenburg Foundation.
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Markting Consultant
Niko holds a BA in Philosophy from the University of British Columbia and is completing an MSc in Data Science and Digital Marketing from Emlyon Business School in Paris, France.
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Strategic Advisor
Brian is an educator and researcher with extensive experience in teaching, education leadership and safeguarding/child protection, as well as training for teachers and school leaders. He has particular expertise within conflict-affected, fragile and economically deprived contexts, working at local, regional and national levels in a range of countries. His most recent focus has been with community-led NGOs supporting refugee children and young adults in Lebanon, Uganda, Turkey and northern Syria through non-formal education provision, schools, vocational training and in facilitating access to higher education.
He holds Masters degrees from Oxford University and UCL Institute of Education, and his doctoral research with Kingston University builds on his experience in education in emergencies.
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Member of the Supervisory Board
Siona works on all strategic questions and uses her experience to guide Aid Pioneers in the process of growth.
She has a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and spent two years at McKinsey & Co. in Washington, D.C. and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where she supported the rollout of a pan-African health response and developed government strategies to support women's health in low- and middle-income countries.
Currently, Siona is with the Global Fund fighting HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.
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Member of the Supervisory Board
As supervisory board member of Aid Pioneers, Theresa advises on Aid Pioneers’ strategy and positioning. She joined Aid Pioneers from McKinsey & Company, for half a year and helped build up the Solar sector before returning to a role at McKinsey, where she has worked for more than two years. Having founded her own NGO and working with Ashoka, Theresa’s expertise in the private and civil sectors and her positive, impact-driven attitude are invaluable to our team!
Theresa is passionate about ESG and business’ potential to do good. She is a perfect fit for AP as we develop programmes to involve the private sector in sustainable, community-driven development projects.
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Project Management Gender Equality and Human Resources
With great passion for gender equality and education, Magdalena currently assisting in project management and a number of HR topics.
Magdalena is a Mexican lawyer with a background in Human Rights and holds a Master in Mediation and conflict management from the University of Cadiz. Her working experience is mostly focused in corporate law, contract negotiation, and stakeholder ́s management.
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Alexander is currently pursuing a degree in Business Administration and Electrical Engineering at RWTH Aachen university. He has found the opportunity to apply his technical knowledge and problem-solving skills at Aid Pioneers in order to have a positive impact in the world. He supports the team in sourcing for solar projects as well as working on a more standardised and scalable process.
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Friedrich pursues a BSc in International Relations at the London School of Economics. At Aid Pioneers he is supporting the fundraising efforts and conducts political risk analyses to assess the conditions under which medical shipments and solar systems are deployed.
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Solar Venture Development
Jakob holds a master degree in Economics and Energy Tecenology and advises o all technical aspects of the solar projects.
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Besides volunteering at Aid Pioneers, Vinzenz works as a Private Markets Specialist at HPS Investment Partners, Munich. Here he helps clients with investments in Private Markets, focusing on Private Equity. He holds a MSc in Computational Finance from UCL and a BA in Corporate Management & Economics from Zeppelin University
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Member of the Supervisory Board
Philipp finished his first state exam in Hamburg and is doing his legal clerkship in Frankfurt. He puts his training into practice in the the Aid Pioneers legal team. In addition, he is part of the supervisory board.
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Supervisory Board Member
Sophie advises Aid Pioneers on strategic topice as a member of the supesvisory board. After working full time for Aid Pioneers as Partnerships Manager she is now works for the red cross in Geneva. Sophie holds a BA in Economics and Psychology from the University of Aberdeen and an MA in Development Studies from the Geneva Graduate Institute. Through internships and research consultancies, she has previously gained experience in the fields of access to finance, impact investment and development cooperation in different country contexts.
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Legal Team
Sophie studied law in Bayreuth and Muenster and is currently doing her legal clerkship in Munich. With her legal background she works on a wide range of legal topics at AidPioneers such as labor law issues. Additionally, she is in charge of our B2C marathon fundraising initiative and assists with our B2F fundraising.
Sophie is driven to create a sustainable impact through her work in areas where equal access to essential resources is not ensured.
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Tech Team
Besides working with AP, Jon works as an engineer at Depop - a London-based circular-fashion reselling platform - where he mainly builds backend services to power the app features. Prior to Depop, Jon helped build out the Guardian's award-winning website as well as their data engineering platform. All of this came after having received a BSc from the University of Manchester and working as Forensic Data Analyst for a few years before the urge to build and tinker in tech brought him back to software engineering.
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Co-Founder & Growth Advisor
As Co-Founder of Aid Pioneers, Marcel has been a key architect in shaping the organization’s DNA and vision from its inception. His talent for inspiring and rallying early supporters was pivotal to AP’s success as his leadership in building a resilient organization that remains committed to its mission to date. Now, Marcel is channeling his entrepreneurial spirit into the startup world, working on improving access to healthcare in Germany. He continues to contribute to Aid Pioneers as Growth Advisor, ensuring the organization's sustained impact.
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Co-Founder
As Co-Founder of Aid Pioneers, Martina has been instrumental in shaping the organization’s strategy and vision from the very beginning. Her exceptional ability to structure complex tasks and manage workstreams as well as teams in fast-paced environments has been invaluable in building the organization while her leadership has inspired many to join who remain with Aid Pioneers to this day. She now leverages these skills in consulting, with a focus on decarbonizing global corporations, while continuing to serve as a Growth Advisor to AP.