Our Team

CuGate Berlin, Germany

H. Memo Rhein

Founder & CEO

As one of the first pioneers of digital change, H. Memo Rhein anticipated the emerging copyright problems early on. For more than 20 years he has been working on solutions like his fingerprint and watermark technologies that always have the artist in focus. Memo is a renowned expert in international copyright law and has worked for many years as a consultant in this field. Against this international and decentralized background, to initiate and promote the cultural exchange between equal partners has always been very important to him. In this regard, there are many possibilities that digitization offers to recognize cultural identities but also help artists to reach a wider audience.

Christoph Martius

Head of Sales

Christoph is one of Germany's most experienced and well-connected music industry professionals in the field of Marketing and Sales. There's hardly anything he hasn't done yet – from founding record labels, organizing music industry conferences in Africa to co-founding the first legal streaming service for China for western music.

Iris Mazur-Rhein

Creative Director, Co-Founder

Iris is an accomplished photographer with a vast knowledge about graphic design. Under her wise guidance all the visual deliveries are created.

Martin Abend

COO

Martin is a digital media professional with more than 20 years' experience in music, e-commerce, mobile and content and has a strong focus on operations management, strategy and planning. He's an entrepreneur type with start-up and inter-cultural management experiences and used to worked in Beijing, China for the first legal streaming service for western music in China.

Thomas Herbst

Product Manager

Thomas is an experienced Product Manager with a deep affection for and knowledge of the physical product - be it CDs or vinyl. He runs his own record label on the side and is a driving force in the European Experimental/free Improv scene.

Erich Whittenberg

Events & Social Media

One of the brightest Young Professionals we have ever met, Erich leads our Social Media Marketing department with unstoppable enthusiasm and creativity.

CuGate Tbilisi, Georgia

Niko Inasaridze

CTO CUGATE Systems

Niko is a mathematician and computer scientist; his wide range of expereince includes Cryptography, Machine Learning, Pattern Recognition, Computer Algebra; iOS (Mobile), Swift/Objective C and Python developing systems. His competence and knowledge of databases and principles of modular and object-oriented programming is a great asset in the creation of new platforms and programs.

Salome Japaridze

COO Georgia

Salome has joined the CUCATE team with a strong background in international project management that mainly implied engagement in extensive cultural projects, communication and sharing experiences with people of different credentials and cultures. She manages our development programs, administrative activities and coordinates the Georgian team with the Berlin Office.

Vladislav "Lado" Dashtu

Frontend Developer & System Adminsitration

Lado is a young developer with quite an impressive experience in the IT field and various levels of web & mobile application creation. He watches over CUCATE projects across the globe and is not afraid of trying out new approaches.

Lile Guramishvili

Graphic Designer

Lile is a young promising designer who is always eager to endeavor new approaches in design and integrate them with the daring programs of CUCATE.

Grigol Mazanashvili

Project Coordination, Program testing, Office management

Grigol is a versed member of CUGATE Georgian team, contributing in testing the launched programs, project coordination, and Tbilisi office issues.

Bachuki "Bacho" Mazmaniani

Junior Python Developer & Video Editor

Bacho is a junior member of CUGATE Georgian team, accumulating his strong programing skills and focusing on Python system development.

Eva Tskipurishvili

Junior Developer

Eva is a Junior web developer, creating multifunctional web pages for CUGATE using Python and ReactJS. She is always ready to follow new ideas, study and try different challenges.

CuGate St.Petersburg, Russia

Maxim Kim

Graphic Designer

Having worked for CUGATE for more than 20 years, Maxim’s expertise in creating the visual aspects is unparalleled. Hailing from St. Peterburg, his quick grasp of the essentials and uncanny ability to translate abstract ideas into visual representations is a major asset for CUGATE.

Gleb Trushnikov

Technical Leader UX/UI and Digital

For many years he works as a web developer, UI / UX designer and project manager. Has established himself as a highly qualified and experienced specialist.

Veronika Grüner

Content Management

Veronika has been with us almost from the start and knows all the intricate details of digital content and Metadata and is an expert of our vast music catalog. She is a true backbone of the company.

CuGate Asia

XueQian Fu

CTO Asia, Shenzhen, China

XueQian is one of the longest serving members of the Cugate Group. As an extremely experienced system developer he was essential in developing Memo’s visionary ideas through the years.

JM Chou

Representative Asia, Taipei, Taiwan

Served as Chairman of Taipei Audio-Video production Association. Work involved in drama, music, publishing, comics, cartoons, online games, copyright promotion and management, and sound quality optimization technology.

Xun Xing

Full Stack Developer

Xun Xing is a comon human among who loves art. He is also a full-stack developer with extensive website building experience. Although he has a walking disability, he spends most of his time programming at home and finds the only happiness in his life to put Memo's ideas into practice.

CuGate North & South America

Raul Gutierrez

Representative South America

Musician of long artistic trajectory in Europe and Latin America, director of the band Irazu in Munich and then member of the famous "Afro Cuban All stars" of the Buena Vista Social Club project. Music producer of many projects in different styles and different formats of Afro Cuban music and jazz, Raul also works as musical director of projects of the University of Veracruz in Mexico.

Thomas Olscheske

Representative USA

Dr. Olscheske (Tom) is a multidisciplined technologist with a track record of success developing and managing multidiscipline entrepreneurial ventures in business, education and government organization. Tom has a track record of success developing intelligent decision-support solutions for business innovation using artificial intelligence, neural network and data-driven knowledge management technologies. Dr. Olscheske is also a successful serial entrepreneur and executive in international business joint ventures and technology startups.

CuGate United Kingdom

John Cronin

Press / PR / Marketing / Distribution Consultant

John Cronin is a UK based freelance press / PR / marketing consultant working with several classical/jazz/world music labels, artists, composers, venues and festivals. Prior to him setting up his own consultancy service, John was Head of Classics & Imports at BMG UK. He has over four decades of experience in the areas within which he operates.
For Cugate, John manages our relationships with global physical distribution and key international music press.