American Council On Germany

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2025-09-22 09:00 - 10:00 (America/New_York)
The ACG regularly hosts discussions with a journalist based in Berlin on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse. Join us on Monday, September 22, at 9:00 am for a Kaffeepause with Dr. Melanie Amann, Member of the Editorial Team, SPIEGEL. Dr. Melanie Amann is a Member of the Editorial Team at SPIEGEL. She studied Law in Trier, Aix-en-Provence, and Berlin, and received her doctorate from the LMU Munich. From 2003 to 2004, she spent a year at the German School of Journalism in Munich. After working as an editor at the Financial Times Deutschland, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, she moved to SPIEGEL in Berlin in 2013. From February 2019 until September 2025, she headed SPIEGEL’s capital city bureau, together with Sebastian Fischer, Christoph Hickmann and Martin Knobbe. She was a member of the editorial board from May 2021 until September 2025.

An Initial Assessment of Friedrich Merz’s Government
2025-09-22 17:30 - 19:30
The Charlotte Warburg Chapter and the Goethe Institut will host a discussion and reception with Vladimir Balzer, Award Winning Journalist and Moderator, Deutschlandradio. Vladimir Balzer is an award-winning radio journalist and moderator at Deutschlandradio. He grew up in Leipzig and studied in Dublin, Venice, and Leipzig. He began his career as a presenter, reporter, and editor at Deutschlandradio and MDR. Mr. Balzer hosts, among other programs, the daily program “Fazit – Kultur vom Tage” on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. In 2022, he was selected to be a Kellen Fellow by the American Council on Germany. In 2023, he started as a correspondent at Deutschlandradio’s main studio in Berlin. He is known as a commentator for German Television, such as ZDF. He also regularly reports for his broadcaster from the United States.

A New Era for the German-American Partnership
2025-09-23 18:00 - 19:30
The ACG will host a discussion and reception with Metin Hakverdi, Coordinator for Transatlantic Cooperation for the German Federal Foreign Ministry and Member of the Bundestag (SPD).
Metin Hakverdi serves as the Coordinator of Transatlantic Cooperation for the German Government. He has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2013 and currently serves on the Bundestag’s Committee on European Union Affairs. He is the Deputy Chairman of the German-American Parliamentary Friendship Group, Chairman of the USA Discussion Group of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, and a member of the Board of Atlantik-Brücke. Mr. Hakverdi was a John F. Kennedy Memorial Policy Fellow at Harvard University and a Distinguished Visitor at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
Before being elected to the Bundestag, Mr. Hakverdi was a member of the Parliament of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg from 2008 to 2013. He attended high school in Simi Valley, California, in 1985/86 and studied law at the Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel and Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law.

European Security and Transatlantic Relations in the Age of Trump
2025-09-25 12:00 - 14:00
NYU’s Center for European and Mediterranean Studies, the American Council on Germany, and Deutsches Haus at NYU present a moderated discussion among Sophia Besch (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace), Hans Kundnani (UC Berkeley / London School of Economics), Tara Varma (Brookings), and Steven E. Sokol (American Council on Germany).
The election of Donald Trump to a second term in office has thrown the transatlantic relationship between the United States and the European Union (EU) into disarray. NATO seems at risk. American foreign policy has become transactional, based overtly on power rather than cooperation. And new areas of policy—everything from trade to digital technology—have been brought into the sphere of geopolitics. What are the implications for European security, given that Russia is still waging an aggressive war on Europe’s doorstep? How is the EU responding to the prospect of losing America’s security umbrella? Can it create strategic autonomy, and delink its military from that of the United States? And how are rifts within Europe hindering or helping the EU as it charts a new path through an ever-changing security landscape? Sophia Besch is a senior fellow in the Europe Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Her area of expertise is European defense policy. Dr. Besch also teaches as an adjunct lecturer at Johns Hopkins SAIS.
Before joining Carnegie, Sophia was a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform (CER) in London and Berlin, where she led research on European armament policy, the EU’s role in European defense, transatlantic relations, German defense policy, and the security implications of Brexit.
Sophia has also worked with the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies and the Atlantic Council’s Europe Centre, where she served as co-chair of the US-Germany Renewal Initiative. Earlier in her career, Sophia was a Carlo Schmid fellow in NATO’s Policy Planning Unit and a researcher for the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. She is a member of the Atlantik Brücke Young Leaders program.
Sophia regularly comments on political and defense issues in print and broadcast media and has published opinion pieces in the Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Internationale Politik, Politico, Project Syndicate, War on the Rocks, and others. She has served as an expert witness for the UK House of Commons Defence Select Committee, the German Bundestag EU Committee, and the European Parliament Subcommittee for Security and Defence.
She holds a doctorate in European Studies from King’s College London, and degrees in international relations and international security from Sciences Po Paris and the London School of Economics.
Hans Kundnani is a Visiting Professor in Practice at London School of Economics Europe Institute and a Lecturer at Boston University’s Center for the Study of Europe. He was formerly an Adjunct Professor at CEMS, a visiting fellow at the Remarque Institute at New York University and an Open Society Foundations Ideas Workshop fellow. He was previously the director of the Europe programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) in London, a senior Transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a Bosch Public Policy Fellow at the Transatlantic Academy in Washington, D.C., and research director at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He is also an associate fellow at the Institute for German Studies at Birmingham University and teaches at the Collège d’Europe in Natolin, Poland.
Hans is the author of three books: Eurowhiteness. Culture, Empire and Race in the European Project (London: Hurst, 2023); The Paradox of German Power (London/New York: Hurst/Oxford University Press, 2014), which has been translated into German, Italian, Japanese, Korean and Spanish; and Utopia or Auschwitz. Germany’s 1968 Generation and the Holocaust (London/New York: Hurst/Columbia University Press, 2009). He studied German and philosophy at Oxford University and journalism at Columbia University in New York, where he was a Fulbright Scholar.
Tara Varma is a visiting fellow in the Center of the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution. Her research focus includes French and European foreign policy priorities. In particular, she works on European strategic autonomy, European defense and security priorities, transatlantic relations, and domestic developments in Europe.
Until December 2022, she was a senior policy fellow and the head of the Paris office of the European Council on Foreign Relations, where she followed French foreign policy and European and Asian security developments. In 2022, she was part of the working group on the French European Council presidency, set up by the French Foreign Ministry, which led to the publication of a report entitled “A Europe for Today and Tomorrow: Sovereignty, Solidarity, Shared Identity.” The report included a number of recommendations on how to strengthen Europe’s strategic autonomy and how to bridge the gap between France’s ambitions for Europe and a form of “soft Euroskepticism” borne by a growing part of the French population. In November 2023, Varma was awarded the honor of Knight of the National Order of Merit of France.
Varma’s recent publications include “Beyond the NATO summit, key questions remain for European security,” “Alliance of Revisionists: A New Era for the Transatlantic Relationship” with Sophia Besch, and “The China-Russia relationship and threats to vital US interests” with Patricia Kim, Asli Aydintasbas, and Angela Stent. She has been quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Le Monde, and more, appears regularly on France24, and is a frequent guest on the Center for a New American Security’s “Brussels Sprouts” podcast. Varma has previously worked and lived in Shanghai, London, New Delhi, and Paris. She has a master’s degree in international relations from Sciences Po Lille (2011) and a Master of Science in international politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies (2011), with a focus on Asian politics and Indian and Chinese foreign policies.

