Vortel was founded in 2005 by two Americans in Berlin. Our mission is to empower customers by bringing the next generation of Internet-based communications to Germany, Europe and the world.

Management Team

Eckhart K. Gouras
Co-Founder and Managing Director

Eckhart has been involved in the IP communications industry since 1996, first as founder and managing director of Germany’s first Internet telephony service provider, POPTEL Telecommunications AG. Following POPTEL’s trade sale in 1999, Eckhart joined OCEN Communications Inc. in Los Angeles as head of business development and legal.  OCEN was one of the first providers in the U.S. and Asia to offer an integrated communications portal to business customers.
In 2001 Eckhart returned to Berlin, Germany, to setup his own consultancy in the field of broadband communications and services.  He has managed projects for the Nordic telecommunications group TeliaSonera (broadband projects in Germany) and the Berlin-based Internet Service Provider Inter.net Germany GmbH, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Inter.net Global LLC.
Prior to his work in the IP communications industry Eckhart worked as a lawyer for the international law firm Coudert Brothers.  He is a graduate of New York’s Columbia University (B.A., J.D.) and a member of the New York State Bar since 1988. From 1987-88 he was a recipient of a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship.
Together with his wife, daughter and son, he lives in Charlottenburg in former West Berlin.

Clark Parsons
Co-Founder and Managing Director

Clark has focused his career on media and telecommunication companies since 1995, working as a manager, consultant and business developer. As an independent consultant, his clients have included the Industrial Investment Council – the inward investment agency of the former Eastern Germany, where he advised global television, e-commerce and IT consulting companies on market entries; the media and telecom division of the Economics Ministry of the German state of North Rhine-Westfalia; and diverse web publishers such as InYourPocket.com.
As the first Germany country manager for The Einstein Channel, a science and technology-themed broadcaster, Clark helped establish a new digital television channel in 1999-2000. While a senior consultant in the media division of KMPG Consulting AG (later Bearing Point Germany), he worked from 2001-2003 on projects for one of Europe’s largest film and television companies. Until he co-founded Vortel in 2005, Clark was the Vice President, Germany for One2Connect, an international network of business development professionals delivering channel deals and strategic partnerships for hardware, software and telecom companies.
Before coming to Germany in 1997, Clark spent almost a decade as a journalist in Nashville, Tennessee. He was a staff writer for the Nashville Banner, Nashville Scene, and the Tennessean before serving as editor-in-chief for Nashville Life magazine. He is a graduate of Columbia University (M.S.) in New York and Vanderbilt University (B.A.) in Tennessee, as well as a 1997-98 recipient of the Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship.
Together with his wife and son, he lives in Prenzlauerberg in former East Berlin.