Speakers

Sebastian Hamann has played a key role in shaping the evolution of ecommerce through his visionary mindset and entrepreneurial drive. Co-founding Shopware at just 15 years old with his brother Stefan, he has been instrumental in developing an impactful ecommerce platform for both B2B and B2C markets. Under his creative leadership, Shopware has set new industry standards, delivering scalable solutions that emphasize customer-centricity, operational efficiency, and technological innovation. Sebastian's strategic vision continues to influence the future of commerce, driving progress and inspiring excellence across the industry.

Since co-founding Shopware with his brother Sebastian at the age of 16, Stefan Hamann has been the visionary architect driving the platform's strategic growth. With his deep passion for technology and exceptional expertise, he leads the design of cutting-edge ecommerce solutions that convert complex business needs into competitive advantages. Stefan's technical mastery, boundless curiosity, and forward-thinking leadership have been central to positioning Shopware as a globally renowned open-source platform, celebrated for its innovation and transformative impact on the industry.

Laura Kremer is shaping the future of e-commerce by building effective brand communities. As Community Lead of eCom Unity, she is responsible for Europe's largest network of over 1,500 D2C e-commerce decision-makers and creates platforms and exclusive events that promote knowledge sharing and strategic partnerships between brands. As a LinkedIn Top Voice with one of the strongest networks in the industry, Laura is committed to bringing more women onto the stage and making their expertise visible.

As Marketing Director of the Wilde Group, Christiane Secker is responsible for the strategic positioning and further development of the LCN and Monteil Paris brands, and has also assumed responsibility for Alessandro International since April 2026. With over 17 years of experience in the professional beauty market, she shapes brand management, product strategy, and communication.

As an executive in an internationally active, owner-managed company, she embodies a modern form of leadership that combines clarity, decisiveness, and effectiveness. She brings a practical perspective on entrepreneurial leadership and change and is convinced that women in leadership roles not only help shape the future but also leave a lasting mark on companies.

Friedrich is the founder and CEO of ECDB, a global e-commerce data platform headquartered in Hamburg. With ECDB, he has a clear goal: to provide companies with the market insights they need to make better decisions in e-commerce. Today, over 700 companies rely on ECDB, including industry leaders such as Amazon, DHL, L'Oréal, and Adidas. Previously, he founded Statista and, over the course of 17 years, built the company into one of the world’s leading data research platforms. Before that, Friedrich spent a decade in leadership roles at Deutsche Telekom and the Boston Consulting Group.

Sabrina Engling leads the AI Solutions Team at Trusted Shops and drives AI adoption and innovation across the entire company. Her focus is on scalable AI solutions, AI operations, and agentic commerce. She combines technical expertise with strategic business acumen, bringing together both perspectives—from the architecture of scalable AI systems to business value. In her volunteer work, she serves as Chairwoman of TechLabs e.V., an NGO dedicated to digital education, and as an AWS Community Builder for AI Engineering.

Paul Krauss is a partner for AI at Team One, where his team supports companies in redesigning their service and business models through the lens of artificial intelligence with a focus on agent-based systems, personalization, and AI as infrastructure.

He has advised brands, merchants, and technology companies on personalization, smart content distribution, and future tech. Always at the intersection of business, data, and technology. Before joining Team One, he was a partner at ecodynamics and held senior positions on the agency side.

He lectures on AI in retail at the AI Transformation Institute (DFKI), publishes the magazine AI:D, and co-hosts the podcasts Platform Disco and Marketing Momentum.

Paul lives with his family in Stuttgart – and helps companies turn AI from hype into a real, scalable advantage.

Sergey Orlov is responsible, as Product Owner, for the continuous development of an international B2B commerce platform at BPW Aftermarket Group in the Independent Aftermarket (IAM), actively shaping the digital future of workshops. His drive is to make complex systems understandable and usable—creating solutions that inspire users and deliver measurable business impact. His journey has been shaped by winning the Innovation Award at Automechanika. With strong intrinsic motivation, he works on future-proof solutions where AI plays an increasingly central role—from intelligent parts identification to the optimization of complex processes.

