TPG Management – Global and Subsidiary Management

The Project Group (TPG) is a worldwide operating company with offices in Germany (headquarters), Austria, Switzerland, UK, Ireland, USA, Canada and the Arab-African (MEA) region. Here you will find more information about the management of the subsidiaries.


TPG Management Germany

Stavros Georgantzis
Founder, Managing Director and Co-Owner of The Project Group GmbH

Stavros Georgantzis is the Founder and Managing Director of The Project Group GmbH. It was under his leadership that TPG started to develop TPG PSLink®, an integration product for Microsoft Project and ERP systems like SAP back in 1998.

Before setting up The Project Group, Stavros Georgantzis was a consultant, a trainer for project management and the author of several publications on the subject including being the main contributor to the Inside Project magazine. He worked as a consultant and product manager at Microsoft GmbH in Unterschleißheim, Germany from 1992 to 1994.

Today, Stavros Georgantzis is in charge of worldwide sales and partner management as well as strategic relations with Microsoft and SAP at TPG.

Johann Strasser
Managing Director and Co-Owner of The Project Group GmbH

Johann Strasser is a qualified engineer and has been Managing Partner of The Project Group since 2001. His responsibilities include software product development.

Following several years’ experience as a development engineer in the automotive and energy sectors, Johann Strasser worked in the field of project management for ten years as a self-employed consultant and trainer. During this time, he was a project manager for software projects in the construction sector and managed scheduling and cost management for large-scale building projects. He has been working intensively with Microsoft Project ever since the first version was released. Johann Strasser also authors articles for a variety of journals and is a recognized speaker on all project management-related topics.

Dr. Thomas Henkelmann Managing Director and Co-Owner of The Project Group GmbH

Thomas Henkelmann was Associate Partner at The Project Group since May 2004. Since January 2019, he has been Managing Partner and Director Consulting Services.

After his studies and PhD in Technical Physics, he started working as a project management consultant at Primavera. Having founded his own company, Micro-Frame Technologies Deutschland GmbH (changing its name in 2000 to 12Plan Projektmanagement GmbH), he went on to become managing director of several software companies (elabor.com, Scheuring AG, Business Engine Software Corporation), responsible for establishing their European distribution and service networks.

Previously, his activities focused on seminars, training and developing implementation concepts for Enterprise Project Management solutions based on Microsoft Project Server. Now, his focus is on consulting and sales.


TPG Management MEA

Dries van der Colff
Director – TPG Middle East and Africa (MEA)

Dries van der Colff is sales director for the Middle East and Africa region. He holds a degree in electronics engineering. While working in the fighter aircraft industry, he became interested in the potential of software solutions to help solve the problems associated with managing large project teams.

Based in Pretoria, South Africa, Dries has spent the past 15 years playing a leading role in the sale of project and portfolio management solutions based on Microsoft technologies. Since 2012, when the company Dries co-founded joined TPG, the TPG MEA unit has expanded its reach from Southern Africa to the Persian Gulf region and has successfully implemented PPM solutions for global companies.

Pieter de Klerk
Director – TPG Middle East and Africa (MEA)

Pieter de Klerk is operations director for TPG MEA. After several years’ experience as a programmer in the public sector, and manufacturing and telecommunication industries, Pieter de Klerk worked in the fields of quality, integration and project management for ten years, implementing and integrating billing and customer care systems across Africa. He became a project management consultant in 2007. Since 2016, he has headed TPG MEA operations, specializing in implementations using Microsoft Technologies and TPG products in the Middle East and Africa. His experience in consulting and implementation encompasses the IT, mining, oil & gas, telecommunications and banking industries, as well as the public sector.


TPG Management Austria

Ing. Mag. (FH) Peter Huemayer MBA, PMP
Managing Director TPG The Project Group Austria, CEE GmbH

The Austrian subsidiary is headed up by the experienced project management specialist Peter Huemayer MBA, PMP, who also holds a master’s degree in engineering. Huemayer built up a significant body of knowledge about project management, Microsoft Project and SAP from his time managing large, global projects in the industrial automation field. As a certified PMP, he also has an excellent grasp of the project management methodology of the US-based Project Management Institute (PMI).

TPG The Project Group Austria, CEE GmbH was founded in Vienna in early 2012. It is staffed by a team of experienced consultants who provide the Austrian and Central Eastern European markets with Microsoft Project Server and Microsoft SharePoint Server solutions as well as TPG products that extend their functionality.


