Stephan was appointed in March 2024 by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) as Chairman of the Industry Advisory Board (IAB) of the Digital Standards Initiative, the global platform for alignment, adoption, and engagement on digital trade standards. Since 2023, he serves in the board of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Germany.

Together with senior industry experts he founded the Verifiable.Trade Foundation, a Swiss not-for-profit organization.  The Foundation advances transparency, security, and efficiency in global trade through open-source verifiable identification and data container technologies for the exchange

of digitalized trade related information. The mission is to bridge all trading parties and digital platforms by creating the open, universal International Secure Trade Transfer Protocol (ISTTP).

Stephan was the CEO of the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF). He co-founded IS Innovative Software GmbH in 1989. This company eventually became part of the NYSE-listed Interactive Data Corporation, where he served as Global Chief Technology Officer.