German-American Relations in a New Era
2025-09-25 17:00 - 19:00
The American Council on Germany’s Atlanta Warburg Chapter, the Goethe-Zentrum Atlanta, and the Goethe-Institut will host a discussion and reception with Vladimir Balzer on “German-American Relations in a New Era”.
Vladimir Balzer is an award-winning journalist and moderator at Deutschlandradio. He grew up in Leipzig and studied German, Art History, and Journalism in Dublin, Venice, and Leipzig. He also studied abroad in the United States. He began his career as a presenter, reporter, and editor at Deutschlandradio and MDR.
Mr. Balzer hosts, among other programs, the daily programs “Fazit – Kultur vom Tage” and “Studio 9” on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. He has also reported for Deutschlandradio from the United States. In 2022, he was selected as a Kellen Fellow by the American Council on Germany.

German-American Relations in a New Era
2025-09-26 12:00 - 14:00
The Nashville Warburg Chapter and the Goethe Institut will host a discussion and lunch with Vladimir Balzer, Award Winning Journalist, Deutschlandradio. Vladimir Balzer is an award-winning radio journalist and moderator at Deutschlandradio. He grew up in Leipzig and studied in Dublin, Venice, and Leipzig. He began his career as a presenter, reporter, and editor at Deutschlandradio and MDR. Mr. Balzer hosts, among other programs, the daily program “Fazit – Kultur vom Tage” on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. In 2022, he was selected to be a Kellen Fellow by the American Council on Germany. In 2023, he started as a correspondent at the Capital Studios of Deutschlandfunk in Berlin. He is known as a commentator for German Television, such as ZDF. He also regularly reports for his broadcaster from the United States.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2025-09-29 09:00 - 10:00
The ACG regularly hosts discussions with a journalist based in Berlin on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse. Join us on Monday, September 29, at 9:00 am for a Kaffeepause with Sabine Rennefanz, Columnist for Der Spiegel. Sabine Rennefanz is an award-winning journalist, author, and columnist for DER SPIEGEL. She has written extensively about the fall of the wall, the transformation, and the challenges of the unified Germany. Her book „Eisenkinder. Die stille Wut der Wendegeneration“ — a coming-of-age-memoir about the 1989/90 change — was a bestseller in 2013 and is going to be republished next year. She was born in 1974 close to the Polish border.

Germany 35 Years After Unification
2025-09-29 18:00 - 19:30
The American Council on Germany’s Chicago Warburg Chapter, Dank Haus, and the Goethe-Institut cordially invite you to a discussion and reception with Vladimir Balzer, Award Winning Journalist, Deutschlandradio on “Germany 35 Years After Unification”. The discussion will be moderated by Heidi Christen, Executive Director of DANK Haus.
RSVP HERE by September 26.
Vladimir Balzer is an award-winning journalist and moderator at Deutschlandfunk. He grew up in Leipzig and studied German, art history, and journalism in Dublin, Venice, and Leipzig. He studied abroad in Italy and the United States. He began his career as a presenter, reporter, and editor at Deutschlandradio and MDR. Mr. Balzer hosts, among other programs, the daily programs “Fazit – Kultur vom Tage” and “Studio 9” on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. In 2022, he was selected to be a Kellen Fellow by the American Council on Germany.
Heidi Christen (Moderator) is the Executive Director of DANK Haus and was previously a member of the DANK Board. She has over 20 years of management consulting experience, leading teams in complex, transformational projects in strategy, operations and information technology. Ms. Christen holds an MBA from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, and a BA in Economics and German Studies from Northwestern University.

