Welcome to the Acrolinx Newsroom

Volker Smid is the CEO of Acrolinx and has over 25 years of management experience in the technology and media industry. Before joining Acrolinx, as the CEO of Searchmetrics, Smid contributed his extensive knowledge of the online sector to drive the ongoing international expansion of the Berlin-based group. Before his time at Searchmetrics, Volker Smid was the Head of Digital & Technologies at the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, CEO of Hewlett-Packard GmbH, Vice Chairman of BITKOM, President EMEA and Asia/PAC at Novell Inc. in London, SVP Sales Midmarket Parametric Technology in Boston, Munich, and Tokyo and SVP at POET Inc. in San Mateo, California.

As CTO and COO, Ulrich Callmeier leads all R&D, Engineering, and Product Management for Acrolinx. He has more than 15 years of experience designing and implementing advanced natural language processing systems and holds a master’s degree in Computer Science with a minor in Computational Linguistics from Saarland University. Prior to Acrolinx, Ulrich helped lead the development of a new natural language analysis component for customer self-service software provider YY Technologies in Mountain View, CA, and was also part of the research staff at Saarland University.

Christopher P Willis is Acrolinx’s Chief Marketing Officer, responsible for all aspects of the company’s Marketing strategy. He brings over 20 years of experience growing companies in the technology sector. Before joining Acrolinx, Willis held leadership roles in marketing, creative, technical, and business development at companies including Perfecto, Pyxis Mobile, KPMG-CT, ModelGolf, and Cambridge Technology Group. Willis is a recognized thought leader, and is active within industry groups dedicated to the growth and health of Marketing Technology and the verticals he serves. He holds a BA from Gettysburg College.

As Chief People Officer, Britta oversees all people-related activities, communication, and processes. With over two decades of leadership experience in human resources and operations, she leads the company in aligning to evolving global frameworks such as environmental, social, corporate governance, and sustainability programs. Prior to Acrolinx, she was the Chief Operating Officer at Searchmetrics, after serving as its VP of Human Resources. Before Searchmetrics, she worked in several different HR and people roles at Grand Hyatt Berlin and Höffner Möbelgesellschaft, and was an HR-focused Management Consultant at Accenture. Britta has a record of building, developing, and cultivating high-performance teams. She brings a deep understanding of the importance of caring for an organization and its people, particularly during high-growth periods.

Shane Cumming is Acrolinx’s Chief Revenue Officer, responsible for alignment and execution across all aspects of the company’s go-to-market model. He leads new business sales, expansion with existing customers, as well as Acrolinx’s partner strategy. Shane brings over 20 years of leadership experience in the technology sector. Before joining Acrolinx, he held leadership roles in start-up, mid-size, and large technology organizations, including IBM, Intentia, Lawson, Infor, and Confirmit. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University, Canada.

As Chief Financial Officer, Jörn Woywat is responsible for managing the financial aspects of Acrolinx. He brings over 20 years of financial management experience at high-growth technology businesses. Prior to Acrolinx, Jörn held several positions as VP of Finance and CFO at software companies including Asdis, Swyx, and Schad. He holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Göttingen.

With a degree in Physics from the University of Göttingen, Stefan adds over 20 years of software development and engineering leadership to the Acrolinx team. He started his professional career implementing and publishing AI algorithms, which were applied to pharmaceutical research, financial, and medical data analysis. He also worked in enterprise software development, including SAP. Stefan joined Acrolinx in 2012 and oversees the engineering team. He is also an Open Source advocate and contributor, an author, a conference organizer, and is very fond of Linux, Lisp, and Emacs.