Michael Kramer Ph.D

Michael Kramer Ph.D General Information

Biography

Dr. Michael Kramer served as Partner & Chairman of the Investment Committee at Hillgate Capital. Michael brings over 20 years of leadership and development expertise to the firm. Kramer co-founded LED Linear GmbH in 2006, a start-up based near Dusseldorf focused on light-emitting diode ("LED") technology. Through the design of high-end, innovative lighting products and rapid international expansion, with offices in New York, Dubai, London, Singapore, Delhi to name a few, LED Linear established itself as the global market leader and 'specification brand' for the world's premier architects, architectural projects and lighting designers. Dr. Kramer has led capital raising on behalf of the company and remains closely involved with business operations. Today LED Linear has nearly 200 employees and maintains an industry-leading EBIT margin. In 2016 the company was sold to AB Fagerhult, one of Europe's largest publicly traded lighting companies with a market capitalization of over €1 billion. Dr. Kramer remains part of the General Management Committee of AB Fagerhult. In addition to his management role, Dr. Kramer is responsible for the expansion of other group companies and LED Linear. Kramer has an entrepreneurial spirit and a passion for strategy, sales, technology and design. He started his career at Siemens in international technical sales for heavy haul locomotives and held various management positions across strategic planning and technical development at Siemens AG. In 1999 he joined VOSSLOH AG as head of corporate development where he ran multiple strategy, restructuring and M&A projects. Dr. Kramer held a number of leadership roles within industry including managing director of VS-Optoelectronic, which later merged with the Panasonic Group. In 2006 he joined Perkin Elmer Inc, a S&P 500 company, integrating a newly acquired technology company into the corporation. In parallel Dr. Kramer co-founded LED Linear in 2006 which he officially joined in 2009. Dr. Kramer has been awarded with numerous prestigious entrepreneurial, innovation, design and brand awards. Kramer is a native German speaker, fluent in English and has conversational French. He earned his doctorate in Market-Oriented Management of Innovation at TU Darmstadt and completed his Diploma in Mechanical Engineering at the TU Braunschweig, TU Darmstadt and École Normale Supérieure de Cachan in Paris.