Our Management

Martin Wise
Non-Executive Chairman

Mr. Wise gained extensive leadership experience during a 20-year career with Merrill Lynch in London and New York. His experiences included Senior Vice President, Head of Global Client Coverage; Chairman, Merrill Lynch Foundation; Head of Global Strategy & Planning, Head of Investor Relations and Director of European Operations.  Prior to Merrill Lynch, Mr. Wise worked for six years in Technology and Corporate Treasury at Esso Petroleum in London. Since retiring from Merrill Lynch in 2008, Mr. Wise founded Chiltern Partners LLC. He advises clients on how to leverage their relationship capital and realize the value of their human networks, which are a significant underutilized asset in many professional organizations. Mr. Wise earned an MBA (with distinction) from London Business School and a B.Sc. (Hons) from the University of Southampton. He is a Director of the American Friends of London Business School, an Advisor to the Carbon Disclosure Project, and a member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers (UK). He is also Chairman of Family Promise, a non-profit organization mobilizing 125,000 volunteers across the U.S. to help low income families achieve lasting independence by providing safe shelter, meals and support services to homeless families.

Kai Koeppen
Board Member

Kai Koeppen is a board member of Sage Holdings and a Partner of The Riverside Company in its Munich office. Mr. Koeppen has 15 years of private equity experience in leveraged buyouts in Continental Europe - principally in Germany, France and Switzerland. Mr. Koeppen has executed 5 purchase transactions and been involved in 3 exits - one of which realized 20 times cash-on-cash. Additionally he has played significant roles on the management boards of the companies he acquired. This experience has included: effective transition from family owned to professional management; significant balance sheet restructuring; reduction in employment levels in difficult environments; and substantial turnaround activities. Mr. Koeppen, prior to joining private equity, received his degree form Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. His native language is German and he is also fluent in English and French.

Oliver Niedermaier, PhD
President and Chief Executive Officer

Oliver Niedermaier is President and Chief Executive Officer of Sage Holdings. Most recently, Oliver was Chief Executive Officer of Georgeson, a subsidiary of Computershare, a world-leading provider of strategic solutions to corporations and shareholder groups. Oliver joined the Computershare group executive committee following its 2004 acquisition of Pepper Technologies AG, an international CRM software and consultancy business which he founded in 1998. Responsible for corporate strategic development during an active period in Computershare’s international expansion, he was also CEO of Computershare subsidiary, Georgeson. In 2007, Oliver co-founded with The Riverside Company, Sage Holdings. Oliver is currently a non-executive director for UK-based Equiniti (formerly Lloyds TSB registrar, acquired by Advent International in 2007) and non-executive board member of the LMU Entrepreneurship Center at the University of Munich. Oliver graduated from Ludwig Maxmilians University, Munich, with a Masters in Business Administration. While teaching Strategic Management at the University of Munich, Oliver completed his coursework for a PhD and graduated Magna Cum Laude. He lives in New York City and Munich with his wife and daughter.

Peter C. Harkins
Executive Vice President, Proxy Solicitation

Peter Harkins is the President and Chief Executive Officer of D. F. King & Co., Inc., Sage’s proxy solicitation unit, where he specializes in contested and complex proxy, consent and tender solicitations for public companies located primarily in the U.S. and Europe. His experience includes representation of, among others, Vodafone Group, Dow Corning Corporation, The MONY Group, Mittal Steel Co., Phelps Dodge Corporation, Deutsche Börse AG, Time Warner Inc., The Home Depot, Inc. and Motorola, Inc., in connection with various M&A transactions, bankruptcy reorganizations and threatened / actual proxy contests for board representation or control. Prior to joining D. F. King in 1990, Peter held executive, analyst and portfolio management positions at several investment management firms and Lafer Management Corp. A graduate of The George Washington University and St. John's University School of Law, Peter resides with his wife and sons in New York City.

Nick Miles
Executive Vice President, Financial Communications

Nick Miles is Co-Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of M: Communications, Sage’s Financial Communications unit. With a 25-year track record in communications consultancy, Nick is one of the most experienced operators in the communications market. Starting with Good Relations in 1983, Nick was a director of Lowe Bell Financial until 2001. He then moved to Financial Dynamics as chief executive – latterly chairman – and presided over the agency’s growth from a small UK boutique to a recognized market leader during a period which included a management buy-out and subsequent trade sale. Following the agency’s secondary sale to Cordiant plc, he left to form M: in 2002. Since the late 80’s Nick has been involved in most of the highest profile M and A transactions in the UK and, more recently, continental Europe. These include Minorco/Goldfields, Hoylake/BAT, LWT/Granada, Northern Electric/Trafalgar, RBS/NatWest, LIFFE/LSE; ntl/ITV and currently Virgin’s proposal for the rescue of Northern Rock. He specializes in long term reputation and sentiment turnaround as well as crisis communications and senior executive counsel.

