Daniela Schwarzer

In 2026 Daniela Schwarzer was chosen as president of the Hertie School in Berlin for a four-year term, together with a professorship in European governance and geopolitics. Until mid-2026 she sat on the executive board of the Bertelsmann Stiftung, which she joined in 2023.

Her career has moved between journalism, research and policy. She was France correspondent and opinion editor at the Financial Times Deutschland, headed the Europe research group at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) from 2008 to 2013 and was research director at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. From 2016 to 2021 she led the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) as director and CEO, and she then became executive director for Europe and Central Asia at the Open Society Foundations. From 2020 to 2022 she was also a special adviser to the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

She is an honorary professor of political science at the Freie Universität Berlin and has served on the boards of BNP Paribas, Covivio and the Institut Jacques Delors. Her books include Final Call (2021) and Krisenzeit (2023). In 2017 she was awarded the French Legion of Honour.