Honorary professorships

Wieland Backes, born in 1946, holds a doctorate in chemistry and geography. His passion is the media: he made his first film at the age of 16. In 1973, he began an internship at Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR) television, became a reporter, editor, presenter, documentary filmmaker and finally, in 1981, head of the magazine programme "Abendschau Baden-Württemberg" for five years. In 1987, Backes founded the "Journalistic Entertainment" department, a novelty in the German television landscape at the time. The talk show "Nachtcafé", which he hosted from the very beginning, became its flagship programme. Backes celebrated the 500th edition in July 2009. However, Backes also took on other programmes and moderations, including the personality show "Auf der Couch" from 1989 to 1992, which occasionally ran on ARD's main evening programme. Since 1999, he has also presented the programme "Ich trage einen großen Namen" and the summer series "Schlaflos im Südwesten." Backes has long been committed to Stuttgart as a media location: he is one of the founders of the "Initiative MedienRegion Stuttgart".

In 2006, he was awarded the Medal of Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg for his commitment.
In October 2010, the television journalist and presenter was appointed honorary professor at the HdM. There he co-founded the Institute for Moderation and is involved in the moderation qualification programme.

Prof. Andreas Bieswanger was appointed IBM Fellow in April 2020 and assumed the position of "IBM Z CTO Platform Management & Optimisation" at IBM. In this role, he is responsible for the strategy and architecture of hardware platform management for the IBM Z and LinuxONE product families. In close co-operation with users, he implements innovation and transformation projects to increase the vitality and growth of the platform. After completing his studies in computer science, he has contributed significantly to product development projects at IBM Deutschland Research & Development GmbH in Böblingen since 1994. His professional career was complemented by several years abroad at the IBM development centre in Austin, Texas.

In June 2023, Andreas Bieswanger was appointed Honorary Professor by the Senate of the Hochschule der Medien.

Dr Emanuel Burkhardt has been lecturing on copyright, publishing and media law in all faculties at the university since October 1995. After training in the administrative service, Burkhardt worked in the personnel department at the Stuttgart Regional Council. At the same time, he attended evening school, where he passed his school-leaving examination in 1981. He then studied economics and law at the Albert-Ludwigs University in Freiburg. He completed his doctorate in labour law under Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Manfred Löwisch. Since 1992, Burkhardt has worked as a lawyer at the law firm Löffler-Wenzel-Sedelmeier, since June 2022 Rödl GmbH Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft Steuerberatungsgesellschaft, in Stuttgart, specialising in media and copyright law.

Among his numerous publications, the textbook "Urheberrecht für die Praxis" (Copyright Law for Practitioners), founded by Karl Egbert Wenzel, and the 6th edition of the handbook "Wenzel, Das Recht der Wort- und Bildberichterstattung" (Wenzel, The Law of Word and Image Reporting), published in 2018, are particularly noteworthy. He is also the editor of "Löffler, Presserecht Kommentar", 7th edition 2023. Burkhardt is managing director of the Studienkreis für Presserecht und Pressefreiheit e.V., a member of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für gewerblichen Rechtsschutz und Urheberrecht e.V., a member of the Media Council of the Landesanstalt für Kommunikation Baden-Württemberg and chairman of the Media Convergence and Digital Society Committee. He was appointed honorary professor in December 2003.

Gerd Finkbeiner, born in 1957, studied at the University of Applied Sciences for Printing in Stuttgart from 1976 to 1981. From 1982 to 1987, he worked as a project engineer for Eurografica Export-Förderungs-GmbH, Munich, focussing on South East Asia and Australia. From 1987 to 1992, he was Managing Director of Eurografica and Vice President of Intergrafica Print & Pack. In August 1992, Gerd Finkbeiner took over the overall management of Sales and Service at MAN Roland Augsburg, Web Press Product Division. In May 1995 he became a deputy member of the Executive Board of MAN Roland, Web Press Division, and in January 1997 a full member of the Executive Board. From 1999 he was Chairman of the Management Board of manroland AG. Gerd Finkbeiner was responsible for Marketing and Sales and Labour Director at manroland AG.

As an honorary professor at the Hochschule der Medien, Gerd Finkbeiner has been giving lectures on current trends in the printing industry since May 2000.

During his studies in psychology at the University of Tübingen, Gerloff already concentrated on occupational and organisational psychology. After joining Daimler AG in 1976, he took over the Psychological Service in the Central Training Department. He later headed the nationwide development of a further education and training programme for managers in the sales organisation. In 1980, he also took over responsibility for commercial and technical vocational training at Daimler AG, Sales Organisation Germany. In addition, Gerloff set up a communication training programme specifically aimed at improving customer relations. In 1989, as head of the Mercedes Benz Marketing department, he was responsible for "Customer Care Promotion and Controlling" for the Mercedes passenger car and commercial vehicle product divisions as well as service.

From 1996 to 2007, Christian Gerloff was a member of the Daimler AG Global Training management team and responsible worldwide for management training and sales network qualification for all of the Group's automotive brands as well as for the design and implementation of qualification programmes for all sales trainers deployed worldwide. He has been a freelance trainer for managers since 2008.

Gerloff has given numerous lectures and workshops, including on the topics of quality management, knowledge transfer and further training programmes. He was appointed honorary professor in June 2004.