Local Communities and the Semiconductor Industry: Lessons across the Atlantic
2025-09-29 18:00 - 20:00
The Columbus Warburg Chapter will host a discussion and reception with Members of the ACG’s German-American Semiconductors Cities Network.
The German-American Semiconductor Cities Network is a three-year project meant to help key stakeholders in German and American cities where semiconductor companies have made or will make significant investments connect with each other to share ideas and experiences and, most importantly, to identify specific strategies, measures, and best practices that can be implemented in their respective communities to address the social, economic, and structural impacts of semiconductor investments in their communities. In the first year, the German cities of Magdeburg and Dresden and the U.S. cities Chandler (Arizona) and Columbus/New Albany (Ohio) participated. Alex Klosterman is a fifth-generation Ohioan with German ancestry. Born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, he attended The Ohio State University, earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Operations Management. He identified an early passion for economic development while at Ohio State as a participant in the Ohio Export Internship Program (OEIP), an Ohio Department of Development workforce initiative. Mr. Klosterman returned to the OEIP as a teaching assistant for three years concurrent with a two-year internship at JobsOhio, the state’s private nonprofit economic development corporation. As an International Business Development Intern, he coordinated travel and completed dozens of RFI’s for JobsOhio’s international consultants. Mr. Klosterman now works as an economic development specialist for the City of New Albany, where Intel’s Ohio One site is currently under construction. His time is primarily spent maintaining the city’s active tax abatements and functioning as a liaison to development-related city boards.
Mike Schadek currently serves as the Director of Regional Partnerships for Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther. Mr. Schadek received his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame and his J.D. from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. He launched three successful businesses in Southern California and Ohio and has maintained a law practice for the past 25 years. Elected to Upper Arlington City Council in 2011, he joined Mayor Ginther’s team in 2016 and serves as the Chief Liaison between Columbus and all suburban Mayors, Managers and City Council members. Mr. Schadek is the Immediate Past Board Chair of Greater Columbus Sister Cities International and helps manage international relationships on behalf of the City of Columbus.
Almar Walter is a trusted public leader whose career reflects a deep commitment to student success, civic engagement, and global ambassadorship. As Vice President of Student Success at Columbus State Community College, he shares the privilege of serving over 45,000 students representing 130 countries. As a member of the President’s Executive Cabinet, he oversees a portfolio that spans student life, accessibility services, military and veteran services, student wellbeing, student conduct, and student engagement and belonging -all focused on ensuring that every student has access to resources and support. Before joining Columbus State, Almar served as Director of Community Affairs for Mayor Andrew J. Ginther, where he led citywide initiatives designed to strengthen civic trust and community partnerships. His work built bridges between government and residents, advancing projects grounded in collaboration and equity. His ability to connect across systems and people has enabled him to represent Columbus on the global stage. He has participated in multiple international delegations, helping to represent and strengthen the region’s global relationships. Most recently, he was a Columbus team member for the German-American Semiconductor Network’s visit to Dresden, Germany. Almar also traveled to Genoa, Italy, as a CIRCLE Fellow with Greater Columbus Sister Cities International, promoting cultural collaboration and intercultural diplomacy. His international service extends beyond diplomacy, he has led humanitarian trips to Haiti, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Trinidad and Tobago, contributing to disaster relief, affordable housing, and sanitation projects.
Peter Coccia (moderator) is a native of Columbus, OH. He received his Bachelor of Arts in modern languages, with an emphasis on German language and culture from the University of Notre Dame, and holds a Master of Arts from Vanderbilt University. After college graduation, he lived in Germany, during which time he travelled extensively throughout the country and Europe, and studied at the University of Marburg, where he participated in a summer program on Deutschland während der Weimarer Republik (Germany during the Weimar Republic.) After a short stint teaching high school German, Mr. Coccia entered public service and began a long career in government finance administration for the State of Ohio, which included nearly seventeen years as Finance Director for the Ohio Department of Administrative Services and three years as Chief Operating Officer for the Ohio Department of Development. Upon retirement, he continued German studies at The Ohio State University and for several years taught German language to adults at the Ohio German Language School. He is currently a guest teacher of German at Columbus area high schools.
Since 2012 Mr. Coccia has served on the board of Dresden Sister City, Inc (DSCI)., a local non-profit organization supporting the sister city relationship between Columbus and Dresden, Germany, and in 2024 began a two-year term as board president. In early February of 2015 he was the official representative of DSCI and the City of Columbus for the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the destruction of Dresden at the end of World War II. He currently serves as Co-Director of the ACG Columbus Warburg Chapter.

Transatlantic Backroads: Finding Common Ground in Rural Germany and the United States
2025-09-30 12:00 - 13:00
At a time when political rhetoric fuels division, polarization, and pessimism in both the United States and Germany, it is possible to find inspirational stories about individuals in rural states coming together at the local level to solve urgent and shared problems.
Over the past decade, Professor Jenny Reardon has traveled by bike across the United States and Germany. Through her blog about her travels across rural Kansas and Brandenburg, she has documented the many successes at the local levels in both countries—how people in often overlooked rural areas have broken through rigid political defaults and worked together to find common ground. Such successes include healing wounded agricultural lands through ecological farming, renewing communities through creative design, and rehabilitating watersheds and aquifers through problem-focused means.
We hope you can join us to hear Professor Reardon’s stories of finding common ground and seeking ways to live together on both sides of the Atlantic. Jenny Reardon is a Professor of Sociology and the Founding Director of the Science and Justice Research Center at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She holds a PhD in Science and Technology Studies from Cornell University and a BS in Biology and a BA in Political Science from the University of Kansas. Her research draws into focus questions about identity, justice and democracy that are often silently embedded in scientific ideas and practices, particularly in modern genomic research. Her training spans molecular biology, the history of biology, science studies, feminist and critical race studies, and the sociology of science, technology, and medicine. She is the author of Race to the Finish: Identity and Governance in an Age of Genomics (Princeton University Press, 2005) and The Postgenomic Condition: Ethics, Justice, Knowledge After the Genome (Chicago University Press, 2017). She has been the recipient of fellowships and awards from, among others, the National Science Foundation, the Max Planck Institute, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Technical University of Munich, the Westinghouse Science Talent Search, and the United States Congressional Committee on Science, Space and Technology. In the Fall of 2017, she started a project to bike over one thousand miles through her home state of Kansas to learn from farmers, ranchers, and other denizens of the high plains about how best to know and care for the prairie.
Dale Medearis (Moderator) is a Senior Environmental Planner for the Northern Virginia Regional Commission, where he co-leads the NVRC’s Regional Climate Mitigation and Adaptation programs and manages NVRC’s International Partnerships. Medearis helped co-launch the first formal climate and energy partnership between the 40 largest US and European metropolitan regional councils, co-initiate the Transatlantic Climate Bridge, co-launch the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s “Cities and Climate” Network, and co-develop the Transatlantic Urban Climate Dialogue with the Free University Berlin. Prior to NVRC, Medearis spent 20 years at the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of International Affairs as the Program Manager for Western Europe and Urban Environmental Programs. He served as Vice-Chair of the OECD Territorial Development Committee and Chairman of the OECD Working Group on Urban Affairs. Medearis was a German Chancellor Fellow (1994-1995) and has been awarded fellowships from the Fulbright Commission, the European Union, and the American Council on Germany. Medearis holds a PhD in Environmental Design and Planning from Virginia Tech University, an MS in Cartographic and Geographic Science from George Mason University, an MGA in Government from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA in International Relations from the University of Redlands.

Breaking Conventional Thinking: U.S. Import Dependence on Europe and Germany
2025-10-01 11:00 - 12:00
Against the backdrop of increasing tensions between Europe and the United States over tariffs and trade, the German Economic Institute in Cologne published a report in late September that examines the dependence of the United States on imports from the EU and Germany. The report’s findings show that the U.S. dependence on imports from the EU is greater than often assumed – and that it has increased steadily over the past 15 years, making the U.S. dependence on imports from the EU higher (both in total value and in the number of goods) than its dependence on imports from China. The report was commissioned by the German Federal Foreign Office (and published in German). It can be found here.
Join us for a discussion with one of the report’s co-authors, Dr. Samina Sultan, who serves as a Senior Economist for European Economic and Fiscal Policy at the German Economic Institute. Dr. Samina Sultan is a Senior Economist for European Economic and Fiscal Policy at the German Economic Institute (IW). She studied Economics at the Universities of Mannheim, St. Gallen, and Tübingen, and completed her PhD at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) and at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research interests include trade, trade policy, Europe, fiscal and industrial policies, and China.

