Born in Dresden, Germany, holds a PhD in Economics (summa cum laude, 2011) from LMU Munich and an MA in Political Economy (2005) from the University of Essex. Since 2023, serves as W3 Chaired Professor of Business Administration (Finance & Financial Technology) at Dresden University of Technology (member of the Senate and Faculty Council), with prior roles including W3 Professor at the University of Bremen (2020–2023, Head of Diginomics Research Group, Founder of BreLAB).
Research focuses on FinTech, crowdfunding, AI in finance, and behavioral finance, with over 100 publications in journals like Journal of Corporate Finance and Small Business Economics; h-index 37 (Google Scholar, 2025), ranked top 3% of German business scholars (Handelsblatt Ranking 2024). Secured major grants (e.g., €282k from German Research Foundation for AI in pension provision, €800k from Sparkasse Bremen for NLP). Holds certifications as Eurex/Xetra Trader, with industry experience at Deutsche Bank (2005). Has held visiting positions at Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Georgetown, organized 10+ international conferences, and been featured in media like Financial Times and Handelsblatt.