Speakers

Markus Achleitner is the Upper Austrian provincial councillor responsible, among other things, for the economy, tourism and European affairs. Before joining Austrian politics, he was General Director of Upper Austria's first chain of thermal spas, the EurothermenResorts in Bad Ischl, Bad Hall and Bad Schallerbach, which were merged into the OÖ Thermenholding. Coming from a family of tourists, he completed a commercial and tourism education and transformed former spas into modern tourism businesses that convince with absolute guest orientation, attractive infrastructure and trendy innovations, thus becoming "Upper Austria's largest tourism business".

Studied social education (with a focus on leisure and tourism) and business administration in Fulda and Würzburg, then worked as a scientific assistant at the Würzburg Institute for Tourism and Leisure Research. Has worked at Europa-Park in Rust since 1988, first as press officer, then as press spokesperson, marketing manager, park manager, head of the design and development department of Europa-Park (Mack Solutions), today as representative of the Europa-Park management and since January 2019 general manager of Ru-lantica, the new water world of Europa-Park.

From 2001 to 2018, member and then Chairman of the Tourism Committee of the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce in Berlin, furthermore member of the Supervisory Board of Schwarzwald Tourismus GmbH as well as Chairman of the Economic Advisory Board and since May 2010 member of the Research Advisory Board of the German Economic Institute for Tourism e.V. at the University of Munich. From 2010 to 2019, he was a member of the European Board of IAAPA (International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions) and also chaired the Governmental Relations Committee for IAAPA Europe in Brussels.

After graduating with a degree in administration from the University of Applied Sciences in Wiesbaden and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Kassel International Management School, Frank Müller was initially head of the public order office in his home community of Buseck and of the building, public order and citizens' office in the town of Hungen, before spending ten years working in the spa and baths sector in the spa town of Bad Nauheim as head of operations/head of the spa and service department. From 2013 to 2020, as managing director of BBF BäderBetrieb Frankfurt GmbH, he was significantly involved in its reorganisation and the development of the Frankfurt baths concept, in the context of which the new Rebstockbad and Bornheim family baths were planned. Since 2020, he has been the manager of the Wiener Therme GroupTM and has been entrusted with the international location development of the company.

After receiving his diploma and doctorate in business administration from the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland), Dr. Stefan Kannewischer worked for four years at the strategy consultancy Bain & Company in Zurich, Munich and London. In 2001 he became managing director of the family business Kannewischer Management AG, which has specialised in consulting, technical planning and the operation of public swimming pools and thermal spas since 1972. The Kannewischer Collection operates six thermal baths and two thermal hotels in Germany. Dr Kannewischer became President of IAKS Switzerland in 2009 and President of IAKS International (International Association for Sports and Leisure Facilities) in 2015. In 2017, he was appointed by Dr Thomas Bach to the IOC Commission "Sustainability and Legacy".

Dr Mann is a Director at 4global with over 10 years’ experience in the development, delivery, and evaluation of sport and leisure related strategies. Steven joined 4global following time as Research Director at ukactive and Strategy Director at a large leisure brand in the UK developing the proposition for over 100 clubs. In these roles Steven has advised the Government and national agencies on sport and physical activity strategies, established large scale data capture frameworks, led the evaluation of national programmes, and translated this knowledge into commercial operations within large organisations. Steven is a Trustee at the charity Women in Sport and has served as Senior Research Fellow at various academic institutions.

Born in Perleberg, he first worked as a teacher before founding Freizeitpark GmbH in 1995 and getting into the business of running public pools. In 2011 he opened the 4-star hotel "Alte Ölmühle" in Wittenberge, which he runs together with his son Jens. For the revival of the industrial ruin, he was awarded the Tourism Prize and the Monument Protection Prize of the State of Brandenburg. The baths that Lutz Lan-ge has been running for many years as part of public-private partnership models include the Naturtherme Bad Rodach and the Sonnenbad in Sonneberg. In 2021 he opened the "Funtasy Word Wittenberge", an indoor adventure world with a climbing playground, a trampoline area, fun walls and a ninja course.

The brain researcher and expert in artificial intelligence teaches at various universities and is currently researching the foundations of outstanding memory and thinking skills at Radboud University. As a world-class memory athlete, he holds numerous world records, is a multiple team world champion and a regular guest on TV and radio in Germany (Wetten, dass, Markus Lanz, Galileo, Planet Wissen, Deutschlands Superhirn and many more), China, Japan, the USA, Great Britain and the Netherlands. Dr. Boris Nikolai Konrad won the show "Deutschlands Superhirn" with Jörg Pilawa and on Chinese television over 100 million viewers watched his performance on "The Brain".