Memory, Heimat, and the Legacy of Reunification: A Conversation about Restitution
2025-10-02 08:00 - 09:30
The ACG, the Robert Bosch Fellowship Alumni Association, and 1014 will host a breakfast briefing with Tamar Shapiro, Author and Urban Development Expert (2009 ACG McCloy Fellow and 1999 Bosch Fellow).

Tamar Shapiro’s debut novel Restitution tells the story of two American siblings who return to their mother’s East German hometown, from which their mother and grandparents fled in the 1950s, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, only to uncover long-buried family secrets and reckon with the meaning of home, memory, and loss. As we mark the 35th anniversary of German reunification in 2025, the novel offers a timely reflection on how the legacies of division and exile continue to shape both nations and families. The discussion will reflect on the book, her experiences living and working in eastern Germany, and the continued divisions between western and eastern Germany today.
Tamar Shapiro was raised in the United States and Germany and now lives in Washington, DC. Her first novel, Restitution, is being released in September 2025. Other writing has appeared in Poets & Writers (online), as well as Electric Literature and LitHub (both forthcoming). A former attorney and non-profit leader at Mpact, the Center for Community Progress, and the German Marshall Fund, Ms. Shapiro spent decades working on housing and community development policy in the U.S. She was a recipient of a McCloy Fellowship from the American Council on Germany to study vacant property policies in former East Germany and spent a year working on urban policy in Berlin as a Robert Bosch Foundation fellow. Ms. Shapiro attended Harvard Law School and is currently a 2026 MFA candidate in Fiction at Randolph College in Virginia.

Social Cohesion in Times of Uncertainty
2025-10-03 18:30 - 20:30
The American Council on Germany and the Goethe-Institut invites you to join us for the latest installment in our Foreign Correspondent Unplugged series, which delves into current political debates on both sides of the Atlantic.
Timed to coincide with the 35th anniversary of German unification, this event will explore what binds societies together in an era of division. Germany’s journey from East and West to a unified nation offers lessons for communities grappling with social, political, and economic polarization today. We will compare these experiences with efforts to foster social cohesion in Texas, where demographic change and political tensions present unique challenges.
Join us for a discussion with award winning journalists Vladimir Balzer (Deutschlandradio) and Celeste Diaz Schurman (Houston Public Media) to examine how trust, identity, and shared values can be strengthened in volatile and uncertain times. The event will be moderated by the President of the American Council on Germany, Dr. Steven E. Sokol. Vladimir Balzer is an award-winning radio journalist and moderator at Deutschlandfunk. He grew up in Leipzig and studied in Dublin, Venice, and Leipzig. He began his career as a presenter, reporter, and editor at Deutschlandradio and MDR. Mr. Balzer hosts, among other programs, the daily program “Fazit – Kultur vom Tage” on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. In 2022, he was selected to be a Kellen Fellow by the American Council on Germany. In 2023 he started as a correspondent at the Capital Studios of Deutschlandfunk in Berlin. He is known as a commentator for German Television, such as ZDF. He also regularly reports for his broadcaster from the United States.
Celeste Diaz Schurman is a Producer/Host at Houston Public Media, where she engages audiences with thought-provoking stories and fresh perspectives on relevant topics. A Brownsville, TX native with a degree in Finance, she has held roles in business, production, and hosting at The University of Texas – Moody College of Communication, ESPN Deportes, and Fox 26 Houston. Ms. Schurman believes in the impact public media has for local communities. She is a first-generation US-born American and takes great pride in being able to communicate fluently in Spanish.
Steven E. Sokol (moderator) has been the President and CEO of the American Council on Germany since 2015. Previously, he served as President and CEO of the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh and prior to that he was the Vice President and Director of Programs at the American Council on Germany. Prior to this, Dr. Sokol served as the Deputy Director of the Aspen Institute Berlin, was the Head of the Project Management Department at the Bonn International Center for Conversion GmbH (BICC), and a Program Officer in the Berlin office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Earlier in his career, he also was a Program Manager at the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and was a paralegal at Fulbright & Jaworski. He holds a Doctorate in Law and Policy from Northeastern University as well as an M.A. in International Relations and International Economics from the Johns Hopkins University’s Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. He has also studied at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität in Heidelberg and as a Fulbright Scholar at the Freie Universität in Berlin. Dr. Sokol serves on several non-profit boards and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He was awarded a Bundesverdienstkreuz (Order of Merit) for his work to strengthen German-American relations.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2025-10-06 09:00 - 10:00
The ACG regularly hosts discussions with a journalist based in Berlin on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse. Join us on Monday, October 6, at 9:00 am for a Kaffeepause with Anja Wehler-Schoeck, International Editor of the German newspaper Tagesspiegel. Anja Wehler-Schoeck is the International Editor of the German newspaper Tagesspiegel and a member of its Editorial Board. In 2022, she founded the paper’s international affairs desk, which she subsequently headed until the end of 2024. Before that, she served as editor-in-chief of IPG Journal, a debate forum for international and European policy. Previously, she worked as Political Counselor at the German Embassy in Washington, DC, and headed the Amman office of the German Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) as Country Director for Jordan and Iraq. She has published extensively and is a frequent commentator on international affairs, European politics, transatlantic relations, and security policy. From 2005 to 2007, she served as an Adjunct Lecturer at the Free University of Berlin, Germany. She holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science from Sciences Po in Paris, France, and the Free University of Berlin.

Germany 35 Years After Unification
2025-10-06 12:00 - 13:30
The American Council on Germany will host a discussion and luncheon with Vladimir Balzer, Award Winning Journalist and Moderator, Deutschlandradio.
Vladimir Balzer is an award-winning radio journalist and moderator at Deutschlandradio. He grew up in Leipzig and studied in Dublin, Venice, and Leipzig. He began his career as a presenter, reporter, and editor at Deutschlandradio and MDR. Mr. Balzer hosts, among other programs, the daily program “Fazit – Kultur vom Tage” on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. In 2022, he was selected to be a Kellen Fellow by the American Council on Germany. In 2023, he started as a correspondent at Deutschlandradio’s main studio in Berlin. He is known as a commentator for German Television, such as ZDF. He also regularly reports for his broadcaster from the United States.

