DI Dr. Thomas Brauner, MBA
CEO Speech Processing Solutions
Dr. Thomas Brauner is the CEO of Speech Processing Solutions. As the Managing Director and Category Leader of Philips Speech Processing, he initiated the management buyout (MBO) of Philips Speech Processing in 2012 and successfully set up the independent dictation business as Speech Processing Solutions GmbH.
Thomas Brauner has 30 years of business experience in various industries and markets. During his career, he developed and transformed various organizations to high-performance level based on his excellent strategic and leadership skills.
Thomas Brauner started his career as a project manager with an engineering and architecture firm. He joined Philips Austria in 1994 and was responsible for supply chain management, assuming responsibility for international projects and the Philips logistics platform. In addition, he oversaw the start of industrial activities for Philips in China. He also headed up the pan-European service and customer support and transformed it to an e-commerce business at Philips.
In 2002, Thomas Brauner joint Roland Berger Strategy Consultants where he was responsible for international projects focusing on strategy and organization, mergers, and diverse restructuring projects. He rejoined Philips as the Managing Director of Philips Speech Processing in 2005.
Thomas Brauner obtained a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering at the Vienna University of Technology and completed an Executive MBA at the Danube University of Krems (Austria).
Dr. Albert Schmitt
CFO Speech Processing Solutions
Dr. Albert Schmitt, former Director of Finance and Controlling at Philips Speech Processing, became the CFO of Speech Processing Solutions in 2012. Schmitt has a wide-range of global experience in all finance and administration areas. He was a leading figure in the setting-up and incorporation process of the new SPS company group.
Schmitt has a business background, having studied at the University of Sussex, UK and at the University of Economics and Business Administration in Vienna, where he gained a doctorate and was appointed a member of the Center of Excellence.
Having started his career in 1994 at Deloitte & Touche in external audit, he joined the Philips group in 1997 where he held various positions within Finance and Administration and was working for different Business Units and Business Groups on international basis, thus gaining experience in a broad variety of markets, countries and business areas. He was responsible for many national and international assignments, including setting-up new branches in CEE, Turkey and China, as well as for various business acquisitions, company mergers and joint-ventures, and a successful tax project with the European Commission.