VideosRoger Lienhard
Founder & Chairman
Blue Horizon
Board Member
The LIVEKINDLY co., Venture
Roger Lienhard
Founder & Chairman
Blue Horizon
Board Member
The LIVEKINDLY co., Venture
Roger Lienhard is Founder and Chairman of Blue Horizon. Roger’s journey to investing in sustainable social entrepreneurship and development projects related to plant-/cell-based food and related topics around the globe started after a successful career building and selling several advertising, media and online marketing companies. He is a vegan pioneer in the financial community and has a deeply rooted mission to taking the animals out of the food chain and support companies for creating a brighter, more sustainable future. To accelerate his mission, he founded the Blue Horizon International Foundation.
Björn Witte
Managing Partner & CEO
Blue Horizon
Board Member
The LIVEKINDLY co.
Björn Witte
Managing Partner & CEO
Blue Horizon
Board Member
The LIVEKINDLY co.
Björn Witte is the Managing Partner of Blue Horizon. Björn is assessing opportunities and developing the pure-play impact investment strategy of Blue Horizon Group. He is Blue Horizons strategic thinker and deal maker with a strong background of transforming the food industries as an entrepreneur in international markets. Björn has a track record in building and developing companies, from analyzing and spotting opportunities to setting priorities and getting things done.
Thomas Kindler
Legal Counsel &
Partner
Thomas Kindler
Legal Counsel &
Partner
Thomas is our start-up and transaction specialist. He has over 15 years of hands-on experience in building agriculture, food processing and other start-up ventures. He holds a PhD in Law from the University of Bern, Switzerland and a Master’s Degree in International Corporate Law from Georgetown University in Washington DC, USA.
Michel Hirschi
Managing Partner &
CFO Blue Horizon
Michel Hirschi
Managing Partner &
CFO Blue Horizon
Michel Hirschi is responsible for managing the financial and governance functions of Blue Horizon and supporting the company’s growth strategy in the food 4.0 industry. Michel has over 20 years of broad international finance expertise in the technology and industrial markets including strategic transformations through the economic cycles. Before joining Blue Horizon, Michel Hirschi held several CFO and executive positions in the Swiss IT and industry sector. He also was a non-executive board member and advisor in various private equity funds and their portfolio companies.
Przemek Obloj
Managing Partner Growth
Przemek Obloj
Managing Partner Growth
Przemek Obloj is responsible for the Company’s growth capital and private equity business, expanding Blue Horizon’s investment universe beyond its successful seed and venture capital operations. He brings more than 15 years of investing experience from leading global organisations including CVC Capital Partners and EQT Partners. Prior to joining Blue Horizon, Przemek was the Managing Director and Head of European Private Equity at PSP Investments, a C$ 170 billion Canadian pension investment manager. He started his career at McKinsey & Company and holds a MSc in Finance from Warsaw School of Economics and an MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau and Singapore.
Sedef Köktentürk
Managing Partner &
COO Blue Horizon
Sedef Köktentürk
Managing Partner &
COO Blue Horizon
Sedef Köktentürk is a Managing Partner and the Chief Operating Officer of Blue Horizon and leads on firmwide impact management, client operations and technology. She is the Impact Partner on the Blue Horizon Growth team, and focuses on ESG integration. Sedef has 20 years of capital markets experience from leading global investment firms including Generation Investment Management and Goldman Sachs. She started her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers in financial advisory and holds an MBA from the Columbia Business School in New York. Sedef is also an Olympian; she represented Turkey in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in windsurfing.
Chris Peter
Digital &
Chief Of Staff
Chris Peter
Digital &
Chief Of Staff
Chris is Chief of staff and our digital media & innovation guru. He has decades of expertise in leading digital business projects and teams and a strong background in project management and product/service development. He is well versed in implementing online strategies (e.g. HNI platform for Art Basel), aggregating traffic and motivating as well as inspiring teams to embrace the digital mindset in order to transform products and services into revenue and assets.
Janna Schubert
Client Solutions
Janna Schubert
Client Solutions
Janna brings over 5 years of experience in Fundraising, Venture Capital, Private Equity and Corporate Finance to her role in Blue Horizon’s Investor Relations Team, after holding positions at EY Transaction Advisory, Lürssen, and most recently Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners. With a long-standing history in animal welfare activism and advocating for plant-based nutrition, Janna joined Blue Horizon to leverage her business skillset and her drive to replace animal-derived products with more sustainable options in global consumer markets. Additional to building a strong network in the global impact investing ecosystem, Janna functions as an advisor to sustainability-driven start-ups, and as a judge at start-up pitch competitions. Janna holds an M.Sc. from HEC Paris, and B.Sc. from European Business School.