Germany in Crisis?
2025-10-07 15:00 - 16:30
The Los Angeles Warburg Chapter will host a discussion and luncheon with Hans Kundnani, Open Society Ideas Workshop Fellow and Visiting Professor-in-Practice at the London School of Economics. Hans Kundnani is an Open Society Ideas Workshop Fellow and a Visiting Professor-in-Practice at the London School of Economics. He was previously the Director of the Europe Program at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), a Senior Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and Research Director at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He has also been a Visiting Fellow at the Remarque Institute at New York University, the New School, and Göttingen University. He has taught at Boston University, New York University and the Collège d’Europe.
Mr. Kundnani is the author of three books: Eurowhiteness. Culture, Empire and Race in the European Project (London: Hurst, 2023); The Paradox of German Power (London/New York: Hurst/Oxford University Press, 2014), which has been translated into German, Italian, Japanese, Korean and Spanish; and Utopia or Auschwitz. Germany’s 1968 Generation and the Holocaust (London/New York: Hurst/Columbia University Press, 2009). He is a columnist for the New Statesman and also writes for other publications such as Dissent, the Times Literary Supplement, Foreign Affairs and Internationale Politik. Mr. Kundnani studied German and Philosophy at Oxford University and Journalism at Columbia University in New York, where he was a Fulbright Scholar.

Democracy under Pressure
2025-10-07 18:00 - 20:00
Join the American Council on Germany and the Goethe-Institut for an installment of our Foreign Correspondent Unplugged series, which delves into current political debates on both sides of the Atlantic.
Democracy in both Germany and the United States faces mounting challenges, from rising political polarization to declining trust in institutions and practices. This event will explore how these pressures are-reshaping politics and public life on both sides of the Atlantic. Join us for a timely discussion with award-winning journalists Vladimir Balzer (Deutschlandradio) and Dr. Melanie Amann (Der Spiegel) about political trends in Germany and challenges to democracy 35 years after German unity. The event will be moderated by the President of the American Council on Germany, Dr. Steven E. Sokol. Dr. Melanie Amann studied Law in Trier, Aix-en-Provence and Berlin and received her doctorate from the LMU Munich. From 2003 to 2004, she spent a year at the German School of Journalism in Munich. After working as an editor at the “Financial Times Deutschland,” the “F.A.Z.” and the “F.A.S.,” she moved to SPIEGEL in Berlin in 2013. Since February 2019, she has headed SPIEGEL’s capital city bureau, together with Sebastian Fischer, Christoph Hickmann and Martin Knobbe. She has been a member of the editorial board since May 2021.
Vladimir Balzer is an award-winning radio journalist and moderator at Deutschlandradio. He grew up in Leipzig and studied in Dublin, Venice, and Leipzig. He began his career as a presenter, reporter, and editor at Deutschlandradio and MDR. Mr. Balzer hosts, among other programs, the daily program “Fazit – Kultur vom Tage” on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. In 2022, he was selected to be a Kellen Fellow by the American Council on Germany. In 2023, he started as a correspondent at the Capital Studios of Deutschlandfunk in Berlin. He is known as a commentator for German Television, such as ZDF. He also regularly reports for his broadcaster from the United States.
Dr. Steven E. Sokol (moderator) has been the President and CEO of the American Council on Germany since 2015. Previously, he served as President and CEO of the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh and prior to that he was the Vice President and Director of Programs at the American Council on Germany. Earlier in his career, Dr. Sokol worked at the Aspen Institute Berlin and in the Berlin office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. He holds a Doctorate from Northeastern University as well as an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins University’s Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. He has also studied at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität in Heidelberg and as a Fulbright Scholar at the Freie Universität in Berlin.

The Future of European Security and the Transatlantic Relationship
2025-10-08 08:30 - 10:00
The American Council on Germany will host a breakfast briefing in Washington D.C. with Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger.
Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger (1978 Young Leader) was the Chairman of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) from 2008 until 2022 and is now President of the Foundation Council of the Munich Security Conference Foundation. He also teaches at the Hertie School in Berlin as Senior Professor for Security Policy and Diplomatic Practice. He advises the private sector, governments, and international organizations on strategic issues.
Ambassador Ischinger began his diplomatic career in 1973 in the cabinet of the UN Secretary-General in New York. In 1975, he joined the Federal Republic of Germany’s Foreign Service. In 1993, he was named Director of Policy Planning and in 1995 Political Director. In this role, he led the German delegations during the Bosnian Peace negotiations in Dayton/Ohio in 1995, the negotiations on the NATO-Russia Founding Act in 1996/1997, and during the Kosovo crisis in 1998/99. In October 1998, he was appointed State Secretary (Deputy Foreign Minister) of the German Federal Foreign Office. From 2001 to 2006, he served as German Ambassador in Washington, DC, and, from 2006 to 2008, in London. In 2007, he also represented the EU in the Troika negotiations on the future of Kosovo.
Wolfgang Ischinger studied law at the universities of Bonn and Geneva and obtained his law degree in 1972. He earned a MA degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and did postgraduate work at Harvard Law School. He is married to author and journalist Jutta Falke-Ischinger, and has three children. He is a licensed skiing instructor and loves mountaineering and hunting.

A Strategic Outlook: The Transatlantic Relationship in a New Era
2025-10-08 17:00 - 18:30
The ACG will host a discussion and reception with State Secretary Dr. Géza Andreas von Geyr of the Federal Foreign Office.

Dr. Géza Andreas von Geyr has been a State Secretary in the Federal Foreign Office since May 2025. He is a German career foreign service officer who most recently served as Germany’s Permanent Representative to NATO and, before that, as Germany’s Ambassador to Russia. He has held key positions in other government agencies, including serving as Political Director in the Federal Ministry of Defense from 2014 to 2019; Vice President of the Federal Intelligence Service from 2010 to 2014; and Head of Division of the Foreign and Security Policy Directorate-General in the Federal Chancellery from 2006 to 2010. From 2001 to 2006, he was a staff member of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag and advised Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble on foreign and security policy.
Dr. von Geyr joined the foreign service in 1991 after studying Modern History, Ancient History, and Communication in Munich, Budapest, and Vienna, as well as Political Science in Munich and Washington, DC.

