BIOGRAPHY

Thomas Aidan Curran, 50, is the Deutsche Telekom's "Software CTO" - Chief Technology Officer for Products & Innovation. His responsibilities include the Group’s Innovation Management, development and deployment for one of Europe's largest ISP, T-Online, Europe's leading IPTV platform, T-Home Entertain, the new set of three-screen convergent technologies, "Connected Life and Work", and the Research and Development arm, T-Labs.

The "serial entrepreneur" founded five high tech companies in the past 25 years, including a innovative development tool for cross platform software engineering, and a breakthrough product connecting the Internet and SAP.

After working for SAP AG as developer and product manager from 1991 to 1997, he founded Component Software in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which developed the state of the art e-business integration platform software for customers including SAP, SAS, Baan, IBM, and Siebel, and sold Component to a leading enterprise software company in 2000.

In 2000, he joined Bertelsmann as Group CTO and CIO, responsible formulating the company's technology strategy, and transforming the IT organization into a recognized international service provider. He guided the company efforts in "Digitization" including re-engineering the Napster music service, and was a Board Member in Bertelsmann Venture Capital.

In 2003 he became a founder and director of the Digital Media Project, which created the first standards for open-source DRM. Curran has also worked as Media Technologist for BBC, Strategic Advisor to Microsoft, Advisory Board Member for Silicon Image, Board Member for Wherever.TV and as volunteer CTO for the Department of Education New York City. From 2006 to 2009, he was a founder and member of the Executive Board of Telemos AG in Munich.

Trained in Operations Research and Computer Science, Curran graduated from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and subsequently held teaching and research positions at the Wharton Analysis Center, the International Science Center (Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin), Berlin University of the Arts (Universität der Künste Berlin), and Technische Universität Berlin.