Archives: Speakers

After leading a team at Guinness that turned around 20 years of brand decline, and over 10 years consulting in which he helped dozens of founders realise their potential, Shilen started Distill Ventures with his Co-founder, Frank Lampen, in 2013.

As the world’s first drinks accelerator, the company helps entrepreneurs scale their business in three ways: providing cash investment, mentoring partners to help them become better business leaders, and tapping into an extensive and experienced network of drinks experts. While Distill Ventures’ approach is unique to each entrepreneur, the goal is always to give founders the tools to make better decisions and fewer mistakes while allowing them to remain fully in control of their business. To date, Distill Ventures has committed in excess of £60 million to more than 15 founder-led drinks brands around the world.

Shilen’s passions lie in providing start-up entrepreneurs with the guidance and expertise to launch into markets disruptively, and developing the non-alc drinks category. Distill Ventures has played a pivotal role in the acceleration of leading non-alc spirit, Seedlip, and Shilen cites his career highlight as meeting Ben Branson back in 2014, after which he helped turn Seedlip into what it is today, while creating an entirely new drinks category.

Steffen De Muynck started working for FLIR in 2012 and is currently part of the product management team. FLIR provides innovative and intelligent transportation solutions that enhance safety and efficiency in cities, on highways and in tunnels. Steffen primarily focuses on building and expanding existing markets such as tunnels and highways but also works on developing new markets such as the fire detection and public transportation market.

Steffen is married and has expanded his family in the beginning of June with a second daughter. He enjoys cooking, traveling and the occasional Belgian beer.

Want to find out more about FLIR solutions for the transportation industry? You can reach him directly at steffen.demuynck@flir.com or visit www.flir.com/traffic

Aikaterini has background studies in Architecture where she obtained a Diploma from the National Technical University of Athens NTUA. She then specialised in façade engineering and building environments by undertaking an MSc of building technology at the Technical University of Delft, NL.

She gained her experience in the field of façade consultancy and complex envelopes working previously for Thornton Tomasetti in London and for Knippers Helbig in Berlin.

As a senior façade engineer in London she realized several projects of different scopes ranging from residential to office, cultural and sport buildings and developed a specialisation for high-rise façade construction and pre-fabricated bespoke systems.. Some of her work includes the revitalisation of Wimbledon Court No.1 and The Shard Place high-rise development with Renzo Piano. In December 2018 she joined BuroHappold  in Berlin where she leads façade projects in Central Europe. In her work within the interdisciplinary team of BuroHappold she is not only achieving an aesthetic vision for high quality building “skins”, she is moreover looking into buildability, efficiency of solutions, energy impact and long term sustainability.

Aikaterini studierte Architektur an der Nationalen Technischen Universität von Athen NTUA, wo sie mit einem Diplom abschloss. Danach spezialisierte sie sich mit einem Master of Science in Gebäudetechnik an der Technischen Universität Delft auf Fassadentechnik und Gebäudeumgebungen.

Ihre Erfahrungen im Bereich Fassadenberatung und komplexe Gebäudehüllen sammelte sie zuvor bei Thornton Tomasetti in London und bei Knippers Helbig in Berlin. Als Senior Fassadeningenieurin in London realisierte sie verschiedene Projekte in unterschiedlichen Bereichen von Wohn- über Büro- zu Kultur- und Sportgebäuden. Sie entwickelte eine Spezialisierung für den Hochhausfassadenbau und vorgefertigte, maßgeschneiderte Systeme. Einige ihrer Arbeiten umfassen die Revitalisierung von Wimbledon Court No.1 und The Shard Place, eine Hochhausentwicklung mit Renzo Piano. Seit Dezember 2018 ist sie bei BuroHappold in Berlin verantwortlich für die Fassadenprojekte in Zentraleuropa. In ihrer Arbeit im interdisziplinären Team von BuroHappold erreicht sie nicht nur eine ästhetische Vision für hochwertige Gebäudehüllen, sondern befasst sich auch mit Baufähigkeit, Energieeffizienz und Nachhaltigkeit.

Oliver Kupfner studied architecture at the Graz University of Technology, where he graduated with a Master of Science in Architecture. From 1995 to 1998, he worked at various architecture firms in Graz until he landed at architect Heinz Wondra’s office. He stayed there for ten years and gained important experience until joining the INNOCAD team in 2008. In 2014, he became a partner at INNOCAD.

Kupfner’s role with the firm is one of international significance, managing projects in the Middle East and all over Europe. He was the project leader on TWA The World Academy – King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia and Volksbank’s South Tyrol Headquarters in Bolzano. He delivered three different office headquarters in Vienna with Microsoft, ÖBB, and SAP. Additionally, Oliver was in charge of the conversion and redevelopment of the Graz Armoury museum, and the extension of a neurological clinic at LKH Feldbach. The ROCK, the first Radisson Red in a German-speaking region, as well as the new competence Center for MAM Health & Innovation was completed also under his direction.

He is a key communicator within the studio, acting as a connecting link between the client, design team, and execution team. In addition to networking, traveling, and lecturing, Oliver is an expert manager of project organization, timelines, and budgets. He is driven by bringing ideas into reality, as well as the various challenges and architectural innovation required during that process.

Marco is a passionate engineer with a strong focus on sustainability and innovation.  

Having started work with Drees & Sommer in Stuttgart, Germany, Marco relocated to Asia to set up the engineering department in Shanghai where he stayed over 4 years working on landmark projects such as the Peoples’ Bank of China and the Pudong Art Museum.  

Marco moved to London at the start of 2019 and has helped the UK team to drive future topics such as Circular Economy, Cradle to Cradle© and Customised Smart Buildings, which form part of ‘the blue way’, a core principle at Drees & Sommer which combines economy, ecology and functionality in design, construction and consultancy.