What’s New Since the Federal Election? Germany’s Evolving Role in Europe
2025-10-09 09:00 - 10:30
The American Council on Germany will host a breakfast briefing with Dr. Andreas Dombret, Former Executive Board Member of the Deutsche Bundesbank.
Dr. Andreas Dombret is a German-American banker who served as a member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank from 2010 until 2018. In that capacity, he held responsibility for Banking and Financial Supervision, Risk Controlling, and the Bundesbank’s Representative Offices abroad. He was also a member of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the Supervisory Board of the Single Supervisory Mechanism of the European Central Bank as well as the German Financial Stability Committee. Earlier in his career, Dr. Dombret was the Vice-chairman of Bank of America Global Investment Banking in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa as well as head of the German, Austrian, and Swiss branches. After retiring from the Board of the Bundesbank, Dr. Dombret continued to serve on the Board of the Basel-based Bank for International Settlements until the end of 2018 and subsequently assumed a portfolio of advisory mandates. Among them are consultancy firm Oliver Wyman, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), and the London-headquartered equity research firm Autonomous. He is also an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Dr. Dombret completed his MBA at Westfälische Wilhelms University Münster and earned his doctorate at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg. He holds dual German and American citizenship.

German-American Relations in a New Era
2025-10-09 16:00 - 18:00
The Boston Warburg Chapter, the Center for German and European Studies at Brandeis University, and the Goethe-Institut will host a discussion with Vladimir Balzer, Award Winning Journalist and Moderator, Deutschlandradio.
To Register for In-Person Attendance, please RSVP HERE by October 7
To Register for Virtual Attendance, please RSVP HERE by October 7
Vladimir Balzer is an award-winning journalist who grew up in Leipzig and studied in Dublin, Venice, and Leipzig. He began his career as a presenter, reporter, and editor at Deutschlandradio and MDR. Mr. Balzer hosts, among other programs, the daily program “Fazit – Kultur vom Tage” on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. In 2022, he was selected to be a Kellen Fellow by the American Council on Germany. In 2023, he started as a correspondent at Deutschlandfunk’s capital city studio in Berlin. He is known as a commentator for German television, such as ZDF. He also regularly reports for his broadcaster from the U.S.

The Importance of Social Cohesion and Democracy
2025-10-13 11:00 - 12:30
While global challenges are addressed by national governments, increasingly subnational actors such as states, communities, and cities have needed to step up to take action when traditional nation-states have not been able to make progress due to political polarization and partisan gridlock. In the next German-American State-to-State event, legislators will discuss the future of social cohesion and democracy.
On both sides of the Atlantic, social cohesion serves as the glue that holds democratic societies together. When people feel connected to one another and work toward shared goals, democratic institutions gain resilience and legitimacy. In today’s climate of global uncertainty, strengthening social cohesion is not just desirable, it is essential to safeguarding democracy. Yet in recent years, social cohesion has weakened under the pressure of ever-accelerating transformation of societies. Both the United States and Germany navigate a world marked by polycrises, in which social divisions are deepening as political polarization and inequality grow. The result has been an unprecedented erosion of trust in democratic institutions and governance. In this context, state and Länder governments in both countries play a pivotal role. Their proximity to local communities and better understanding of the issues they face, equip subnational legislators with the means to effectively address the decline of social cohesion with policies reflecting local values and priorities. To build trust in democratic institutions, subnational legislators have the responsibility to produce policies that nurture social ties and community engagements at the local level.
Join us for an insightful discussion on October 13 between German and U.S. state legislators to highlight the role of states, cities, and local governments in fostering social cohesion, and promoting cross-border cooperation. The conversation will include Tom Brüntrup, MdL (CDU) State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, Representative Lydia Glaize (D) Georgia House of Representatives, and Simone Strohmayr (SPD) Bavarian State Parliament. Tom Brüntrup (CDU) was born in Bielefeld on May 11, 1997 and grew up there with two older brothers. After graduating from High School, he began his dual studies at the University of Applied Sciences for Finance in North Rhine-Westphalia which he successfully completed in 2018. While working at the North Rhine-Westphalia Finance Administration, he completed a part-time Master’s degree in Financial Management and Controlling at the University of Applied Sciences of Economics in 2022. In addition to his professional career, he has been politically active in the Christian Democratic Union since 2014. In 2020, he was elected to the Bielefeld City Council. Since then, he has been able to take on responsibility in the areas of digitalization, finance, environment and climate. Mr. Brüntrup has been a member of the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia since May 2022. He is the youngest member of the CDU parliamentary group and the second youngest member of parliament. His main areas of work are science, construction, housing and digitalization as well as family, children and youth. In his free time, it is important for him, to spend time with his family and friends. If possible, he uses the rowing machine, goes for a run, to the tennis court or plays golf.
Representative Lydia Glaize (D) is the current House Representative for District 67 in the Georgia House of Representatives. Rep. Glaize has been a formidable advocate for transformative change. With a deep commitment to her constituents, Rep. Glaize tenure is marked by significant legislative achievements and a steadfast dedication to addressing pivotal issues such as economic stability, healthcare accessibility, and quality education. Her journey in office is characterized by a tangible impact on the community, underscored by her proactive role in sponsoring 32 Community Bills and 3 Legislative Bills signed into law by the Governor in just one year. Rep. Glaize’s focus has always been on the core pillars of Youth, Education, Economy, Environmental Sustainability, and Seniors, exemplified by her influential positions on both the Education (K-12) and Higher Education Committees. Under her leadership, District 67 has seen progressive educational initiatives, including the successful Summer Reading Rewards Program and significant support for K-12 and Higher Education funding. Her role as the Chair of the Education Committee in the Fulton County Delegation and her appointment as the Education Chair by the Chairman of the GA Legislative Black Caucus further amplify her influence and dedication to education in the district.
Dr. Simone Strohmayr (SPD) was born on September 13th, 1967, is married and has three children (1992, 2000, 2009). After her studies in law in Augsburg and Munich, she finalized her doctoral thesis “Human Dignity and Penal Justice” in 1998. From 1996 to 2022, she worked as a lawyer in Cottbus, close to Berlin and Augsburg. In 1999, she joined the SPD party. In 2002, she was elected as city councilor of her hometown Stadtbergen/Bavaria. A year later, she was elected as a Member of the Bavarian Parliament. Since, she has worked in various committees of the Bavarian Parliament, such as the “Committee of Social Affairs” and the “Committee of Education”. In recent years, she has been concerned with good and modern education and school (systems) as well as questions of democracy. She is very engaged in gender issues, women empowerment and social affairs. Economic relationships and good working conditions are other important fields of her professional activities. From 2021 till 2024, Dr. Strohmayr was responsible as Parliamentary Secretary for the Social Democratic Party (SPD) group in the Bavarian Parliament. She is involved as a volunteer in workers welfare (Arbeiterwohlfahrt – AWO Schwaben) where they run a Kindergarten and retirement homes. She is also involved in women movements and in international development cooperation