Dr Nils Heide, born in 1968, has been a lecturer at the Hochschule der Medien (HdM) since the 2017/2018 winter semester. He studied at the universities of Bonn, Oxford and Göttingen, where he also completed his doctorate. He joined the patent and law firm Gleiss & Große in Stuttgart as an attorney in 1999 and became a partner in 2002. As a specialist in intellectual property law, he represents international corporations, medium-sized companies and start-ups in patent disputes as well as trade mark and product piracy cases. In addition, he has been advising companies, universities and research institutions for many years on licence and research projects and is actively involved in technology transfer between science and industry. This applies in particular to research projects in the field of artificial intelligence. In his legal and academic work, he has also been dealing with issues of Chinese IP law for two decades. Dr Nils Heide has published numerous book chapters and articles on patent law and is a sought-after speaker at national and international conferences on IP law. Dr Nils Heide has been an honorary professor at the HdM since October 2020.

Dr Ulf Scharlau, born in 1943, studied music at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt/Main. From 1963, he studied musicology, modern history, German literature and library science. He received his doctorate in 1969 and became head of the sound archive/programme exchange department at Süddeutscher Rundfunk, Stuttgart, in 1973. From 1980, Dr Ulf Scharlau was involved in the conception and introduction of SDR's archive databases and participated in the project of an automated broadcasting schedule and automated music broadcasting operations in radio. He represented SDR in specialised committees of the ARD and in the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Dr Ulf Scharlau was head of the "Documentation and Archives" department from 1982. Since the merger of SDR and SWF in 1998, he has been deputy head of the "Documentary and Archives" department at SWR. He is a member of the advisory board of the "Arbeitskreis für Information und Dokumentation" (AKI) Stuttgart and a member of the advisory board of the German Music Archive, Berlin.
From 1978 to 1990 he was a member of the Executive Board of the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA), 1984 to 1987 President and from 1987 to 1990 Vice President of the IASA.

Since 1990 Dr Ulf Scharlau has held a lectureship in "Media Documentation in Broadcasting" at the Hochschule der Medien. He was appointed honorary professor in 1998.

Joachim von Strobl-Albeg, born in 1948, studied law in Freiburg. In 1977, he established himself as a lawyer in Stuttgart, specialising in competition and advertising law as well as media law. He is senior partner of the well-known media law firm Löffler-Wenzel-Sedelmeier in Stuttgart. Since 1987, he has headed the "Competition Law" working group for trainee lawyers at the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court.

Among his numerous publications, the standard works on media law "Das Recht der Wort- und Bildberichterstattung" by Karl Egbert Wenzel and "Presserecht" by Martin Löffler, of which von Strobl-Albeg is a co-author, are particularly noteworthy. Joachim von Strobl-Albeg has been an honorary professor of advertising and competition law at the HdM since 1981.

Professor Dr Alexander Maximovich Tsyganenko has been Rector of Moscow University since 1986 and has been associated with the HdM for a long time. Above all, he supports the exchange of students and lecturers. Moscow University is the world's largest printing institute.

Tsyganenko, born in 1944, studied electrical and automation engineering at the University of Mining in Moscow. Before his appointment as rector, he worked in the Ministry of Higher Education of the former Soviet Union and later as director of a textbook publishing house for secondary schools. Tsyganenko is the author and editor of numerous textbooks on information and automation technology for media production. He is a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, an honorary doctor of the University of Wuppertal and the State Technical University of Ukraine in Kiev and an honorary professor of the Kyrgyz Technical University. He has been an honorary professor at the HdM since June 2010.

Dr Helmut Wohland, born in 1947, has been lecturing at the Hochschule der Medien since 2010. After studying physics and business administration, he gained his doctorate in energy technology at the University of Stuttgart in 1975.
In 1982, Wohland took over as Chairman of the Management Board of Mohndruck GmbH, based in Gütersloh, at Bertelsmann and was appointed Divisional Director of Offset Printing. As a member of the Executive Board of MAN AG, Munich, he then introduced a new development programme for management trainees throughout the Group. At the same time, he was Chairman of the Executive Board of MAN Roland AG from 1987 to 1990.

Since then, Wohland has devoted himself in particular to the reorganisation and strategic realignment of companies in difficult situations. For example, he restructured SUSPA Compart AG near Nuremberg (Chairman of the Executive Board) and Druckerei Theodor Körner GmbH & Co KG in his hometown of Sindelfingen from 2006 to 2011.

In April 2013, Dr Helmut Wohland was appointed honorary professor at the HdM.

Ingo Zamperoni studied American studies, law and history and completed a traineeship at Norddeutscher Rundfunk. In 2007, he took over as presenter of the "ARD-Nachtmagazin" programme, and from 2014, Ingo Zamperoni reported from the USA for two years as ARD's foreign correspondent. He currently alternates with Caren Miosga and Aline Abboud to present the ARD Tagesthemen programme. As an author, he has published books on German-American relations, including "Fremdes Land Amerika - Warum wir unser Verhältnis zu den USA neu bewerten müssen" and "Anderland - Die USA unter Trump, ein Schadensbericht". In the run-up to the 2020 US election, his documentary "Trump, meine amerikanische Familie und ich - Ingo Zamperoni unterwegs in einem zerrissenen Land" was broadcast on ARD. Since 2019, the television journalist and presenter has been a lecturer in the "Moderation Qualification Programme", based at the Institute for Moderation at the HdM.

In July 2021, Ingo Zamperoni was appointed honorary professor by the Senate of the Hochschule der Medien.