The management of the WeGrow AG
WeGrow AG is still managed by the two founders of the company. Together, Allin Gasparian and Peter Diessenbacher form the executive board of the public limited company. They are supported by a three-member supervisory board made up of industry and economic experts.
Founder and Board of Directors
Allin Gasparian
Founder and Chairwoman of the Board
Ms. Gasparian studied economics at the University of Bonn, Germany. She is the founder and manager of the WeGrow Group. Since 2009, she has headed the company’s finance, sales, strategy and human resources departments. As a private lecturer at Fresenius University of Applied Sciences, she has been teaching the Master’s modules “Business Valuation” and “Corporate Finance”. Ms. Gasparian has been Chairwoman of the WeGrow AG Management Board since 2021.
Peter Diessenbacher
Founder and Executive Board
Mr. Diessenbacher studied agricultural sciences at the University of Bonn, Germany. From 2008 to 2010, Mr. Diessenbacher worked for the university as a research assistant, where he was responsible for research projects in the field of bioenergy/renewable resources. As founder and managing partner of the WeGrow Group, he has been in charge of the company’s young plant production, plantation management, wood processing and research and development divisions since 2009. As a speaker, he regularly lectures at national and international institutes and universities in the field of agriculture and forestry. He is the author of scientific papers on the subject of renewable resources. Since 2021, Mr. Diessenbacher has been the technical director of the WeGrow AG.
Supervisory Board
Wolfram Bernd Christian Wagner
Chairman
Mr. Wolfram Wagner studied business administration at the University of Cologne and the Université de Clermont-Ferrand (France) from 1986 to 1992. After graduating with a degree in business administration, he worked for PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Düsseldorf and Paris from 1992 to 2004 in auditing and audit-related consulting. During this time he passed the professional examinations to become a tax consultant (1996) and auditor (1997). In 2004, he joined a medium-sized auditing and tax consultancy firm in Düsseldorf as a partner. Today, the company operates under the name ADKL Group. Mr Wagner holds various offices there as a partner, board member or managing director of the associated companies. Within the ADKL Group, Mr Wagner heads the Corporate Finance/Company Valuation division. In addition, he is responsible for the fiduciary activities and the assumption of the function “internal audit” for smaller insurance companies, pension funds and provident funds.
Prof. Dr. Carsten Mai
Vice-Chairman
Dr. Carsten Mai studied chemistry at the Georg-August University of Göttingen from October 1987 to October 1994. From March 1995 to July 1998 he completed his doctoral thesis at the Institute of Forest Botany of the Faculty of Forestry and Forest Ecology at the Georg-August University of Göttingen. From September 1998 to December 2000, Dr Mai was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Forest Botany and Forest Ecology at the University of Göttingen. From December 2000 to June 2006, he worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Wood Biology and Wood Technology in the Department of “Wood Biology and Wood Products”, where he was engaged in teaching activities and was scientifically involved mainly in the chemical modification of solid wood and wood-based materials. He continued this work as a research associate at the Burckhardt Institute of the Faculty of Forestry and Forest Ecology at the University of Göttingen in the department “Wood Biology and Wood Products” since May 2006. In January 2011, Dr Mai completed his habilitation with the title “Chemical Modification of Wood and Determination of the Resulting Wood Properties” at the Faculty of Forestry and Forest Ecology at Göttingen University. Since September 2014, Dr Mai has been an adjunct professor of wood sciences at the Georg-August University of Göttingen.
Antje Kullrich
Antje Kullrich is a self-employed media trainer and consultant, capital market expert and lecturer. She is an economics graduate and studied at the University of Cologne from 1994 to 1998. At the same time, she was trained as a business journalist at the Cologne School of Journalism for Politics and Economics. She started her professional career at the news agency vwd (now: Dow Jones). In 2001, she joined Börsen-Zeitung as a correspondent, where she reported on exchange-listed and capital market-oriented companies, corporate finance, IPOs and start-ups. In spring 2024, she started her own business. She advises board members and coaches managers on how to deal correctly with the press.
Carl Josef Theodor Ruland
Mr. Carl Ruland studied Business Administration at the IWW at the Distance University of Hagen from 2008 to 2010, and received a Master of Business Administration from Aberystwyth University, Wales in 2011. From April 2001 to June 2007, Mr Ruland worked for the Domo Group/Belgium as BU Manager Cushion Vinyl in Gent/Belgium. From July 2007 to date, he has been with Novalis Enterprises Limited / Hong Kong, where he is responsible for product and market development in Europe and Africa. Since May 2018, Mr. Ruland has been a board member of the MMFA (Multi Modular Flooring Association, Brussels) as chairman for market development.