Meet the Team

A true entrepreneur at heart, Valentin has always been close to the startup community. Before N26, he was an Entrepreneur in Residence for Rocket Internet, an incubator and investor in online startups. There, he helped to develop several companies in the mobile payments industry, including payleven and Paymill GmbH.

His experience working in strategy consulting and investment banking, along with a passion for solving problems with technology, led him to found N26 and challenge an industry ripe for change.

Valentin has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management and a master’s degree in accounting and finance from the University of St. Gallen. He is also a member of the advisory board at the Vienna University of Economics and Business.

Their vision is to create a bank that 100 million people around the world love to use, giving people the power to live and bank their way.

Max was also Chief Financial Officer of The Mobile Bank before taking on the co-CEO role alongside his co-founder. Previously, he worked in a variety of consulting and financial roles at leading professional services firms, including CMS and Booz & Company. Max holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics and business administration from the University of Vienna. He also has a master’s degree in economics from the Community of European Management Schools, as well as a law degree from the University of Vienna. Max is a CFA charterholder.

While Max is based in Berlin he enjoys skiing in the mountains of Austria and Switzerland.

He played an instrumental role in obtaining N26’s European banking license in 2016. After that, he assumed the role as Director of International Expansion, where he was in charge of making N26 available across 24 European markets.

In today's role as Chief Growth Officer, Alex is responsible for International Expansion, Marketing and European markets, focused on driving business impact and writing the next chapter of N26’s growth story.

Alex is an entrepreneur at heart, passionate about solving meaningful problems at a global scale. Alex studied at the University of New South Wales in Sydney and the Vienna University of Economics and Business from where he has a degree in international business administration.

With two decades of entrepreneurship and product leadership experience in the consumer internet industry, Gilles has founded two venture-backed companies in Silicon Valley - FanTV, the first multi-service discovery app for video streaming which was later acquired by Tivo, and Vuze, the largest open-source BitTorrent application.

Prior to N26, Gilles was the CPO of SoundCloud, where he transformed and scaled the product organization, re-centering its strategy around direct artist-fan connections, supporting strong revenue growth. Before that, he also held the CPO position at Samsung Electronics, overseeing content and services for Samsung Smart TVs globally, including its smart voice assistant, streaming services and new product and category launches.

At N26, Gilles leads all product teams based across the company’s international offices in Berlin, Barcelona, Vienna and New York. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Masters of Science from the École Pour l'Informatique et les Techniques Avancées (EPITA) in France.

With diverse experience in retail, private equity, capital markets and strategy consulting, Gino has always had a passion for data and all things technical.

He joined the company in June 2015 as Head of Data, before becoming Chief Data Officer two years later. He continues to bring a strong focus on data-driven insight and innovation to his role today.

Gino holds a degree in Accounting & Finance (M.A. HSG) from the University of St. Gallen.

Jan joined N26 from Berlin-based travel scale-up Omio Corp., where in his role as Managing Director (CFO/COO), he built out the company’s governance model and its operational backbone, completed the acquisition of Rome2Rio, and organized a US$100M funding round in the midst of a global pandemic. Prior to that, Jan was Group CFO/ CIO and Executive Board Member Commerce & IT at German DAX 30-listed entertainment company ProSieben, where he oversaw a strict efficiency program, refinanced a €3bn credit facility and led the formation of the Unicorn NuCom Group through a series of M&A deals. Jan was also the CFO at Zalando SE, where he led the company’s successful €526m IPO in 2014, while being responsible for operations functions such as payments, sourcing, workplace and real estate.

A veteran of Berlin’s vibrant tech ecosystem and a passionate start-up investor himself, Jan brings two decades of experience in dynamic, high-growth environments, as well as a solid background in Operations leadership and complex capital market transactions such as M&A and IPOs. He holds a PhD in Business Administration and Economics from RWTH Aachen University, where he continues to teach as a lecturer and Assistant Professor for the institution’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group. He is an active triathlete and loves to play the piano.

Thomas has a wealth of expertise and experience in the space where banking and technology converge. Before joining N26, he was Industry Leader Banking at Google Germany, responsible for partnerships with German banks and fintechs, and closely involved in the market rollout of Google Pay.

Previously, he was a member of the Executive Board at Wüstenrot Group as well as a director at Deutsche Bank working in their private and business client division. He started his career as a consultant at McKinsey serving the banking and insurance industry.

Thomas has an MBA degree from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business and holds a master degree in Economics from the University of Cologne.

With nearly 20 years of experience, Anke is deeply involved in many key aspects of N26’s strategic business decisions and operations, and is responsible for the organization’s legal team made up of specialists in Corporate, Funding & Regulatory Law, Banking Law & Litigation, Data Privacy, IP&IT, Commercial & Beyond Banking. She also oversees legal operations in the German, French, Italian, Spanish and US markets.

For close to 10 years prior to joining N26, Anke was Legal Counsel at Luther, a leading German commercial law firm. In her position, she was responsible for the legal functions related to Banking, Finance and Capital Markets. Additionally, Anke headed legal operations in the South African market.

Anke holds a degree in Law from Berlin’s Humboldt University, as well as a Master of Laws in International Trade Law from South Africa’s University of the Western Cape.

Since joining N26 in 2016, Timo has held multiple positions within the company and has gained experience across a broad spectrum of functions within the N26 business. Most recently, he was General Manager of N26 in the US, where he oversaw the US Marketing, Product, and Technology functions, as well as headcount, strategy and planning. Among his other responsibilities through the years, Timo oversaw the IT readiness initiative as part of N26's application for a banking license in Europe, and managed the integration of the firm’s core banking system and connection to the SEPA schemes. As Market Expansion Lead, Timo Meyer was responsible for the successful entry of N26 into new markets, including the UK.

Prior to joining N26, Timo worked at Deutsche Bank, where he held various roles in Corporate and Investment Banking. Timo holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Finance from the Berlin School of Economics and Law.

With over 15 years of experience in management consultancy with a strong focus on financial services, Andrea thrives in the space where banking, finance and technology converge. Over his career, he has helped some of the world’s largest players in the industry to establish agile working models and implement complex digital transformations in markets all across the globe.

Andrea holds a degree in international business from Nottingham Trent University. He is also a certified Scrum Master and Product owner.

Since N26 entered the market in 2017, he has played an instrumental and strategic role in growing the brand’s footprint in France to reach today more than 1,5 million customers and only after 3 years. Today, he is responsible for both France and the BeneLux cluster at N26, ensuring that the digital bank continues to disrupt the traditional banking industry by making banking simpler and more transparent.

Jérémie has extensive experience in international expansion and growth. He started his career in 2005 in M&A between Paris and London, completing numerous deals within the Banking, Industrials and Energy sectors. He has led multiple successful market entries in his previous role with Burger King, with a keen understanding of what it takes to develop brands and accelerate growth through deep market insight.

Jérémie holds an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, as well as a M.Sc in Telecommunication engineering.

With more than 15 years of experience in international banking, Marta joined N26 from the Swiss banking group Lombard Odier, where she was Senior Vice President. Previously, Echarri held various senior positions in JP Morgan's asset management divisions in the New York and Madrid offices.

Marta studied International Business Administration at ICADE, Universidad Pontificia de Comillas in Madrid and Northeastern University in Boston. In addition, she has completed executive programs in digital transformation at IE and ISDI.