Federal Minister · since 6 May 2025Born 1969 · GießenDr. rer. nat. Physics
KarstenWildberger
Leadership at the intersection of technology, energy and transformation — from theoretical physics to the boardrooms of telecoms, energy and retail, and now Germany's first federal digital ministry.
A physicist who spent a quarter-century running networks, customers and platforms — and was then asked to modernise the German state.
Karsten Wildberger was born on 5 September 1969 in Gießen. He studied physics at the Technical University of Munich and RWTH Aachen, completed a doctorate in physics in 1997 at RWTH Aachen and Forschungszentrum Jülich, and earned an MBA at INSEAD in 2000.
His career began at The Boston Consulting Group in 1998. He then held senior roles at Deutsche Telekom (2003–2006), served on the management board of Vodafone in Romania (2006–2011), returned to BCG as Partner and Managing Director, and moved to Australia's Telstra, where he rose to Group Executive, Retail.
From 2016 to 2021 he sat on the Board of Management of E.ON SE, responsible for the customer business, digital and IT. From August 2021 to May 2025 he was CEO of CECONOMY AG and MediaMarktSaturn, Europe's largest consumer-electronics retailer.
On 6 May 2025 he was sworn in as Federal Minister for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation in Chancellor Friedrich Merz's cabinet — the first person to lead a dedicated federal digital ministry in Germany. He joined the CDU that same month and does not hold a Bundestag seat.
AnalysisWhat connects these stages is not a single industry but a recurring brief: large, customer-facing organisations with legacy infrastructure, asked to become faster, more digital and more efficient.
Six organisations, four countries, one trajectory
Each stage added a layer: analytical method, telecoms operations, international P&L responsibility, energy-sector customer transformation, platform retail — and finally public administration.
- 1998–2003Boston Consulting GroupGermanyConsultantStrategy work after a doctorate in computational solid-state physics.
- 2003–2006Deutsche TelekomGermany · United KingdomExecutive Vice President roles in finance, sales and marketingMobile telecoms operations at T-Mobile.
- 2006–2011VodafoneRomania · United KingdomBoard member; CFO, then Chief Commercial Officer and interim CEO, RomaniaRunning a national mobile operator.
- 2011–2012Boston Consulting GroupGermanyPartner & Managing DirectorTelecoms, technology, industrial goods and utilities.
- 2013–2016TelstraMelbourne, AustraliaGroup MD Consumer → also Products → Group Executive, RetailConsumer telecoms, digital products, customer advocacy.
- 2016–2021E.ON SEEssen, GermanyMember of the Board of ManagementCustomer solutions and sales, digital and IT across E.ON's markets.
- 2021–2025CECONOMY / MediaMarktSaturnDüsseldorf · IngolstadtChief Executive OfficerOmnichannel “customer-centric service platform”.
- 2025–Federal GovernmentBerlinFederal Minister for Digital Transformation and Government ModernisationState modernisation, digital infrastructure, AI and digital sovereignty.
Technology + Energy: five load-bearing elements
The themes below recur across his documented work. Each links to a page that separates verified record from analysis.
Digitalisation
From E.ON's digital and IT portfolio to the federal “Deutschland-Stack” and the d-you digital identity wallet.
Digitalisation →Energy
Five years on E.ON's board during the innogy transaction, smart-home energy services and the UK retail rebuild.
Energy sector →Infrastructure
Fibre, mobile coverage and data centres — the National Data Centre Strategy targets more than 6 GW of capacity by 2030.
Infrastructure →Innovation
AI as “a new paradigm”: an AI Act implementation law, international AI agreements and AI pilots in public administration.
Innovation →Leadership
A recurring emphasis on delivery: “Trust comes from delivering, from implementation, from impact.”
Leadership →Documented leadership themes
Derived from company statements, interviews and speeches — not from promotional characterisation.
Transformation and customer focus
When he left E.ON in 2021, supervisory board chair Karl-Ludwig Kley credited him, as reported by trade publication ZfK, with advancing the shift towards customer focus, beginning the turnaround of the UK business and digitalising the company.
Platform thinking
At Ceconomy's 2023 Capital Markets Day he described the aim of moving away from a “product-centric” retail identity towards a “customer-centric service platform”, with marketplace, services and retail media as building blocks.
Delivery over announcement
In the Bundestag on 7 May 2026, reviewing the ministry's first year, he said that trust “comes from delivering, from implementation, from impact” (translated from German).
Five verified stages
- 1989–2000Science and method
Physics in Munich and Aachen, a 1997 doctorate on computational methods for magnetic layer systems, then an INSEAD MBA.
- 2003–2016International telecoms management
Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone Romania and Telstra in Australia — CFO, commercial and retail leadership roles.
- 2016–2021Energy transformation
E.ON SE Board of Management: customer business, digital and IT during the restructuring of Germany's energy sector.
- 2021–2025Platform retail
CEO of CECONOMY and MediaMarktSaturn, unifying leadership of the holding and its operating company.
- 2025–Public leadership
Germany's first Federal Minister for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation.
In office: as of 7 October 2026
Federal Minister for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation
The ministry (BMDS) was created by organisational decree on 6 May 2025, combining units from six federal bodies — including the Interior, Digital & Transport, Economy, Justice and Finance ministries and the Chancellery. It holds an approval right over essential IT spending of the direct federal administration.
Its 2026 budget totals €4.47 bn: a €1.36 bn core budget plus €3.11 bn from the special fund for infrastructure and climate neutrality, most of it for broadband.
- 01Federal modernisation agenda — about 80 measures adopted by cabinet on 1 October 2025
- 02Federal–state modernisation agenda — more than 200 measures agreed on 4 December 2025
- 03d-you, Germany's EU digital identity wallet, scheduled to launch on 2 January 2027
- 04National Data Centre Strategy and AI Act implementation
Pathways into the archive
- P.01BiographyThe full chronological narrative
- P.03EducationPhysics, doctorate, INSEAD
- P.04Professional CareerFrom BCG to the boardroom
- E.02TechnologyTelecoms, digital, AI
- E.04EnergyE.ON, 2016–2021
- E.06LeadershipDocumented themes
- E.03TransformationLegacy to platform
- G.02Political / Public RoleThe digital ministry
- R.04AchievementsFact-based record
- A.01Timeline1969 to today