Ilhan Scheer
Aleph Alpha co-chief executive who becomes Cohere's chief operating officer on close of the combination.
Ilhan Scheer, Aleph Alpha's co-chief executive since February 2026, is named to take over as Cohere's chief operating officer once the merger the two firms signed on 16 September 2026 closes.
Last refreshed: 22 September 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Timeline for Ilhan Scheer
Named chief operating officer of Cohere effective on close
European Tech Sovereignty: Aleph Alpha signs itself into CohereBackground
Ilhan Scheer is co-chief executive of Aleph Alpha, the German AI company, a role he has held since being appointed from chief growth officer in February 2026. He shares the co-chief executive role with Reto Spörri.
Before Aleph Alpha, Scheer founded fable+, a data-analytics and transformation company that Accenture later acquired, where he went on to serve as managing director over enterprise transformation products. He co-authored the book Decision Intelligence. Scheer is due to move into Cohere's chief operating officer role once the Aleph Alpha combination closes, leading its global operating model, a move that keeps an operational as well as a research voice from Aleph Alpha on the merged company's executive team.
He is named Cohere's incoming COO
On 16 September 2026, Aleph Alpha and Cohere put a definitive merger agreement in place, ending a stall that had held since July over unpublished German shareholder terms. Ilhan Scheer, Aleph Alpha's co-chief executive, is named to take over as chief operating officer of the combined business once the deal closes, giving Aleph Alpha's operational leadership a seat on Cohere's enlarged executive team.
Scheer previously founded fable+, a data-analytics and transformation company later acquired by Accenture, where he served as managing director over enterprise transformation products, and co-authored the book Decision Intelligence.
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Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Updated 22 September 2026. Editorial standards.