Since 2017, I’ve been part of Wurm – a global B2B decor wholesaler – growing from agency partner to Head of Digital. With 10+ years in e-commerce, UX, SEO & performance marketing, I helped build a B2B shop that now generates €10M+ in annual pure online revenue, winning the Shopware Visionary Award in 2025. What drives me? Creating digital solutions that connect – and deliver.

Simon Rabente is Managing Director of Webmatch GmbH, an owner-managed e-commerce agency based in Cologne. With over 20 years in the industry, his conviction is clear: successful e-commerce results from the interplay of technology, organization, brand, and business – driven by sound decisions and consistent execution. At Webmatch, he works with clients such as ADAC, AIDA Cruises, Toyota, and Wolters Kluwer – from complex B2B cases to international consumer platforms.

Anna De Florio leads the transformation of modern e-commerce and IT landscapes. As Head of Technology at Gartenhaus.com (Ydeon Group), she is responsible for the strategic direction of shop, ERP, PIM, and EDI systems and leads cross-functional teams. With extensive experience in ERP implementation, system integration, international shop rollout projects, and payment processes in e-commerce, she combines technical expertise with a strong focus on efficient, scalable structures. She stands for pragmatic, execution-driven leadership and shapes digital transformation in a lasting and results-oriented way.

Patrick Scherr is Head of Ecommerce at JACOB, responsible for selling consumer electronics via www.jacob.de. With more than five years of experience in sales and leading digital projects, he develops and implements innovative solutions that deliver real value to customers. His professional focus lies in project planning and management, actively fostering collaboration within the team and with partners to achieve optimal results. He is committed to establishing sustainable, customer-centric e-commerce strategies that drive growth and success.

Efe von Thenen is an entrepreneur, strategic advisor, keynote speaker, and moderator with 17+ years of experience in digital business and international organisations. He advises industry players like ECDB, one of the most comprehensive e-commerce data insight platforms worldwide, and works closely with leaders in e-commerce, SaaS, and digital transformation. Among others, Efe is well-known in the industry for his former role as CMO of ePages and as Chairman of the Advisory Board at the E-Commerce Berlin Expo. As a podcast host and community leader, he takes the pulse of the industry not only through the data insights, but also through honest conversations with the leading minds shaping it. As founder of Besser werden, Efe leads an exclusive community of industry pioneers that redefines success by connecting innovative business with purpose and balance.

Marie Reckendrees is a Product Manager at Shopware, driving initiatives around Shopping Experiences, Spatial Commerce and AI. With a background in design and a sharp sense for user needs, her work centers on deeply understanding merchants’ challenges and turning them into smart, scalable product solutions. Her mission: to create technology that delivers real value, feels intuitive, and unlocks new, immersive ways to experience commerce.

Dr. Kai Hudetz has been Managing Director of IFH KÖLN since August 2009 and an e-commerce expert for many years. He founded ECC KÖLN back in 1999 and has since advised numerous companies from retail and industry on the customer-centric transformation of business models. Based on clear forecasts about the future of retail, he encourages companies to take customers' needs seriously in the digital age. Kai is a popular speaker, moderator and author at top-level business events.

Andreas Tietjen is a seasoned payments expert with more than eight years of industry experience. As Commercial Director at Ratepay – an established provider of simple, secure, and convenient payment solutions – he translates the company’s strategy into measurable commercial results and drives cross-functional transformation. His expertise spans checkout transformation, commercial strategy, and organizational development.

Terezia is part of the Product Marketing team at Shopware, where she leads the Analyst Relations program and acts as a bridge between Shopware and the industry analysts. She joined Shopware in September 2024, bringing several years of experience running AR programs—including for a major tech vendor in the commerce and retail space. Over the past four years, Terezia has become a trusted voice in the AR community and is recognized by organizations like Forrester AR Council, Spotlight AR, and the Institute of Influencer and Analyst Relations for her contributions to the AR community. In her work, Terezia focuses on bringing insights from analysts back into Shopware to inform strategic decisions and ensure Shopware is recognized as an innovator in the commerce landscape.