Matteo Parenti
Junior Director
Matteo Parenti
Junior Director
Matteo is a Junior Director at Blue Horizon in Zurich. He has a 7 year background in Investment Banking at Rothschild & Co in both Europe and the US. Before joining Blue Horizon, Matteo was a Vice President of M&A in New York where he focused on transactions in the Food & Beverage industry. He is passionate about working with entrepreneurs and impact driven companies to improve the way we eat. Matteo holds an MBA from INSEAD (Fontainebleau and Singapore) and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of St. Gallen (HSG).
Solange Silva
Financial Analyst
Solange Silva
Financial Analyst
Solange is Finance Analyst at our headquarter in Zurich. She has a Bachelor's degree in Economics, specialized in Financial Analysis and in Marketing Management at Lisbon University, and obtained her MBA at IESE Business School. She developed her skills in investments by working six years as executive board member in an Asset Management Company in Lisbon and also working at Blue Horizon Management AG in Zurich.
Robert Boer
Program Director
Robert Boer
Program Director
Robert is our Program Director responsible for several strategic initiatives. He has over 15 years of experience managing programs in large financial services firms across Europe either as management consultant (KPMG) or project manager (ABN Amro Asset Management). Most recently he built and ran UBS's Global Visionaries program identifying and supporting impact-driven entrepreneurs at the forefront of tackling some of the world's most challenging social and environmental problems. At UBS, Robert was also leading the plant-based movement moderating Future of Food panels at UHNW and GFO events, integrating the topic in CIO research and facilitating access to plant-based investment opportunities. Using his global network in the plant-based entrepreneurship space, Robert is responsible for growing our (pre-)seed portfolio. He holds two Master degrees (MSc) in business and consulting from the Rotterdam School of Management.
Fabio Segat
Corporate Development
Fabio Segat
Corporate Development
Fabio is responsible for Corporate Development and strategic projects at Blue Horizon and mainly focuses on Legal, Compliance, Corporate Governance and HR topics. He is a Swiss Attorney-at-Law and holds an Executive M.B.L. from the University of St. Gallen (HSG) in European and International Business Law. Before joining Blue Horizon, Fabio worked in several renowned law firms in Zurich and Zug and was Head Legal & Compliance and CHRO of MediaMarkt Switzerland.
Allison Crowley
Executive Assistant
Allison Crowley
Executive Assistant
Based in the United States, Allison has joined Blue Horizon as Executive Assistant to Founder/Executive Chairman, Roger Lienhard. She has extensive office and events management experience in the ad tech and finance industries, including MediaMath, Bridgewater, and AQR. After attending Redlands University and the Arts Institutes of America, Allison was assistant to celebrities Melissa Joan Hart and Mark Wilkerson. As a passionate vegan for over a decade, she is thrilled to be working with an organization that is dedicated to creating a more sustainable future.
Nate Crosser
Entrepreneur-in-Residence
Nate Crosser
Entrepreneur-in-Residence
Nate is the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Blue Horizon, where he works on investment portfolio development, industry analysis, partnership development, and strategic initiatives. Nate is a subject matter expert in alternative proteins, previously working as the Startup Growth Specialist at the Good Food Institute – the leading NGO in the sector – where he drafted the three flagship state of the industry reports on plant-based, cell-based, and fermentation-enabled meat, eggs, and dairy. He is a frequent public speaker, writer of 15+ published articles, author of the eco-biotechnology newsletter, Fifth Industrial. Nate previously worked at a university-affiliated biotechnology incubator, apprenticed with a venture capital firm, and earned a B.A. (Economics) and J.D. (Commercial Law) from the University of Kansas.
Armin Grunewald
Group Accountant &
Risk Manager
Armin Grunewald
Group Accountant &
Risk Manager
Armin is responsible for Blue Horizon’s Accounting, Controlling and Risk Management and supports the financial and governance functions. Prior to joining Blue Horizon, he was Senior Audit Manager at Swiss Life and lead Internal Audit mandates in the area of Asset Management. He started his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers and holds a BSc in Finance & Accounting, graduated as Swiss Certified Public Accountant and is a Certified Swiss Fund and Asset Management Officer.