Board of Directors
- Hans Peter Baumgartner
Hans Peter Baumgartner is chairman of the Board of Directors of Purple Labs. Hans Peter has 18 years experience in the industrial electronics, consumer electronics and telecommunications industry. with a broad background across sales, marketing, product development, finance, strategy and general management.
Prior to Purple Labs he was CEO of Sunrise, Switzerlands No. 2 telecommunications operator, which generated 2 billion CHF of revenue and employed 2700 staff. Between 1989 and 2004 Hans Peter was working for Sony in Europe and in Switzerland, serving on a variety of positions such as CFO, European Sales Director, Head of European Business Unit and as the CEO of Sony Overseas SA, generating revenues of 1.5 billion CHF in Eastern Europe and Switzerland.
Hans Peter also serves on the board of Esmertec AG, Zurich, Switzerland. He earned a masters degree in Business Administration from Zurich University in 1984.
- Jean Schmitt
Jean Schmitt is Managing Partner at Sofinnova Partners. Jean joined Sofinnova Partners in 2001 and focuses on opportunities in the Telecom sector.
Prior to joining Sofinnova Partners, he was the CEO and founder of SLP InfoWare, a world leader in predictive customer relationship management software for the telecom industry, which he sold to Gemplus in 2000. Jean then became Vice President, Telecom Solutions and Applications at Gemplus.
Jean is a board member of Esmertec (which went public on the Swiss Stock Exchange), of Inside Contactless, Purple Labs, Sensitive Objects, Blyk and Upek.
He graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications (ENST) and has a post-graduate degree in Artificial Intelligence.
- Roland Manger
Roland Manger joined Earlybird as a Partner at the end of 1998. He gained entrepreneurial experience when he joined the founder team of Cybernet AG, a provider of Internet and System Integration services which was subsequently listed on NASDAQ and Frankfurt Stock Exchange and later was sold to PSINet and at Ditec AG, where he was Director of Business Development.
Previously he has also worked as a strategy consultant and Principal with Gemini Consulting in the telecom and media industries.
He studied Business, Operations Research and Computer Science at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, graduating with a Dipl. Wi-Ing. (MSc equivalent) degree. Additionally he holds an MBA from Georgetown University in Washington D.C.
Roland serves on the boards of abaXX Technology AG, Esmertec AG, OneShield Inc. and UPEK, Inc.
- Loek van den Boog
Loek van den Boog is an IT industry veteran with 20 years of experience in the software industry. Loek serves as special advisor and member of the Board of directors of various software and services companies.
He is a member of the Board of Directors of a range of companies as well as holding positions in audit and compensation committees.
Most recently, Loek was CEO of Cordys B.V., a leading provider of Service Oriented Architecture and Business Process Management technology. Previously, Loek worked for General Atlantic Partners as Special Advisor. In this capacity he supported a series of European and US portfolio companies.
Loek holds a university degree in Business Economics and in Public Accounting. Loek is Founder and Chairman of Net4kids Aid Foundation, a charity with a mission to give underprivileged children a better future.
- Olivier Laury
Olivier Laury has a strong background in the wireless Telecom industry. Olivier has been working since 1993 for Bouygues Telecom, the third largest French GSM operator.
He has occupied various managing positions in sales and marketing, including postpaid and prepaid business line manager. He presently is in charge of the mobile multimedia content offer, with a strong focus on i-mode, and more globally of the relationships with all content providers.
Bouygues telecom, with more than 9 million customers, is widely recognized for its marketing leadership on the French market. With 75% of its base being postpaid, it has one of the highest ARPU of all European networks. On mobile multimedia, it has, in terms of usage, some of the best results worldwide.
Olivier Laury holds a MS degree in management from M.I.T..
- Hans-Ulrich Müller
Hans-Ulrich Müller is a Partner of Partners Group. Hans-Ulrich is part of the private equity team and a member of the private equity investment committee with deal management responsibilities for direct investments.
He was instrumental in building Partners Group's portfolio of direct investments and establishing the firm's network in the IT, semiconductor and telecom industries. With extensive investment and company management experience gained over three decades, he serves as a board member for several of Partners Group's portfolio companies and actively coaches the management teams.
Prior to joining Partners Group, he spent 30 years in the semiconductor equipment and telecom industries, including as a board member and COO of ESEC Holding, where he was instrumental in building the organization. Previously, he served as chairman of the Board of Kistler Instruments.
He holds an MBA degree from the European University in Cham, and a degree in electronic engineering from the Institute of Technology, Burgdorf.