Jimmy Schoonenberg is Digital Project & Automation Manager at camel active, where he focuses primarily on e-commerce. With a broad perspective on a wide variety of e-commerce processes, he recognized the value of AI and automation early on and has since consistently integrated the latest technologies into his work. In his role, he develops workflows that significantly reduce manual effort in day-to-day operations. His focus is on integrating solutions into existing system landscapes that truly work in everyday e-commerce and deliver measurable time and cost savings.

Mark is a leadership figure with a passion for solving big problems that create emotional impact for real customers. At PlayStation, he led the development of SingStar, which became a cultural phenomenon with over 30 million units sold. He introduced features like a social network, video sharing, and a music store - well ahead of the competition. He later led the engine team that laid the groundwork for PlayStation VR. In 2012, he moved to Microsoft, founded Lift London, co-funded HoloLens in its early stages, and drove the development of new games and 3D technologies. In 2018, he joined Education First to help transform a traditional, sales-driven company into a product-led, digitally transformed organization. Today, he leads a global development organization, delivering software worldwide with a focus on engagement, retention, and regional compliance.

Heike Zellerhoff has been part of Shopware for almost 12 years and has been responsible for Analyst Relations since 2023. In this role, it is her job to build and maintain strong relationships with key industry analysts such as Gartner & Forrester to increase Shopware's visibility and credibility in the industry. Heike has also been active as host of the Shopware Community Day since 2020 and is looking forward to taking on this role again this year.

Christoph Guthardt is Lead Developer in the E-Commerce team at blindwerk and also works as a freelancer. He designs and develops tailored (e-commerce) solutions, helping companies implement their digital business models in a technically sound and sustainable way. His studies in Business Informatics shaped his mindset: combining technical expertise with a strong sense for business models and user-centred development. His goal is to create software that is not only strategically aligned with the business but also technically scalable and future-proof – especially when it comes to complex projects.

Michael Pfeiffer, VP AI & Agentic Commerce at Shopware, is exploring how agentic systems will redefine commerce by 2030. Together with Stefan Hamann, he is shaping the Agentic Commerce Alliance into a global platform of partners collaborating to define the future of open commerce and deliver impact for merchants, shoppers, and developers.

With over a decade of global leadership experience spanning startups, major tech companies, and international agencies, Michael combines product, engineering, and business expertise to transform ambitious ideas into products and systems that scale. Previously at Automattic, he contributed to platforms serving millions through WooCommerce and WordPress. In addition to his corporate roles, Michael brings an entrepreneurial edge as the founder of community tech conferences and social entrepreneurship.

From developing Shopware 5 plugins in a newly founded startup to designing and consulting on complex Shopware 6 projects within a diverse team, Joshua has explored a wide range of topics over the past ten years.

He invests his remaining energy in submitting pull requests to various Shopware-related and independent projects.

At HEPTACOM, he drives internal development initiatives around tools, workflows, and feedback processes within the Shopware ecosystem.

In his role as Shopware Developer Evangelist, Niklas Dzösch is an important liaison between the developer community and Shopware – he is always available as a direct contact within Shopware for questions about the product and continuously brings feedback and ideas from external events back to Shopware developers. You can also find Niklas center stage in the Shopware Academy, where his online tutorials focus on helping developers understand the technology behind Shopware.

As a longtime Shopware employee, Moritz has experience in all kinds of areas of our business. As former person responsible for community management and service, he has learned to respond to the challenges and wishes of our customers. This perspective makes him the perfect fit for our product leadership team: As VP Product Management, Moritz is responsible for the product strategy, roadmap and innovation at Shopware. Together with his team he ensures that our products are tackling market & customer needs while incorporating the feedback from our various target groups.

Soner Sayakci, Principal Software Engineer, works on core technologies at shopware and is also part of FriendsOfShopware. As a Shopware employee and highly active community member, he passionately drives innovation and excellence while constantly trying new things.

Albert Scherman is Engineering Lead driving the vision and execution of Nexus, Shopware’s event-driven workflow and integration platform. Leading a cross-functional team across architecture, backend, frontend, and infrastructure, with a strong focus on scalability, security, and long-term maintainability. Passionate about clean system design, clear separation of concerns, and aligning technical decisions with product and business impact.