With his enormous memory capacity, the brain researcher has already entered the Guinness Book of Records several times. As light-footed as the AI expert presents his learning strategies, as profound are the scientific foundations on which his knowledge of learning techniques and the memory capacity of the human brain is based: After studying physics and computer science, Dr Boris N. Konrad did his doctorate at the Max Planck Institute on the neuronal basis of extraordinary memory performance. At the EWA Congress, we can expect a key note lecture that we will not easily forget...

Wolfgang Hermle is an authorised signatory and Head of Pools & Leisure at Stadtwerke Osnabrück AG, Managing Director of servos GmbH in Osnabrück. After studying sports science, geography and business administration, the Tübingen native took over the management of the Fildorado in Filderstadt before becoming the "Bäderchef" in Osnabrück, where he successfully continued the change process initiated by his predecessor. The Nettebad, one of the most frequented leisure pools in Germany, is at the centre of this process and was expanded under his direction to include the "Nettedrom", an innovative e-cart track. Wolfgang Hermle is an active member of the German Association for the Bathing Industry and on the board of the EWA.

Thomas Meier studied sports management, teaching and business law in Bayreuth, Düsseldorf and Saarbücken before becoming sales manager and project manager at GMF Gesellschaft für Entwicklung und Management von Freizeitsystemen mbH & Co. KG, where he was responsible for the management of several pool locations. In 2019, Thomas Meier took over the management of the company based in Munich. GMF is a subsidiary of Luxembourg-based Leisure Resources International SA, which also owns the Spanish ASPRO Group. The company has more than 30 years of experience in pool operations and has realised over 500 consulting projects and studies.

Since 2019, Claudia Heckmann has been the managing director of KölnBäder GmbH, responsible for the development of the pool landscape in the cathedral city. Previously, she had been managing Sportwelt Dortmund gGmbH, which operates four municipal outdoor pools and four indoor pools, since 2004. She studied law at the Ruhr University in Bochum and since 2015 has represented the Swimming Association of North Rhine-Westphalia as President with 600 member clubs, in which around 220,000 swimmers are organised.

Prof. Dr. Christian Kuhn was managing director at KRIEGER Architekten I Ingenieure until 2017 and is now managing partner of DSBG (Deutsche Sportstättenbetriebs - und Planungsgesellschaft). In this function he also manages the business of the cabrio in Senden, the cabrioLi in Lippstadt and the Oberlahnbad in Weilburg. As spokesman for Bäderallianz Deutschland and deputy chairman of IAKS Deutschland, he is committed to the interests of public pools in Germany. Since 2021, he has also been an honorary professor in the leisure industry course at the Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University.

Christian Mankel, MBA, is a German association politician who, as once the youngest guild manager (health trade) in Germany, learned the micropolitically sensitive work at the interface between politics, business and administration from scratch. After six successful years at the Hessian state level, Mr. Mankel took over full-time responsibility in 2021 in the management of the German Association for the Bath Industry, whose membership structure as the leading nationwide industry association with headquarters in Essen includes over 1,000 municipal bath operators. In addition to general developments in the pool landscape, he will be able to give us an outlook on this year's interbad trade fair in Stuttgart and talk about the significance of the Public Value Award, for which the application process began in April.

On an honorary and part-time basis, Mr. Mankel also represents the interests of the swimming pool sector in the DIN standardisation committee for water management, as a member of the administrative advisory board of the medical service and in the advisory board for health and welfare of the DGUV. From 2012 to 2020, Mr Mankel was also an honorary lecturer at Faculty 3 of the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences and taught there, among other things, in the dual Bachelor's degree programme in Public Administration, in order to make the administrative managers of tomorrow fit for the challenges of the future, in which public services will continue to be of central importance.

Armin Nagel holds a degree in cultural studies from the Hoogeschool voor de Kunsten, Utrecht and the University of Hildesheim and was a lecturer on social media service at the Zurich University of the Arts. His acting training at the British National Circus Theatre School, Bristol, and the Ecole Philippe Gaulier, London, was followed by engagements at the Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel in Munich, Schauspiel Hannover and Theaterhaus Jena. Nagel has 20 years of stage experience with over 2,000 live performances worldwide. ZDF calls him "Germany's first service comedian" and SAT.1 says: "His mission is better service!". The speaker reveals the biggest service gaps in every company with unconventional means and in an extremely entertaining way. In his humorous and stirring lectures, he gives valuable and playful impulses for more service culture in the company.