At the end of 2022, the management of Karakun AG initiated a transformation process to reconstitute the leadership team. The goal of this process is to realign with future challenges and to engage in proactive succession planning. In this context, Christoph Erb joined the management team in January 2024. As of July 1, 2024, Markus Schlichting has been appointed the new CEO.
Markus Schlichting is a founding member of Karakun AG and, therefore, is highly familiar with the company and its employees. After completing his computer science studies in Stuttgart (Germany), he worked successfully with several other founders at the predecessor company of Karakun AG. At Karakun, he initially worked as a Senior Software Engineer and Software Architect. Over time, Mr. Schlichting increasingly took on additional responsibilities in Key Accounting and Business Development. Being a technically oriented expert with extensive industry knowledge in financial services, insurance, pharma, and automotive sectors, Markus Schlichting now takes on a central role in the leadership team of Karakun AG. He succeeds Dr. Elisabeth Maier in this position.
"I am honoured to take on the role of CEO at Karakun and look forward to shaping the company's future together with the entire team," says Markus Schlichting. "In an era where digital transformation and artificial intelligence (AI) are redefining entire industries, Karakun will continue to provide its customers with sustainable and scalable solutions that offer genuine added value. In doing so, we will harness the power of open collaboration and forward-looking technologies in line with our passion for open source."
“In the past six years since we founded Karakun, we have specialized in our core business, the development and maintenance of custom software, for various industries such as finance, insurance, and the public sector. At the same time, we have successfully positioned ourselves with products in the automotive and Swiss electrical industries. And, our self-developed AI platform HIBU solves many different use cases for our customers,” summarizes Elisabeth Maier. “With this portfolio, our four locations in Switzerland, Germany, and India, and the personnel changes, we are ready for the next growth step."
Elisabeth Maier will continue to work predominantly in her area of expertise, artificial intelligence, where she focuses on the positioning and further development of the portfolio. Additionally, she will remain closely connected to Karakun as a member of the Board of Directors.