kENUP’s Management Team is made up by its three Directors, eleven professionsl staff, and one consultant.
Holm Keller
Executive Chairman, Director
Executive Chairman, Director
Holm Keller is the Chairman of
kENUP
Foundation. Previously, he acted as Executive Vice President for University Development and Innovation at Leuphana University of Lüneburg. Under his leadership, Leuphana became one of Germany’s top universities, a well-respected innovation hub to its region and built an acclaimed new building with architect Daniel Libeskind.
Prior to Leuphana, Holm Keller held top management positions, including President Asia, at Bertelsmann Inc. in Shanghai, Seoul, Sydney, New York, and London. Before, he has been Associate Principal with McKinsey & Company Inc., where he was instrumental for building the Firm’s global Accelerator Practice. Educated in Vienna and at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, he started his career as a musical composer and an artistic producer.
Thorsten Kurtz
Director
Thorsten Kurtz serves as Director to kENUP with a focus on Business Development and Finance.
He successfully co-designed and –managed Europe´s largest EU funded university driven project of its kind for regional economic development, the 100mn EUR „Innovation Incubator“ at Germany´s Leuphana University. With >500 additional scientists recruited and a total of 45 innovative projects with about 600 partners implemented, a nascent regional innovation system has emerged, acknowledged by an OECD case study.
Before, Thorsten Kurtz served as an inhouse
consultant at InWEnt, merged into Germany´s National Development Agency GIZ. Thorsten studied Spatial Development with Business Administration and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Trier.
Dr. Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando
Director
Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando is a Director of the Foundation. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1996 to 2013. He has held the posts of Shadow Minister for Telecommunications, Head of the Maltese delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and Vice President of the Assembly. He also served as a delegate of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. He was awarded the title of ‘Green Politician of the Year’ in 2001 in recognition of his environmental campaigns. Pullicino Orlando was responsible for the introduction of a number of civil rights in Malta, most notably divorce.
He ran the Malta Council for Science and Technology for 13 years and was responsible for the setting up of the National Interactive Science Centre, Esplora. Esplora was declared to be an Emblematic Project by the European Commission in 2018. As Executive Chairman, he was in charge of the establishment of the National Skills Council as an Executive Body in 2023. Pullicino Orlando is a Dental Surgeon, and received his education and training in Malta, Zurich and Aalst (Belgium).
René Brincat
Malta Office Management
René Brincat is a visual artist by education and passion. He holds various higher degrees in the field and keeps pursuing his own work while building a background in arts production and business.
Prior to joining kENUP, he was working for more than four years with Lombard Bank Malta p.l.c., both in front and in back office capacities. Before that Mr. Brincat was a cashier at one of Malta's Casinos.
René has been raised tri-lingual in Maltese, English and Italian.
Julia Kärger
Senior Project Manager
Julia Kärger enables multiple project operations in her capacity at kENUP, taking responsibility for all areas of our project work.
With a professional background in agile product development, she has gained experience in business development in working for the Common Sense Projects GmbH, which is owned by Finance Elements Group, and aims at identifying and developing new business opportunities.
After obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Economic Sciences and an outstanding Master of Science in Business Administration with a focus on Leadership and Organisation management, she led the successful implementation of company-wide process optimization and automatisation.
Julia is an active horsewomen, contributing to this larger community by teaching and supporting the managing committee of her associations in finance related areas.
Louiza Keller
Marketing Expert
Louiza Keller is kENUP's Marketing Expert since 2015. In this capacity, she has conceived and designed kENUP's branding, websites and branded products, including for the Foundation's controlMalaria and covidX programmings.
Being an enthusiastic writer and illustrator, she has published a series of novels for an adolescent audience under different pseudonyms, as well as four picture books for smaller children.
Louiza holds a Bachelor in Psychology from the International Psychoanalytic University Berlin. In her free time, she is active in animal welfare projects.
Richard Krampitz
Project Manager
Richard is a Project Manager at kENUP Foundation, taking responsibility for all areas of our project work.
He holds a Masters Degree from École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, where is thesis focused on the implementation of welfare reforms in France and Germany.
Fluent in both French and English, he supports kENUP's activities in Senegal, any beyond. In his free time, he is a devoted chess player and sportsman in many disciplines.
Uta Michel
Manager Chairman´s Office
Uta Michel serves as an Executive Assistant to the Chairman and Office Manager to the Foundation with a focus on Event Management and project support.
Before joining kENUP Foundation, Uta Michel worked for more than 15 years in the Luxembourg Financial Services Industry serving in different positions such as Assistant to the Managing Board, Sales Coordination; Corporate Events Coordinator, Marketing Assistant and Personal Assistant. Uta has gained in-depth knowledge of Egyptian culture, history and life by living and working in Cairo, Egypt, for about 7 years.
Among her passions are charity fundraising for SOS Children Villages. From 2004 to 2015 she acted as Fundraising Ambassador for Lombard International Assurance.
Marion Riewer
PA to the Directors
Marion serves as PA to kENUP's Directors and as Financial Officer on administrative and organizational areas in finance and accounting, as well as in controlling.
Before joining the kENUP Foundation, Marion worked for more than 25 years in the Luxembourg Financial Center. At renowned German banks, such as Landesbank Schleswig-Holstein International S.A. Luxembourg, West LB International S.A. Luxembourg, HSH Nordbank Private Banking S.A. Luxembourg, Marion was responsible for commission trading, money markets and foreign exchange. As Execution Desk Officer she was responsible for the execution of all listed and over-the-counter trades in equities, securities, certificates, warrants and precious metals.
In her spare time, she volunteers to lead first aid courses at the “Malteser Hilfsdienst” in Germany and is an Examination Supervisor at the Wilhelm Büchner University of Applied Sciences in Darmstadt and at the Savings Banks Association of Rhineland-Palatinate in Mainz.
