About us

Niko Warbanoff was born in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1975. He studied industrial engineering at the University of Applied Sciences in Esslingen. After earning his degree, he worked for Daimler for ten years, where he gained experience in a variety of management positions around the globe, before starting his career with Deutsche Bahn in 2009.

Initially responsible for special tasks for the CEO of Deutsche Bahn AG, Warbanoff joined the Board of Managing Directors of DB International in 2010 and was appointed Chairman a year later. When DB International and DB Projektbau merged to form DB Engineering & Consulting (DB E&C) in 2016, Warbanoff was appointed CEO of the new company, a position he held until 2023.

In August 2022, Warbanoff was additionally appointed CEO of DB International Operations GmbH (DB IO), which focuses on rail operations and maintenance in non-European countries. Warbanoff is also the CEO of the DB E.C.O. Group, where DB E&C and DB IO make up the two key pillars of business. In this capacity, Warbanoff is currently responsible for a total of 7.800 employees.

Andrea Bertallot was born in Berlin. She studied civil engineering at Berlin University of Applied Sciences.

Having held a variety of project and management positions at DB ProjektBau, DB International and DB Engineering & Consulting, where her work centered on business model development, organizational development and strategy implementation throughout the business, Bertallot served as Chief Technology Officer from 2019 until 2023.

In August 2022 Bertallot was appointed Managing Director for the German Market Division at the DB E.C.O. Group and DB Engineering & Consulting. In January 2024 she was appointed CEO of DB Engineering & Consulting.

Born in Tübingen, Dr. Ulla Kopp graduated from Karlsruhe Technical University with a degree in industrial engineering, after which she earned her doctorate in economics at the University of St. Gallen.

Kopp’s academic career was followed by six years in a variety of positions at Bertelsmann AG. She then served as CFO at the University of Witten/Herdecke gGmbH and later at Jahreszeiten Verlag and Hamburg Messe und Congress GmbH.

Kopp was appointed to the Board of Managing Directors of DB Engineering & Consulting in November 2017, and to the Managing Board of the DB E.C.O. Group in 2019. In both organizations, she serves as Managing Director for Finance and Controlling. In addition to this role, she also served as interim Managing Director for Human Resources from May to October 2023.

Stefan Geisperger was born in Straubing, Germany, in 1963. He studied mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Munich and subsequently held management positions in the automotive supplier industry.

Prior to joining DB in 2013, Geisperger gained further experience in management teams at medium-sized companies active international business. At DB, he was initially responsible for a business segment with several maintenance depots at DB Fahrzeuginstandhaltung and later took charge of global sales of maintenance services.

Geisperger joined DB Engineering & Consulting in 2020 as Spokesperson for the Regional Management of Regions Southeastern and Southern Germany. In August 2022 he was appointed to the Board of Managing Directors of DB Engineering & Consulting and the Managing Board of the DB E.C.O. Group. He serves as Managing Director for International Markets and Consulting in both organizations.

Jeroen Hansmann was born in Münster, Germany.

After studying law at the Free University in Berlin, he worked at a consulting firm before joining DB in 2004. At DB, he held several regional and corporate HR positions at DB ProjektBau, DB Netz and DB Group Management, before being appointed to the Board of Managing Directors of DB Fahrzeuginstandhaltung at the beginning of 2015.

In 2018, Hansmann took on the role of Head of Change Management at Deutsche Bahn.

Hansmann was appointed Managing Director for Human Resources at DB Engineering & Consulting and the DB E.C.O. Group in October 2023.