IT security network of the Ruhr Area elects new Executive Board and receives its own office
At its general meeting on 16 October 2019, eurobits, an association of leading IT security research institutes, established companies in the IT security industry and young start-ups from the Ruhr region, elected a new board member.
The previous director Birgitte Baardseth, isits AG International School of IT Security, was no longer available for re-election as chairwoman, but remains on the board as an associate member.
The new board
The general meeting thanked Birgitte Baardseth for her commitment. She has been involved since the foundation of the association in 1999 and took over the chairmanship in December 2016. The new board now consists of the following members:
- Christine Skropke, secunet Security Networks AG, was elected as a new member of the executive board and at the same time as the new chairwoman of the executive board.
- Deputy directors are the newly elected Ralf Benzmüller, G DATA CyberDefense AG, and the re-elected Timo Gendrullis, ESCRYPTGmbH.
- Birgitte Baardseth, isits AG and Dr. Heiko Koepke, PHYSEC GmbH, who was confirmed in his office, will act as assessors of the Executive Board in future.
- Dr. Rainer Baumgart, former long-standing CEO of secunet Security Networks AG and eurobits' successor to Christian Zelsen from Bochum Economic Development, was elected as the new treasurer.
Friederike Schneider becomes Managing Director
In structural terms, additional subsidies recently promised by the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia and coming from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) 2014-2020 "Investments in Growth and Employment" are helpful. With the help of these funds, eurobits will be able to set up its own full-time office including personnel management and two additional employees. Friederike Schneider has been appointed Managing Director of the eurobits office by the Executive Board. Schneider joined the Horst Görtz Institute for IT Security in 2015 and is responsible for research and transfer. One focus of her work is the promotion of ITS start-ups. Among other things, she worked on the development of the IT security incubator Cube5 and specialized in the application of third-party funds at the HGI. Her tasks include in particular the management of the office.
Increased protection against cyber attacks
"We are convinced that the further development as well as the national and international profiling of the IT security location Ruhrgebiet and thus also of the state NRW requires a close cooperation of all involved actors. Together we want to use the innovative power of the region not only to strengthen the IT security industry, but above all to protect industry and medium-sized businesses from cyber attacks," says Christine Skropke, highlighting the strengths of the association and the region represented.
Ralf Benzmüller looks optimistically into the future "The foundation stone has been laid. With the office and the new employees, eurobits is very well positioned for the coming tasks. We are looking forward to the tasks ahead".
Contact: Friederike Schneider
E-mail: kontakt(at)eurobits.de
www.eurobits.de
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