The institute

The people powering Swissi.

Swissi Institute for AI is a research-performing organisation. The faculty here carries both sides of that: the research the institute publishes, and the lessons it teaches.

Who teaches

Specialists who build the lessons they teach.

Practitioners and auditors from banking, industry and academia. Each publishes under their own name and is named on the certificates their lessons issue.

Dr.Walter KurzMBA, M.Sc.
Walter Kurz teaches how enterprise AI systems are designed to hold up under regulatory review, from multi-agent architecture to distributed ledgers. He is an AI researcher, recognised as an expert by Forbes in 2024, and speaks on AI innovation and AI business models. As a professor he supervises AI doctorates at EQF level 8, both PhD and DBA, and heads the Advanced AI Studies faculty. He holds a doctorate in business administration and management from the University of Graz and an MBA in change management from the University of Augsburg. His research covers company valuation under AI integration, AI in enterprise risk management and ESG with AI, and he reviews submissions for the American Journal of Artificial Intelligence in New York.
Prof. Dr.Stefan Marx
Stefan Marx teaches how an internal control system is built so it survives an audit, drawing on nineteen years of audit work at KPMG and a chair in auditing and accounting. He is a German Wirtschaftsprüfer and Steuerberater and a partner at Auren Deutschland in Nürnberg, auditing SMEs and groups across the DACH region under HGB and IFRS. He holds the chair at HfWU Nürtingen-Geislingen, where he leads the M.Sc. CGX in corporate governance and auditing, and he serves as an examiner in the German Wirtschaftsprüfer examination. His teaching covers tax compliance management systems, internal audit, sustainability and climate risk, DSGVO and anti-money-laundering controls.
Prof. Dr.Frank Reinhardt
Frank Reinhardt teaches tax law, banking regulation and corporate governance, as a practising Steuerberater and professor of tax law at HfWU Nürtingen-Geislingen. He has held the professorship since 2010 and was Studiendekan and Prodekan of the Faculty of Business and Law until 2023. He directs the LL.M. in Business Law and Corporate Governance and teaches in the M.Sc. in Corporate Governance and Auditing. His doctorate is in tax, and he writes books in the field. Before his academic career he spent years in the finance industry in executive management. His subject areas cover supervisory readiness under FINMA, BaFin and the FMA, internal control systems, risk management and compliance.
Prof. Dr.Jörg Westphal
Jörg Westphal teaches how sales organisations adopt AI: where trust in a system is earned, where it breaks, and how governance keeps the two aligned. He held the chair for market-oriented management at the FOM Hochschule and founded its competence centre for sales management; he now teaches at DHBW Stuttgart and zfuw Koblenz and supervises doctoral candidates. His research on trust in AI in sales organisations appeared in the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, and he edits and writes on sales enablement for Springer Gabler. Since 2012 he has also advised companies on marketing, sales and strategy, so the material rests on research and practice together.
Prof. Dr.Velimir Dedić
Velimir Dedić teaches how AI systems are built to be secure, and how the data behind them holds up to analysis. He is a full professor and heads the IT and Computer Science department at FITI Belgrade, where he lectures in management information systems and computer security, and he holds a doctorate in management information systems. His research covers information systems, computer security, data analysis and medical statistics, and he reviews for the International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning. He has taught information systems, computer security and e-business at universities in Serbia and the United Kingdom since 2009, and works on European research consortia.
Dr.Florian Kollberg
Florian Kollberg teaches how AI is governed inside regulated finance: model risk, process risk, and the evidence a supervisor expects to see. He holds a doctorate and has taught at HfWU Nürtingen-Geislingen since 2023. His practice covers corporate finance, M&A and many years in banking, with the buy-side habit of testing a valuation before believing it, and it extends into financial regulation, including FINMA requirements, and corporate governance with an ESG focus. In a large international automotive group he runs sustainability supply chain work with governance, risk and regulatory scope, where enterprise risk and ESG reporting meet an operating process.
Dr.Ralf Kittelberger
He teaches employment law, compliance management systems and corporate governance, and holds specialist-lawyer status in both employment law and company law. He holds a doctorate in law, is a Certified Compliance Expert and a certified supervisory board member, and has sat on the specialist-lawyer examination board of the Tübingen bar chamber since 2014. He has lectured at HfWU Nürtingen-Geislingen since 2016 and teaches compliance management systems and personnel law in its corporate governance master's programmes. Day to day he leads governance and legal work for an international specialty chemicals group, so the systems he teaches are the ones he runs.
Wojtek StrickerM.Sc. (DBA in AI, Cand.)
Wojtek Stricker teaches how AI components are priced into company valuations, KPI systems and investment cases, on about 15 years of corporate finance practice. He works in group steering, corporate finance and strategic controlling at the utility Westfalen Weser, following roles as senior controller at FLACO, interim managing director of Stüwa's Polish operation and head of production controlling at Arvato Financial Solutions. He holds an M.Sc. in Economics from the FernUniversität in Hagen and is a doctoral candidate (DBA) in AI. He is lead author of a research paper on firm valuation and is a certified professional in renewable energy finance (Frankfurt School of Finance & Management).
Mag.Stephan NeisserMBA
Stephan Neisser teaches how a company gets financed: IPO preparation, equity story, venture funding and buy-and-build, from a practice he has run since 2007. He prepared listings for Frequentis and Remus and built equity stories including S-Immo, after investment banking years in England. As CFO of GRE International in Vienna he ran financial strategy, group accounting and corporate structuring, and as CEO of MIT AG in Switzerland and of Biomasse-Kraftwerk Güssing he carried those decisions inside medical technology and renewable energy. He holds a Magister in International Business Administration from WU Vienna and an MBA from California State University, Hayward.
Dipl.-Kfm.Stephan Mauer
Stephan Mauer teaches how internal control, risk and compliance systems are built so that they hold up when an auditor tests them. He is a Wirtschaftsprüfer and Steuerberater in practice, and has audited annual and consolidated accounts under HGB and IFRS, run internal audit and IT audit in mid-sized groups and hospitals, and carried out Sarbanes-Oxley 404 work with network partners in the UK and the US. He works on compliance and risk management systems, corporate governance assessments, CSRD and ESRS sustainability reporting, and special audits with a fraud focus. He is a Certified Compliance Manager, holds supervisory and advisory board seats, and has taught auditing, consolidated accounts analysis and tax law at DHBW since 2012.
Michel MalaraMBA (PhD in AI, Cand.)
Michel Malara teaches how an organisation governs AI in practice: who decides, who carries the accountability, and how that is written into leadership routines. His doctoral research at Signum Magnum College examines AI-supported decision and steering logic in DACH organisations, and produced the SFV model, linking algorithmic steering, ethical reflection and organisational accountability, validated with fsQCA and quantitative methods. He has run his own HR consultancy since 1996, covering HR strategy, executive search and AI-supported talent management. He lectures at Swiss professional schools in leadership and HR management, and holds an MBA and the SVEB-1 teaching qualification.
Elias Beer
Elias Beer builds the communication side of an AI education platform: its social media, its digital presence, and the onboarding a new learner first meets. He runs the platform's external communication and its day-to-day contact with partner organisations.