As the strategic mind behind Shopware’s latest innovations, Aaron not only plays a key role in shaping the product vision but, as leading product manager, is also responsible for the “Services” area, which drives the realization of agentic commerce with new products such as Copilot and Nexus. Most recently, he was responsible for the launch of the premium service “Shopware Intelligence+,” which provides a wide range of AI and spatial commerce features in a single bundle.

Martin Lingens, Product Manager at Shopware, has built up expertise in digital business processes through his more than 20 years of experience in e-commerce and logistics. He has worked as the managing director of several companies in the areas of software development and fulfilment for industry-leading customers. He and his team are currently focusing on the further development of Shopware's core functions.

Philipp Schuch has been part of shopware AG for over 13 years, playing a key role in the company’s journey from its early days to becoming a professional software company.

A familiar face on stage, he regularly speaks at community events, sharing insights from the heart of Shopware’s product and its continuous evolution.

Known within the shopware community for his openness and practical perspective, Philipp is passionate about connecting technology, innovation, and real-world business value.

Today, as a Principal Software Engineer in the framework team, he contributes to the technical foundation at the core of Shopware’s main product.

Andrii Havryliuk is a principal engineer at shopware, where he joined in 2024 and works in the framework team at the core of the product, focusing on backend development.

He worked for more than 11 years in e-commerce, building scalable backend systems and microservice-based architectures. He is particularly interested in performance, scaling, and backend architecture.

Originally from Ukraine and now based near Stuttgart, Andrii is a father of two. Outside of work, he enjoys running and regularly hiking in the Alps.

Jonas Elfering is a principal engineer at shopware, working at the intersection of platform architecture, developer experience, and large-scale commerce systems. He focuses on shaping the technical direction of the platform, enabling teams to build scalable, maintainable solutions while supporting a thriving developer and partner community.

With a strong background in PHP and modern commerce architectures, Jonas is particularly interested in topics such as extensibility, performance, developer tooling, and the evolution of composable commerce platforms.

Outside of his work in technology, Jonas is also an active triathlete, bringing the same discipline and endurance from sport into his day-to-day work.

Patrick Derks is a software engineer at Shopware with over five years of experience building and operating Shopware in cloud environments. He spent three years working on Shopware’s AWS-based SaaS platform and now focuses on the PaaS initiative, contributing to the open-source Helm charts and Shopware Operator that enable running Shopware on Kubernetes.

Pavel Polyakov leads the direction of Consulting Services at Shopware, focusing on complex enterprise commerce transformations, solution architecture, and high-impact tech, delivery across both pre- and post-sales engagements. He is dedicated to bridging business strategy with technical execution from the ground up.

Abbas Akhundov is a Senior Technical Consultant at Shopware, supporting agencies and customers in solving complex technical challenges across the post-sales lifecycle. He works hands-on with code reviews, infrastructure assessments, debugging, solution design and more. Helping teams resolve issues efficiently and build robust eCommerce systems. With a strong focus on practical problem-solving, Abbas bridges deep technical analysis with clear, actionable guidance. His work spans everything from diagnosing critical issues to advising on scalable architectures.

Samuel is a Technical Product Manager for Nexus, shaping product strategy and prioritising roadmaps while aligning product, design, and engineering teams. He uses user research and data-driven insights to turn business goals into clear, measurable outcomes.

Tim Lange is a Senior Platform Engineer at Shopware and has been working for over five years on the development and operation of the Shopware Business Platform – an internal ERP and CRM solution that supports key services within the Shopware ecosystem.

Originally coming from a software development background, his focus has increasingly shifted towards hosting and infrastructure. In this context, he has gained extensive experience migrating a monolithic PHP/Symfony application from on-premise environments to the AWS cloud, as well as operating workloads on Kubernetes and working with distributed systems.

Today, he is part of the PaaS Native team, where he works on a platform solution for hosting Shopware in cloud-native environments. He combines deep technical expertise with a strong understanding of business processes and user needs.