Tanja Birkholz / Chairwoman of the Board
Tanja Birkholz has been a member of the Executive Board of SCHUFA Holding AG since January 2020 and Chair of the company’s Executive Board since July 2020. After completing a banking apprenticeship and studying business administration at the University of St. Gallen and the London School of Economics, she began her career in the banking industry. From 2007 to 2016, she served as a divisional executive at Commerzbank AG, overseeing Finance Architecture, Risk Management, and Investor Relations. She then joined the international management consulting firm Oliver Wyman as a partner, where she was a member of the European leadership team for the “Finance & Risk Practice.” Tanja Birkholz is responsible for Strategy, Brand & Retail Banking, Corporate Banking, People & Culture, Legal, and Communications & Public Policy.
Dr. Klaus Kolitz / Member of the Board of Directors
Dr. Klaus Kolitz has been a member of the Executive Board of SCHUFA Holding AG since September 2024. After completing his studies and earning his doctorate at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), he began his career in 2008 as a senior consultant at what is now Mercedes-Benz Tech Motion GmbH, before moving to Trivago in 2010 as Head of Software Engineering. Since 2019, he has served as CTO of the Sixt Group. Dr. Klaus Kolitz will assume responsibility for the IT, IT Security, Data Science, Operations & Service Management, and Products divisions.
Michael Spohn / Member of the Executive Board
Michael Spohn has been a member of the Executive Board of SCHUFA Holding AG since June 2026. As Chief Financial Officer (CFO), he is responsible for finance, corporate management and governance, as well as other key back-office functions, including risk management, compliance, data protection, and internal audit. He has more than 25 years of experience in the financial and banking sectors, with a professional focus on management, finance, and transformation issues at the intersection of finance, strategy, and risk management. Before joining SCHUFA in 2022, Michael Spohn held various leadership positions at Commerzbank AG. There, he was responsible, among other things, for key areas of financial, risk, and resource management. At SCHUFA, Michael Spohn initially established the Executive Board Staff, which evolved into today’s Corporate Management & Governance division. In addition, as Co-Head of Finance, he was responsible for key areas such as controlling, business intelligence, and risk management. He is also co-managing director of the SCHUFA subsidiary Forteil GmbH (bonify).
- Christian Polenz (Chairman of the Supervisory Board)
,Chairman of the Executive Board of TeamBank AG, Nuremberg - Michael
Breuer, President of the Rhineland Savings Banks and Giro Association - Dr. Peter
Achten, Chief Executive Officer ofEHD Einzelhandelsbetreuung GmbH - Fabio Buccarello , Head of the Contract Partner Service Management Department at SCHUFA Holding AG
- Thomas
Schaufler, Member of the Executive Board of Commerzbank AG, Retail and Small Business Customers Segment - Katrin
Löffel, Senior Software Developer at SCHUFA Holding AG - Kay
Sabirowsky, Principal IT Architect at SCHUFA Holding AG - Maria
Topaler, Chief Risk Officer at TARGOBANK AG
What issues are important to consumers? What can we do better? What do people expect from us?
To facilitate discussion on these topics, SCHUFA established an independent advisory board in 2008—the only credit bureau in Germany to do so—as a neutral body.
Tarik Ahmia
Journalist and Editor, Deutschlandradio
Mission Statement:
“Schufa is a powerful organization. It influences the financial behavior of millions of German citizens and is repeatedly the subject of controversial media coverage. As a member of the Consumer Advisory Board, I see it as my duty to scrutinize Schufa’s business decisions and their impact on people as critically as necessary within the framework of the board.”
Prof. Dr. Carmela Aprea
University of Mannheim, Professor of Economics Education, Chair of “Design and Evaluation of Instructional Systems.” Areas of focus include economic education, financial education, and social inequality; Director of the Mannheim Institute for Financial Education (MIFE)
Mission Statement:
“My research focuses on financial literacy and consumer issues. I am committed to applying these findings in a practical way to my work on the SCHUFA Consumer Advisory Board.”
Prof. Dr. Claire Feldhusen
Professor of Civil Law with a focus on IT law, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
Mission Statement:
"Consumer protection also includes direct communication with providers."
Prof. Dr. Peter Kenning
University of Düsseldorf, Professor of Business Administration, specializing in marketing; Director of the Institute for Consumer Sciences; Member of the Expert Council on Consumer Issues (SVRV) of the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV)
Mission Statement:
“Through my work on the SCHUFA Consumer Advisory Board, I hope to contribute to SCHUFA’s continued development. In particular, I want to bring the perspective of consumers to the table.”
Prof. Dr. Lucia Reisch
Professor of Behavioral Economics and Policy, Director of the El-Erian Institute of Behavioral Economics and Policy at Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge (UK)
Mission Statement:
"I am involved in the SCHUFA Consumer Advisory Board because SCHUFA is a key player—one that is often both underestimated and misunderstood—in an increasingly complex—
in more open markets. An ideal SCHUFA system is consumer-friendly, facilitates easy access to credit, housing, and markets, but also protects the community from fraud.”
Prof. Dr. Anne Riechert
Director of Research for AI and Digitalization at the iff (Institute for Financial Services)
Mission Statement:
“Ensuring data protection in companies that handle citizens’ personal data is one of the key tasks of the present and the future—especially in light of automated data processing. I am pleased to now support SCHUFA in the Consumer Advisory Board as it implements the transparency initiative announced by Tanja Birkholz.”
Roman Schlag
Spokesperson for the Debtors' Counseling Working Group of the Associations
Mission Statement:
"I serve on the Schufa Consumer Advisory Board to ensure that Schufa remains attentive to the situation and hardships faced by consumers who are heavily in debt. The goal is to help promote transparency."
Prof. Dr. Bernd Skiera
University of Frankfurt am Main, Professor of Electronic Commerce
Mission Statement:
"I serve on SCHUFA's Consumer Advisory Board because I want SCHUFA to fulfill its socially vital role as effectively as possible."
Barbara Thiel
Former State Data Protection Commissioner, Of Counsel at LexICT GmbH
Mission Statement:
"With its transparency initiative, Schufa is responding to the wishes and expectations of consumers and those committed to data protection. Credit bureaus such as Schufa collect and process information about creditworthiness, primarily regarding individuals. This data is based on personal, financial, and contractual information provided by banks, retailers, and other institutions. The processing of this personal data is subject to strict data protection regulations. I am pleased to be able to help ensure that Schufa’s initiative not only serves Schufa’s interests but also—and most importantly—makes a significant contribution to protecting the privacy of data subjects by ensuring that the data is processed accurately, up-to-date, and transparently."
Anika Wegner, Paralegal
Debt and Insolvency Counseling Specialist at the Caritas Association for the Diocese of Trier e.V.
Mission Statement:
"I work every day with people in precarious financial situations whose lives can be directly affected by their SCHUFA score. I serve on the SCHUFA Consumer Advisory Board to advocate for the interests of these people."
Hubertus Primus
Former Executive Board Member of Stiftung Warentest; Member of the Board of Directors of Verbraucherzentrale Berlin e.V.; Member of the Consumer Commission at the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Food, Rural Affairs, and Consumer Protection; Executive Board Member of the Brandenburg Cathedral Foundation
Mission Statement:
"Transparency, traceability, and the trust that results from them are the foundations for consumer acceptance of Schufa. I would like to contribute to this as a member of the Consumer Advisory Board."