Foundation

The European netID Foundation was established in March 2018 by Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, ProSiebenSat.1 and United Internet AG. The foundation pursues the goal of establishing netID as a European alternative to US single sign-on providers. With the netID Privacy Center, users can organize their consents for Internet services transparently and in compliance with data protection regulations. For this purpose, the foundation has developed an open standard that enables users across all industries to access all the internet services from the foundation’s partners using the same login data.
Currently more than 40 million accounts are registered.

The netID is a single sign-on solution for everyone. With our diverse partner packages, we make it as easy as possible for companies of any size to integrate the netID into their online offerings. We pursue a cross-industry approach: we cooperate with partners ranging from media providers to e-commerce, finance and logistics providers.

Would you like to know more about our services or are you already interested in a partnership with the European netID Foundation? Contact us. We look forward to hearing from you.

Further Development / Advisory Boards

The products and services of the European netID Foundation are designed to be market solutions. It is therefore essential that the relevant requirements of the different industry segments of the digital market, as well as regulatory requirements, are also considered in the medium and long term. Various advisory boards were set up for this purpose. In these advisory boards, company representatives contribute their expertise and discuss market-relevant requirements, along with their prioritization, for the future development of netID.

The different orientations of the technical advisory boards ensure that the broadest possible market perspective is considered.

The following lists detail the current advisory board members. Please contact us if you are interested in becoming a member of an advisory board.

Members of the Data Protection Advisory Board:

Christoph Zippel, Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, (Board Chairman)
Sven Gelzhäuser, 1&1 De-Mail
Dr. Sonja Geiring, ProSiebenSat.1 Media
Susanne Eichhorn, Telekom Deutschland

Members of the Data and Digitization Forum:

Prof. Dr. Rolf Schwartmann, TH Köln (Board Chairman)
Kristin Benedikt, Richterin am Verwaltungsgericht Regensburg/DSB VG Regensburg
Dr. Stefan Hanloser, ProSiebenSat.1
Michael Hattermann, 1&1
Prof. Dr. Christian Henner Hentsch, TH Köln/DSB game
Sebastian Kocks, RTL
Dr. Claus-Dieter Ulmer, Deutsche Telekom
Dr. Nadja Kroha, Allianz

Members of the E-Commerce Advisory Board:

Dr. Jana Lorbeer, Otto Group (Board Chairman)
Michael Wolter, ProSiebenSat.1 NuCom Group
Michael Knaupe, DPD Deutschland
Martin Riess, Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland /Sparwelt
Markus Steireif, 1&1 Mail & Media Applications

Members of the Financial Services Advisory Board:

Stephan Vila, Creditreform Boniversum (Board Chairman)
Marco Kaiser, Arvato Financial Solutions
Ulf Meyer, SWK-Bank
Uwe Stelzig, Identity Trust Management
Kay Andorf, 1&1 De-Mail
Alexander Büchsenschütz, Telekom Deutschland
Dr Hartmut Schott, Schufa
Wilhelm Niehoff, Bank-Verlag

Members of the Publishing/Ad Sales Advisory Board:

Matthias Ross, Quantyoo (Board Chairman)
Fahim Alefi, ProSiebenSat.1 Digital Data
Steffen Bax, iq Digital Media
Robert Blanck, Axel Springer SE
Jeannine Klar, United Internet Media
Mihaela Schmidt, RTL
Thomas Peruzzi, Virtual Minds
Sven Scholze, United Internet Media
Torsten Topaloglu, Ströer Digital Media
Stéphane Printz, Index Exchange
Christian Walter, The Trade Desk

Members of the Advertising Board:

Tobias Wegmann, Prex, Mediaplus
Benedict Gründig, Criteo
Sven Wegholz, Publicis (Board Chairman)
Marko Witte, PIA Media
Jens Depenau, GroupM
Daniel Gerold, AdAlliance

Board of Directors

Uli Hegge

Uli Hegge has been CEO of the European netID Foundation since January 2024 and is therefore responsible for the foundation's strategic direction and operations. Uli Hegge has been active in the market for a long time and knows many perspectives and topics from his own experience: German Research Network, in the project management of stern.de, as GF at G+J EMS and Burda companies, as co-founder and long-time CEO of 7d/wunderloop, CSO at comdirect Bank (marketing/sales and product), VP Central Europe and subsequently responsible for Regulatory Affairs (global) at AppNexus, as SVP at InfoSum and as a member of advisory and supervisory boards. Photo: Raimar v. Wienskowski

From day one, the netID has been developed as an open ecosystem and it relies on open industry standards for its interfaces. As a result of this, we can achieve easy integration into the technological landscape and deliver a key component for strengthening the digital economy in Europe. This is the right time to provide users of digital services with a serious alternative to the US providers.
Uli Hegge, CEO of the European netID Foundation

Foundation Board

The Foundation Board is composed of representatives of the founding organizations along with experts from the fields of law and economics. Carsten Schwecke, from Seven.One Media, is chairman of the foundation board.

Dr. Friedbert Pflüger

Dr. Friedbert Pflüger, State Secretary (ret.), has worked in leading positions in politics, administration, economy and science for more than three decades. He is Chairman of the think tank Internet Economy Foundation (IE.F) in Berlin.

Carsten Schwecke

Chief Commercial, Technology & Data Officer (CCTDO) of RTL Deutschland

Carsten Schwecke, born 1976, has been Chief Commercial, Technology & Data Officer (CCTDO) of RTL Deutschland since April 2025. In this role, he is responsible for all commercial, technological and data & AI-based activities of the media company. With his deep understanding of the media industry and its ever-changing challenges as well as his broad expertise, Carsten Schwecke will further develop the marketing offerings of RTL Deutschland and Ad Alliance as well as drive the expansion of data- and AI-based advertising technology. Carsten Schwecke was most recently Head of Marketing at Seven.One Entertainment Group and was previously CEO of Axel Springer All Media and Media Impact until the end of 2022. He studied economics at ESCP-EAP in Paris, Oxford and Berlin. The digital expert began his professional career as Online Director at the Handelsblatt Media Group's online marketer iq digital. In 2015, Carsten Schwecke moved to the media industry, first as a member of the management board and later as CEO of Media Impact and Axel Springer Media Impact, the marketing company of Axel Springer. In October 2023, he joined ProSiebenSat.1, where he was Head of Marketing for the Seven.One Entertainment Group.

Dr. Markus Messerer

Chief Commercial Officer at ProSiebenSat.1 and Chairman of the Board of Seven.One Media

Markus Messerer has held various management positions in the telecommunications, IT, e-commerce, and media industries for over 20 years, most recently at Telia in Sweden. As Chief Strategy & Commercial Officer, he realigned the company's strategy and drove forward its commercial transformation. Prior to that, as CEO of Alltron AG, he was responsible for developing the B2B units of Switzerland's largest independent e-commerce provider, among other things. Messerer holds a doctorate in international business management, an Executive MBA, and is a graduate of Harvard Business School.