From 1994 to 1999, Mahbouba Gharbi studied telecommunications and information technology at ENS Telecom Paris and communications engineering and data processing at the University of Stuttgart, earning a double degree in engineering. Since 1999, she has been working on projects as a software architect and software developer. In 2004, she founded the IT consulting company ITech Progress GmbH, which she still leads as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Architect. Mahbouba Gharbi is a founding member of the International Software Architecture Qualification Board (iSAQB e.V.). There, she is involved on a voluntary basis in the creation of training curricula and certification examinations for software architects as well as examination regulations. From 2008 to May 2023, she was the chairwoman of the board of the association. She is a certified and active trainer for Foundation Level and Advanced Level trainings of the Certified Professional for Software Architecture (CPSA) program. Since 2009, Mahbouba Gharbi has been head and trainer of the ITech Academy with locations in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Nuremberg and Frankfurt-Eschborn, which has also includes actIT academy & consulting since 2014. The portfolio of the ITech Academy includes trainings, workshops and in-house trainings on the topics of software architecture, software development and IT project management. Mahbouba Gharbi also lectures at international universities on the topics of Java/JEE and service-based architectures and regularly speaks about software architecture at international trade fairs such as OOP and the Software Architecture Gathering. Mahbouba is also a book author and publishes articles in professional journals. Since 2021, she has been a member of the Advisory Board of the Department of Computer Science at Worms University as a business representative. She was appointed to the advisory board for the Applied Computer Science and Mobile Computing courses and contributes to the content of the courses.

The business graduate with BA (Hons) and master degree is employed with ITech Progress GmbH in the field of Marketing, PR and Sales. She studied “International Management & Controlling” at the University of Applied Sciences (Ludwigshafen) and “International Business Aspects” at the Leeds Metropolitan University. In addition to her activities in the area of marketing and sales, she is also supporting the company in the field of Customer Relationship Management and has a great affinity for current IT topics.

The corporate lawyer has several years of professional experience as a result of her work in a law firm. Her practical expertise is originally based on her studies at the University of Mannheim, that focused on the areas of labor law and human resource management. At ITech Progress GmbH, Miss Falkenberg is responsible for the areas of human resources and administration.