What Should the Transatlantic Partnership Look Like in Five Years?
2025-10-14 12:00 - 13:30
The ACG will host a discussion and luncheon with Dr. Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer, President of the German Marshall Fund of the United States and Co-Author of “Rebalancing Transatlantic Relations: A Roadmap for 2030”.
Dr. Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer is the President of the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF). With over 20 years of experience at the intersection of international relations, policy research, and public engagement, she is a leading authority on geopolitics, transatlantic relations, and global security. Her expertise has shaped how governments and businesses approach defense, diplomacy, and geo-economics on both sides of the Atlantic. Dr. de Hoop Scheffer is an independent board director and a frequent speaker and published commentator on international affairs. She holds a PhD in Political Science from Sciences Po Paris.

Perspective of a Foreign Correspondent: Political Discourse and Social Cohesion in Germany and the United States
2025-10-16 12:00 - 14:00
The ACG and the Goethe-Institut will host a special Foreign Correspondent Unplugged in Berlin.
The American Council on Germany and the Goethe-Institut invites you to join us for the latest installment in our Foreign Correspondent Unplugged series, which delves into current political debates on both sides of the Atlantic.
In a time of rapid change and complex challenges, journalists play an essential role in informing the public and helping audiences make sense of events at home and abroad. How are current debates in Germany and the United States being covered, and what parallels or contrasts can be drawn between the two countries? Clay Risen, Reporter and Editor at The New York Times (2004 Young Leader), and Dr. Anna Sauerbrey, Foreign Editor at Die Zeit (2018 ACG Kellen Fellow), will share their insights and experiences reporting on both sides of the Atlantic. The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Steven E. Sokol, President of the American Council on Germany. Clay Risen is a Reporter and Editor at The New York Times. He is also the author of Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America. He reported for the Times from Berlin for the month of May. Mr. Risen has been at The New York Times since 2010. Before writing obituaries, he was a Senior Editor on the 2020 politics team, and before that an Editor on the Opinion desk, most recently as the deputy Op-Ed editor. Before joining the Times, he worked at The New Republic and Democracy: A Journal of Ideas. He has written eight books, some about U.S. history, some about whiskey. They include American Rye and The Crowded Hour: Theodore Roosevelt, the Rough Riders, and the Dawn of the American Century. He holds a degree in International Relations from Georgetown University and a Master’s in Social Science from the University of Chicago.
Dr. Anna Sauerbrey is the Foreign Editor at the German largest weekly newspaper, Die Zeit. Before assuming this position, she was Deputy Editor-in-Chief at Der Tagesspiegel, a daily newspaper based in Berlin. She has written about German politics in The New York Times and comments on German and international politics on public German radio and television programs. She has also appeared on German television and on CNN and the BBC world service. She is the author of Machtwechsel. Wie eine neue Politikergeneration das Land verändert (Rowohlt Berlin, 2022) a book on the generation of German policymakers succeeding Angela Merkel. Dr. Sauerbrey received a Ph.D. in History from the University of Mainz in 2009. She has also studied Political Science and Journalism. She was an Arthur F. Burns Fellow with the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2013 and has extensively written about transatlantic relations and U.S. domestic politics since. She was a ACG Kellen Fellow in 2018.
Dr. Steven E. Sokol (moderator) has been the President and CEO of the American Council on Germany since 2015. Previously, he served as President and CEO of the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh and prior to that he was the Vice President and Director of Programs at the American Council on Germany. Prior to this, Dr. Sokol served as the Deputy Director of the Aspen Institute Berlin, was the Head of the Project Management Department at the Bonn International Center for Conversion GmbH (BICC), and a Program Officer in the Berlin office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. He holds a Doctorate from Northeastern University as well as an M.A. in International Relations and International Economics from the Johns Hopkins University’s Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. He has also studied at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität in Heidelberg and as a Fulbright Scholar at the Freie Universität in Berlin. Dr. Sokol serves on several non-profit boards and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He was awarded a Bundesverdienstkreuz (Order of Merit) for his work to strengthen German-American relations.

From Law to Literature: A Conversation About Restitution
2025-10-22 08:00 - 17:00
The Charlotte Warburg Chapter and the World Affairs Council of Charlotte will host a lunch discussion with Tamar Shapiro, Author of the Novel Restitution and Urban Development Expert (2009 ACG McCloy Fellow).
Tamar Shapiro’s debut novel Restitution tells the story of two American siblings who return to their mother’s East German hometown, from which their mother and grandparents fled in the 1950s, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, only to uncover long-buried family secrets and reckon with the meaning of home, memory, and loss. As we mark the 35th anniversary of German reunification in 2025, the novel offers a timely reflection on how the legacies of division and exile continue to shape both nations and families. The discussion will reflect on Restitution, Shapiro’s experiences living and working in eastern Germany, and her journey from a career in law and community development to fiction, through which she continues to explore how individuals and communities seek restitution – whether via legal frameworks, civic engagement, or the power of storytelling.
Tamar Shapiro was raised in the United States and Germany and now lives in Washington, DC. Her first novel, Restitution, was released in September 2025. Other writing has appeared in Poets & Writers (online), as well as Electric Literature and LitHub (both forthcoming). A former attorney and non-profit leader at Mpact, the Center for Community Progress, and the German Marshall Fund, Ms. Shapiro spent decades working on housing and community development policy in the U.S. She was a recipient of a McCloy Fellowship from the American Council on Germany to study vacant property policies in former East Germany and spent a year working on urban policy in Berlin as a Robert Bosch Foundation fellow. Ms. Shapiro attended Harvard Law School and is currently a 2026 MFA candidate in Fiction at Randolph College in Virginia.

