He served as Dean of the Faculty of Business & Economic Sciences at the University of Göttingen from 2016 to 2018, and as a Visiting Professor at Macquarie University, Australia, from 2018 to 2019. His international experience also includes visiting scholar roles at the IBM Research Center in the USA (2012–2013), CeDER at New York University (2005), and the University of Rhode Island (1996).

In 2006, Prof. Kolbe completed his Habilitation at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, with a thesis titled “Processes and Systems for Integrated Customer Relationship Management.” Prior to that, he was appointed “Assistenzprofessor” at the same institution and led multiple research groups in Customer Knowledge Management and related fields from 2002 to 2007.

Beyond academia, Prof. Kolbe has held several senior roles in industry, including Managing Director of Deutsche Bank’s eConsulting Group in New York (2000–2002), Director of the Advanced Technology Group at Deutsche Bank AG in Frankfurt (1997–1999), and Board Member at Paybox AG (1999–2000). He was also Chairman of the Board at onValco AG, Hamburg (2001–2007), and served on the Investment Board of e-Millennium Funds I, a Munich-based venture capital initiative (1999–2002).

He earned his Ph.D. in 1997 from the Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg and holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration and Computer Science from the University of Braunschweig. His early professional background includes an apprenticeship in banking at Sparkasse Hannover and military service from 1988 to 1989.