Female Founders Award 2026

Maria Birlem

CEO & Co-Founder, Yuri GmbH 

About Maria Birlem completed a degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Applied Sciences Aachen from 2001 to 2005. As part of her studies, she worked on a research project in which she created the link budget for the student CubeSat project Compass 1. After graduating, she continued her career at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). Between 2006 and 2008 she wrote her diploma thesis at DLR Berlin, where she designed the interface of the launch electronics of the BepiColombo Laser Altimeter. She also worked as a research assistant and intern at DLR Cologne on the ROSETTA - PHILAE Lander and EXOMARS projects. In 2009, Maria Birlem continued her professional career as a Young Graduate Trainee at ESA / ESTEC in the Netherlands, where she worked in the field of optical engineering on the calibration and performance evaluation of a laser communication telescope. In the same year, she took up a position at Airbus Defence & Space. In her role as programme manager, she led Airbus' commercial microgravity programme “kiwi” and was responsible for the MMARS-1, MMARS-2 and 3DPrintOS projects as project manager. As a senior systems engineer, she was involved in various projects such as V3PO and BioScience-4. She also acted as Payload Integration Manager for ESA's EMCS (IOT team) and worked as a development engineer for SIMBOX. Since June 2019, she has been co-founder, Managing Director and CEO of Yuri GmbH, which develops biotech products using zero gravity. 

About Yuri GmbH 

Yuri is a space biotech company that leverages the unique conditions of microgravity to research and develop groundbreaking biotechnological innovations. Their modular bioreactors and incubators facilitate experiments with cell cultures, protein crystallization, and plant biology in space.

Julia Römer

Co-Founder & COO, Coolar UG
 

About Julia Römer 

Julia is an industrial engineer by training and the inventor of the Coolar system. She initiated the project that was to become Coolar while still a student at TU Berlin in 2014 with her later co-founders.
In addition to founding and leading Coolar, Julia developed patents for industrial-scale alternative cooling technology solutions and furthermore has been active in sustainability and environmental protection related advocacy. She was a member of the board at Germany's largest environmental NGO BUND e. V. (Friends of the Earth Germany) for 9 years. She still represents the organization on the jury for the German ecolabel “Blauer Engel”.

From 2019 to 2021 Julia served as a member of the German federal government’s Hightech-Forum, an advisory board that advised government on research and innovation policy and inspired new legislation in several areas (i.e. tax benefits for R&D expenditures, promotion of social innovations).

About Coolar

Coolar is pioneering refrigeration technology for energy-efficient, water-based cooling. While planetary temperature records smash through levels of warming unseen by human civilizations year after year, ever more people seek relief from heat waves or cold storage for perishable goods. Coolar is a mechanical engineering company from Berlin piloting electricity-free cooling systems powered by solar heat that provide autonomous cooling for both off-grid clinics and campers. Coolar is the first company to develop compact-size thermal-driven and purely water-based continuous sorption cooling systems. 

Judith Grümmer

Founder & CEO of Familienhörbuch gGmbH

About Judith Grümmer

Judith Grümmer is an experienced radio journalist and audio biographer.

About Familienhörbuch 

Familienhörbuch gGmbH is a non-profit organization based in Cologne, Germany, that enables terminally ill mothers and fathers with minor children to create a professional audio biography. A Familienhörbuch preserves the life story of the palliatively ill mother or father for posterity. In the voice so familiar to the child, told in their own words. Authentic. Personal. Affectionate. Dramaturgically professionally designed with the most modern techniques of audio journalism, each Familienhörbuch becomes a personal treasure of memories. The family audio books are financed exclusively on a donation basis. All palliative patients included in the project currently receive their audio book free of charge. 

Dr.-Ing. Christina Linke

Co-Founder & CEO of Clean Ocean Coatings GmbH 
 

About Christina Linke 

Linke completed her Dr.-Ing. in Food Technology 2017 at the TU Berlin in cooperation with Symrise AG. She has seven years of experience in product development in Germany and abroad in a major international corporation. In addition, from 2018-19, she was an executive assistant at Cradle-to-Cradle e.V., committed to circular economy. As a passionate diver she always wanted to contribute to ocean health. When she stumbled upon her co-founder, the biofouling problem and the intriguing solution, she had to act and push the project. 

About Clean Ocean Coatings

Clean Ocean Coatings GmbH sees itself as a highly specialized chemical company of tomorrow. It stands for the development and sales of environmentally harmless maritime coatings and offers ship operators sustainable solutions without fraudulent labeling in times of growing environmental awareness. Furthermore, the company stands for modern corporate culture, social fairness, and the service of the environment and humanity. From a technical point of view, we strive for solutions according to the cradle2cradle-principle, piece by piece. From the customer's point of view, we offer a better product that pays off.

