The SER Group management team

Executive leadership

Dr. John Bates

Chief Executive Officer

Dr. John Bates is Chief Executive Officer of SER Group. John is an experienced CEO, with over 25 years of industry experience, and he has collaborated three times with SER’s majority owners, the Carlyle Group. John is also Non-Executive Director of Sage Group PLC, a leader in cloud accounting and financial management software.

Prior to SER, John was CEO of Eggplant, a pioneer of AI-powered software test automation (acquired by Keysight Technologies), CEO of Plat.One, an IoT apps platform (acquired by SAP) and Founder/President of Apama, a pioneer of streaming analytics (acquired by Software AG). He has also served as a C-level executive in several public software companies, including Software AG and Progress Software. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Cambridge University.

Johannes Klutz

Chief Financial Officer

Johannes Klutz is Chief Financial Officer of SER Group, responsible for Finance, Legal and IT. Johannes brings extensive experience in growth software, private equity and M&A to support SER’s continued growth and international expansion.

Prior to SER, Johannes served as Group CFO at PTV, later rebranded to Umovity and PTV Logistics, working closely with equity investors Bridgepoint. At PTV, he oversaw strong value creation across all financial KPIs with consistent double-digit growth as well as transformational M&A activity and strategic reorganization. During his time at Porsche SE’s Investment department, Porsche SE acquired PTV and invested in various startups. Johannes started his career at the Investment Bank Rothschild, dedicating five years to a number of European mid- to large-cap deals, including IPOs.

Dr. Gregor Joeris

Chief Technology Officer

Dr. Gregor Joeris is Chief Technology Officer of SER Group, responsible for product development and cloud operations. With more than 20 years developing technology at SER, Gregor led the reinvention and redevelopment of the core technology platform from a classic Document Management System to the modern, scalable, metadata-based Intelligent Content Automation platform rated by analysts today as the most advanced offering in the market.

As CTO, Joeris focuses on the delivery of continued technical innovation including the company’s AI strategy, while overseeing uniquely complex initiatives and contributing to the company’s overall strategic development. Gregor studied Computer Science at RWTH Aachen University and received his PhD on flexible workflow management at the AI lab of the University of Bremen.

Martin Hennings

Chief Customer Officer

In his role as Chief Customer Officer, Martin Hennings is responsible for all post-sales customer-facing activities, including Professional Services and Customer Operations. His main goals are to further drive value for customers and to empower the SER team to deliver next-generation Intelligent Content Automation solutions in a way that both meets customer demands and ensures highly sustainable business for SER.

A seasoned CX and Professional Services leader with a proven track record building highly successful customer programs, Martin has over 20 years of experience working at software firms. He most recently held the position of Vice President Professional Services EMEA at AppDynamics, an Application Performance Management platform vendor. Prior to this, he worked in various customer-facing executive roles at companies including BMC Software and IBM.

Will McInnes

Chief Marketing Officer

As Chief Marketing Officer, Will McInnes is responsible for all marketing and communications activities. Will’s primary focus is driving new business growth, working closely with the company’s sales leaders, while unlocking the full potential of SER’s brand in the global ECM market.

Will has a successful track record in profitably scaling businesses and growing global brands for European tech firms. Prior to SER, McInnes was the CMO of Ultimate (generative AI for customer support) where he helped to double revenue in 18 months, and Brandwatch (global leader in social media analytics, acquired by Cision/Platinum Equity), where the team scaled from Series B to beyond £100m in revenues and EBITDA profitability. In 2012, Will’s book Culture Shock was published by Wiley.

Janine Trinkaus

Chief People Officer

As the Chief People Officer, Janine Trinkaus is responsible for the global HR strategy and people operations of the SER Group. With a strong business focus, Janine brings extensive experience leading HR in rapidly evolving international software companies. Prior to SER, Janine was CPO at Questback (now Tivian), where she worked closely with the CEO, CFO and CTO on a strategic turnaround.

With nearly 15 years’ experience working in human resources, Janine places great value in the further development and advancement of employees. Encouraging togetherness, open lines of communication and a culture of trust are her biggest priorities. Together with her highly committed HR team, Janine’s mission is to underpin and empower the company to reach consistently higher levels of organizational performance.

Leadership team

Nabil Ben Abdallah

VP Sales International

As Vice President Sales for International, Nabil Ben Abdallah is responsible for sales in the Americas, Northern and Southern Europe, and APJ. Spearheading SER Group’s market development outside of Central EMEA across both Direct and Channel go-to-markets, Nabil has a deep understanding of the market. Prior to SER, Ben Abdallah led commercial teams at CA Technologies, Automation Anywhere and Automic Software.

With degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, Nabil specializes in building and developing high performance enterprise software sales and professional services teams. In addition to his passion for the digital world, he is also an enthusiastic tennis and football player in his free time.

Jair Godschalk

VP Sales Central EMEA

Jair Godschalk is a Vice President of Sales, Central EMEA. Jair has worked over 20 years in ECM projects across diverse industries and project areas. With a tenure at SER Group of more than 10 years, Jair utilizes his deep expertise to help companies in their decision-making and ECM implementations.

In his early years while working at his family's software company, Jair - who was born in the Netherlands - was already enthusiastic about getting people excited about digital solutions. Throughout his career, Jair has held a wide variety of positions and responsibilities in which he’s demonstrated his passion for customer satisfaction: in sales, international project management, professional services, product management and development.

Thorsten Schneider

VP Sales Central EMEA

Thorsten Schneider is responsible for sales growth in central EMEA and leads existing customer and key account sales. As a Vice President of Sales, he continuously optimizes sales structures throughout the German-speaking market and sales processes inside and outside of the SER Group.

After completing his Engineering degree in Muenster, Germany and at California State University, Fresno, Thorsten worked for over 20 years in account & field sales management in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In addition to his interest in all things automation, cloud computing and SaaS, Thorsten is also a sports enthusiast: he is particularly passionate about sailing — but also loves diving and playing soccer.

Douglas Cardoso

VP Products

As VP of Product Management, Douglas Cardoso manages the entire product portfolio strategy of SER. Since taking the role, Douglas has launched a number of strategically important Cloud and AI initiatives, as well as elevating the role of UX and structured customer feedback via a user group. For Douglas, product management plays a crucial role in a company’s success and requires strategic thinking, entrepreneurship, curiosity, deep understanding of customer challenges, and industry knowledge.

Prior to SER, Cardoso was a Lead Product Manager at OpenText. With a B.Sc. in Systems Analysis and Computer Science and over 10 years of industry experience, Douglas has designed and developed digital products for a wide variety of sectors. His unwavering fascination for innovation and how technology can benefit people have been his compass throughout his career.

Markus D. Hartbauer

VP Solution Engineering

Markus D. Hartbauer is VP of Solution Engineering. For over 20 years now, Markus has worked in various functions for the SER Group throughout Europe — including positions as a Project Manager, Professional Services Manager, Product Application Manager and Chief Solutions Architect.

As a digital transformation visionary, Markus advises C-levels from diverse sectors to help them develop ideas and solutions for their companies. He is also a frequent keynote speaker at conferences around the world. Hartbauer studied Business Management, Project Management/IT and User Experience Management.

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