Transatlantic Relations in Times of Geopolitical Challenges
2025-10-24 08:00 - 09:30
The American Council on Germany and the Hanns Seidel Stiftung will host a breakfast briefing with Christian Schmidt, High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, President of the German Atlantic Society, and Deputy Chairman of the Hanns Seidel Foundation, on “Transatlantic Relations in Times of Geopolitical Challenges”.
Christian Schmidt has served as the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2021. Before his appointment, he was a Member of the Bundestag since 1990, representing the electoral district of Fürth. During that time, Mr. Schmidt served as Minister of Food and Agriculture from 2014 to 2018. He was also the Parliamentary Secretary of State in the German Federal Ministry of Defense from 2005 to 2013, as well as Parliamentary Secretary of State in the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development from December 2013 until February 2014. Mr. Schmidt is also the Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Hanns Seidel Foundation, and President of the German Atlantic Association.
Mr. Schmidt studied Law at the University of Erlangen and University of Lausanne.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2025-10-27 09:00 - 10:00
The ACG regularly hosts discussions with a journalist based in Berlin on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse. Join us on Monday, October 27, at 9:00 am for a Kaffeepause with Gordon Repinski, Executive Editor for Politico in Germany. Gordon Repinski is the Executive Editor for Germany. He joins from The Pioneer, where he served as Deputy Editor-in-Chief responsible for the newsletter and podcast “Hauptstadt – DAS Briefing”. Before that, he worked as deputy chief editor and head of the politics department at the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland and was a correspondent for Der Spiegel in Berlin and Washington D.C. He embarked on his journalistic career after training at the Deutsche Journalistenschule in Munich, starting at the national newspaper taz. Mr. Repinski was a recipient of the Arthur F. Burns Award for transatlantic reporting in 2011. In his new role, he will report to Jamil Anderlini, Editor-in-Chief of POLITICO in Europe.

Future-Ready Food Systems? Sustainability and Resilience in Times of Crises
2025-10-29 12:00 - 13:00
In the current era of multiple crises such as climate change, receding drinkable ground water pools, and geopolitical upheavals threatens food supplies, the rethinking of agri-food systems – encompassing the steps of producing, processing, and distributing food from farms to consumers – is especially urgent. How can we deal with shocks to the food system in the wake of natural disasters and climate changes? What are potential pathways to global food security? How can both environmental and social resilience be ensured? What role do smart digital technologies play in advancing the sustainability of food systems?
Join us for a discussion with experts from both sides of the Atlantic as they compare approaches across continents, spotlight potential synergies and tensions between resilience and sustainability objectives, and explore how research-informed innovation can inspire agri-food systems that are able to navigate today’s world’s challenges.
This talk features insights from the priority program 2575 of the German Research Foundation (DFG) “Sustainability and Resilience of Agri-Food Chains in Times of Multiple Crises? Towards a Joint and Critical Understanding (Agri-Food Chains).” It also incorporates findings by leading research universities of the “U15 Canada” consortium. It seeks to contribute to the overarching global conversation on achieving the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), especially those related to zero hunger, climate action, as well as sustainable production and consumption. Dr. Peter Dannenberg is Professor of Human Geography at the Institute of Geography at the University of Cologne and the coordinator of the DFG Priority Program 2575 Agri-Food Chains. Dannenberg is a project leader at the corporate research center 228 Future Rural Africa and an international expert on economic geography, globalization and rural development. His current research includes agricultural value chains, infrastructures, and spatial economic policies. Dannenberg is a principal investigator in the Key Profile Area “Global South Studies” of the University of Cologne and the GEOVERBUND ABC/J.
Dr. Angela Bedard-Haughn has served as a Professor, Graduate Chair, Department Head, and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies at the Department of Soil Science in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources (AgBio) at University of Saskatchewan, Canada, over the course of her academic career, taking up the position of Dean in summer 2020, and renewing for a second term in 2025. As a teacher-scholar, Dr. Bedard-Haughn’s research program focuses on wetland soils and predictive soil mapping. Her activities have been largely supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Saskatchewan Agriculture Development Research Fund, Environment Canada, and several industry groups. She remains active in experiential training, mentoring graduate students and teaching field courses on soil and landscape classification, at both undergraduate and graduate levels.

Foreign Direct Investment in the U.S.: Opportunities, Challenges, and The Role of the Banking Sector
2025-10-30 12:00 - 14:00
The ACG will host a discussion and luncheon with Bernd Spalt, Chief Risk Officer, Commerzbank AG.

Bernd Spalt has been the Chief Risk Officer at Commerzbank AG since January 1, 2024. He is responsible for Group Model Risk Management, Group Compliance, Group Credit Risk Management, Group Cyber Risk & Information Security, and Group Risk Control. As a former member of the Management Board of Erste Group and Erste Bank Austria, he has many years of experience in all areas of risk management.
Prior to joining Commerzbank, Mr. Spalt spent 20 years working for Erste Bank Group — where he was Chief Risk Officer from 2020 to 2022. He started his career at Erste Bank in 2002 when he became Head of Group Risk Management responsible for the implementation of Basel II, Group Risk Control, ICAAP, and Group Risk Reporting. From 2006 to 2019, he was Chief Risk Officer, overseeing comprehensive risk management across Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Romania.
Mr. Spalt holds a Master’s degree in Law from the University of Vienna, with a focus on European Law.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2025-11-03 09:00 - 10:00
The ACG regularly hosts discussions with a journalist based in Berlin on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse. Join us on Monday, November 3, at 9:00 am for a Kaffeepause with ACG Young Leader Alum Clay Risen, Reporter and Editor at The New York Times, who spent the months of May and October reporting from Berlin. Clay Risen (2004 Young Leader) is a Reporter and Editor at The New York Times. He is also the author of Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America. He reported for the Times from Berlin for the month of May. Mr. Risen has been at The New York Times since 2010. Before writing obituaries, he was a Senior Editor on the 2020 politics team, and before that an Editor on the Opinion desk, most recently as the deputy Op-Ed editor. Before joining the Times, he worked at The New Republic and Democracy: A Journal of Ideas. He has written eight books, some about U.S. history, some about whiskey. They include American Rye and The Crowded Hour: Theodore Roosevelt, the Rough Riders, and the Dawn of the American Century. He holds a degree in International Relations from Georgetown University and a Master’s in Social Science from the University of Chicago.