TPG Management Switzerland

Matthias Jäger,
Managing Director of TPG The Project Group GmbH, Switzerland

Matthias Jäger is managing director of TPG The Project Group GmbH in Switzerland. He has more than 20 years of experience in the implementation and utilization of Microsoft Project-based project management solutions. Matthias Jäger has managed more than 200 Microsoft Project Server and SharePoint Server implementations for large enterprises as well as SMBs in Switzerland. His experience in consulting and implementation covers the pharmaceutical, IT, energy, telecoms, banking and consumer goods industries.

TPG’s Swiss subsidiary, TPG The Project Group GmbH, was founded in early 2011 and is based in Reinach, near Basel. From there, a team of experienced consultants serves the Swiss market with Microsoft Project Server and Microsoft SharePoint Server solutions as well as the TPG products that extend their functionality.


TPG Management United Kingdom / Ireland

Peter O’Neill
Operations Director von TPG The Project Group UK Ltd. and Ireland Ltd.

Peter O’Neill is Operations Director of TPG The Project Group UK Ltd and TPG The Project Group Ireland Ltd.. He joined TPG with more than 12 years of experience in the implementation of project management solutions centred around SAP Project Systems in all major industries including aerospace & defence, pharmaceuticals, telecoms, mining and the public sector.

As an independent solution architect, he worked with TPG to provide a Microsoft Enterprise Project Management based solution with SAP integration using TPG PSLink at BAE Systems. Following this very successful collaboration with TPG, Peter recognized that TPG’s authoritative yet collaborative approach to delivery and support would also work well in the UK and Ireland. Since then, he has been the TPG representative in these islands and in Australia too.

The UK-based subsidiary TPG The Project Group UK Ltd. was founded in 2008. Since 2019 O’Neill supports TPG customers in Ireland with a separate subsidiary. Both TPG offices assume responsibility for implementations of Microsoft PPM solutions and TPG products in the markets of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.


TPG Management North America

Richard Thorne
CEO of TPG The Project Group North America, Inc

Richard Thorne is CEO of TPG The Project Group North America, Inc. He has more than 15 years of experience in the implementation and utilization of Microsoft Project-based project management solutions. Richard Thorne holds an MBA in Management Information Systems and has managed Microsoft Project Server / Online and SharePoint Server / Online implementations for mid to large enterprises in USA and International locations. His experience in consulting and implementation covers the pharmaceutical, IT, energy, automotive, and consumer goods industries.

TPG’s USA subsidiary was founded in 2007 and is now based in Lake Mary, FL. From there, a team of experienced consultants serves the North American market with Microsoft Project Server / Online and Microsoft SharePoint Server / Online solutions as well as the TPG products that extend their functionality.

Spiro Theopoulos
Director of Operations of TPG The Project Group Canada

Spiro Theopoulos has over 20 years of experience in the field of project management and EPM implementations spanning various industries including aerospace, pharmaceutical, biomedical, manufacturing, transport, construction, banking, utilities and telecommunications. Spiro has assisted many project teams to successfully deliver on their commitments and meet or surpass stakeholder expectations.

Spiro truly believes that project success lies in the effective collaboration between senior project managers who see the big picture and the project control officers and technicians who do the day-to-day tasks of project management. His quest has been to ascertain if, and how, project planning software tools can be leveraged to streamline and optimize project execution, irrespective of their size or complexity.


TPG Management France

Olivier Schmitt,
Président – The Project Group France SAS

Starting his career in 1999, Olivier Schmitt has designed, implemented and supported project and program management solutions for all important industries. The fitting of the largest Hotel Casino in the world, the participation in the London Olympics PMO teams, and the Jaguar-Land Rover demerger are examples of his contribution to program management worldwide. In addition, he has been certified in all MS Project Server / Online solutions since 2003 and has performed more than 60 major implementations in the five continents, over his 20-year career.

Strengthened with these field experiences, he has created innovative methodological approaches, published papers, pitched in conferences, and trained future project managers at the prestigious Ecole Polytechnique de Paris. Active on LinkedIn with his “Tranches de Vie” posts (small posts reflecting exotic project management situations), he is currently writing a book to spread and communicate his love for project management to new generations of consultants. Holding an engineering degree, reinforced by an MBA, Olivier is now based in Lyon, France, leading the French TPG Team.

Martin Hespe,
Directeur Général of The Project Group France SAS

Martin Hespe, Dipl.-Ing. (FH), is co-founder and managing director of The Project Group SAS. At The Project Group GmbH in Germany, he is Head of International Key Account Management. Martin Hespe has been with TPG for many years in various roles. He is part of the management team and the main point of contact for customers in the Aerospace and Defense industries.

Prior to joining TPG, Martin Hespe worked as a project manager for construction projects with a focus on infrastructure and civil engineering at a renowned engineering firm in Munich. He studied civil engineering at the FH in Munich and industrial engineering at the FH in Rosenheim and holds an MBA&Eng. degree.