Dr. Sonja Stuchtey

Co-Founder & CEO of The Landbanking Group

About Sonja Stuchtey

Sonja has a solid background in business administration and extensive experience in entrepreneurship and technology. She began her professional career as a management consultant at Booz Allen before turning her focus to her own entrepreneurial ventures. She founded SCIENCE LAB, an educational platform, as well as Alliance for Europe, a civic-tech company. As a director at the consulting firm AlixPartners, she focused on business optimization and innovation.

About The Landbanking Group

The Landbanking Group (TLG) is a Munich-based Nature Fintech Company building the infrastructure for a nature-based economy.  Its product, the natural capital management platform Landler.io, allows land stewards to be rewarded for positive nature outcomes and businesses to invest into positive nature impacts. The Landbanking Group is in service of the Paris and the Montreal agreement and aiming to bring natural capital onto our balance sheets. Using Earth observation and AI technology TLG offers innovative financial solutions to finance regenerative land use practices and nature conservation while increasing social justice on a global scale.

Nadine is the Head of Communications Europe for LONGi Solar, moderator, consultant and speaker with a focus on diversity, gender equality, leadership and entrepreneurship. At Germany’s largest online network for women, Digital Media Women (#DMW), she campaigns for the visibility of women on public stages as well as giving women a share of voice in the era of digitalization. At the DMW, she is also studying companies with at least 30 percent of female representation in the top three management levels.

Marie Christine is an experienced lawyer and Risk Advisory expert at AlixPartners, advising companies on complex forensic investigations and corporate compliance challenges. Drawing on her background as a public prosecutor for white collar crime, she brings strong analytical rigor and deep insight into regulatory behavior. With an entrepreneurial mindset, she supports clients in safeguarding value, managing cross border risks, and building resilient governance structures across industries and transaction environments.

Gabriele Haessig is Managing Director Communications & Sustainability at Procter & Gamble DACH, where she leads communications, public affairs and the company’s sustainability transformation agenda across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

She began her career at P&G in 1990 as a Brand Assistant and has since built more than three decades of leadership experience in Germany, DACH, European and global roles, combining deep operational expertise with strategic stakeholder engagement.

In her public‑affairs capacity, Gabriele serves as Chairwoman of the German Personal Care and Detergent Industry Association (IKW) and is Co‑Chair of the American Chamber of Commerce Rhine‑Main, actively shaping transatlantic business dialogue and policy frameworks. Beyond her core responsibilities, she is engaged in a range of social, cultural and educational initiatives, including as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Rheingau Music Festival and as an advisory board member of the Enactus student initiative.

A strong advocate for leadership development, diversity and inclusion, Gabriele mentors young talent inside and outside of P&G and initiated an intergenerational dialogue program within the company to foster entrepreneurial mindsets, mutual learning and future‑ready leadership.

Xenia Scholl is a proud awardee of the AmCham Germany Female Founders Award 2019. She is Co-Founder and COO of Aitonomi AG, which operates in Germany with its subsidiary TeleRetail GmbH. Xenia Scholl focuses on transport automation technology developments for vehicles of different sizes and shapes: from large industrial vehicles to small retail robots. The proprietary Aitonomi Autopilot software enables fully autonomous operations of transport vehicles with payloads up to 55t. Xenia Scholl has more than 15 years professional IT experience and a strong passion for the development and implementation of technology innovations. Xenia Scholl successfully completed many national and international innovative projects for Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, LG Electronics, and Kansai Electric. She cooperates with international partners such as NEOM and TK Elevator.
 

Andreas Schwaiger started his professional career at Texas Instruments (TI) in 1997, working in a variety of roles across different functions before being appointed Managing Director of TI Germany and Vice President. He is a member of the AmCham Germany Executive Committee, is wholeheartedly engaged in initiatives like NextGen and a jury member of the Female Founders Award since its start. Andreas Schwaiger is excited to uphold TI’s commitment to STEM development from school through university to a career in Engineering, particularly focusing female development in these areas. As executive sponsor of TI’s CSR branch in EMEA, he is strongly engaged in the team’s efforts, supporting initiatives like Girl’s Day and Female Tech Leaders, and acts as mentor for the initiative #BayFID supporting female talents in digital professions. For him, TI’s commitment to drive innovation and support start-up initiatives matches perfectly to the engagement with the AmCham Female Founders award.