Hugh Morrison
Executive Vice President, Financial Communications

Hugh Morrison is the Co-Chief Executive Officer and a co-founder of M: Communications, Sage’s Financial Communications unit. Hugh is recognized as the world’s leading transaction communications adviser (source: mergermarket 2008.) and has over 20 years at the forefront of corporate transaction activity. Prior to co-founding M:, Hugh was the Group Managing Director of Financial Dynamics, having spent over 14 years building and leading the firm's international franchise. He works and has worked with many of the world's largest and most dynamic companies, leading communications across a broad range of issues ranging from Vodafone in their record £105 billion bid for Mannesmann, to pre and post-IPO campaigns, crisis planning and corporate/political sponsorship initiatives for quoted/unquoted companies. High profile transactions include multiple deals for LVMH, Suez/Gaz de France, Euronext/NYSE, Pechiney/Alcan, Credit Agricole/Credit Lyonnais, Zimmer/Centerpulse, Lafarge/Orascom, Siemens/Dade, Numico/Danone, ENRC/Serov, Deutsche Post/Exel, PPR/Christies, AXA/UAP, Rentokil/BET, GEC Siemens/Plessey. Hugh is still retained by many of these companies to provide high level corporate and senior executive counsel.

Enzo Villani
Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer

Enzo Villani is Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer for Sage Holdings. In this role, Enzo is responsible for all strategic and corporate development globally. Prior to Sage Holdings, Enzo was Managing Director of Products and Strategy at The NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. Enzo led the acquisitions of Shareholder.com and Prime Zone Media Network, establishing the NASDAQ Corporate Services business unit including the redevelopment of nasdaq.net/nasdaq-online.com and the Market Intelligence Desk. In 1998, Enzo co-founded Rivet Integrated Marketing. As CEO, Enzo developed a pioneering methodology for integrating traditional and interactive marketing. Rivet’s clients included: NASDAQ, Citibank, The Ford Foundation, R/GA, AOL Time Warner, Kx Systems and Track Data Securities. Prior to Rivet, Enzo was Director of Internet Development at Integrated Office Solutions, a system integrator and Microsoft Gold Partner servicing the top 10 investment banks.  Enzo pioneered early web design and development at Modem Media, Byron Preiss Multimedia, MSNBC, and Intel. Enzo holds a Masters in Business Administration from The Johnson School at Cornell University. Enzo completed a Bachelor of Arts from Iona College while working on the block equities desk for Lehman Brothers.  He has studied at Pratt Institute and at The School of Visual Arts. He lives in New York with his wife and two children.

Thomas Seiling
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Thomas Seiling is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Sage Holdings. Prior to Sage Holdings, Thomas was CFO of the Stakeholder Relationship Group at Computershare Ltd., the world’s largest share registry and leading provider of financial market services & technology to the worldwide securities industry. In this role he was responsible for 17 businesses in 11 countries across the globe. He also served as CFO for Computershare’s contintental Europe business during this tenure. Thomas joined Computershare through the acquisition of Pepper Technologies in 2004 where he was Director of Finance & Controller since 2001. Thomas has more than 15 years experience in finance & general management. Throughout his professional career he has worked for communications & high tech companies including Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Ingram Micro, and XMLSolutions. Thomas holds a diploma in Business Administration from The University of Applied Sciences Wuerzburg in Germany. Thomas lives with his family in Munich, Germany.

Michael Weber, PhD
Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer

Michael Weber is Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer for Sage Holdings. He is responsible for carrying out the growth strategy of Sage through acquisitions and the execution of the respective transaction management. Prior to Sage Holdings, Michael had been working in Private Equity Industry for 6 years, carrying out several international transactions with different investment funds. His track record encompasses both later stage buyouts and venture capital deals with an emphasis on three major areas: business services, clean technologies and private education. Michael started his career at The Boston Consulting Group where he was active in the Munich office. During his employment as a management consultant, he was involved in several projects with a focus on financial services and private equity clients. Michael holds a Ph.D. in Strategic Management and a Master in Business Administration from the University of Munich. He lives with his wife and son in Munich.