Alexander Birken, born in 1964 in Hamburg, has been Chairman of the Executive Board of the Otto Group since 2017. Previously, he was responsible for the strategic development of various companies as Group Executive Board member. He was responsible for the Baur Group, the Schwab Group, the Witt Group and the Otto Group Russia, among others.  After studying business administration at the Hamburg Business Academy, Birken took up his first professional position at Philips Medical Systems.

In 1991, Birken joined the Otto Group’s controlling department and from 1998 to 1999 assumed responsibility for the Otto Group’s investment controlling in the American and Asian markets. From 1999 to 2002, Birken headed the Otto Group’s worldwide investment controlling. From 2002 to 2004, he was Chief Operating Officer of the Spiegel Group in Chicago, USA. Since 2005, Birken has been a member of the Otto Group Executive Board and was largely responsible for the successful expansion of the Otto Group Russia.

Antje Boëtius, born in Frankfurt am Main in 1967, is a polar and deep-sea researcher, director of the Alfred Wegener Institute at the Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research and professor of geomicrobiology at the University of Bremen. She was a member of Germany’s Science Council from 2010-2016 and has been the chair of its Scientific Commission since 2013. In total, she has participated in nearly 50 expeditions on international research vessels and her current research focuses on the impact of climate change on the biogeochemistry and biodiversity of the Arctic Ocean.

Francesca Bria is the President of the Italian National Innovation Fund CDP Venture Capital. She is an Honorary Professor at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose at UCL in London and a member of the „New European Bauhaus“ Round Table established by the European Commission. She is also a member of the European Commission’s Expert Group on the Economic and Societal Impact of Research and Innovation (ESIR). Francesca Bria leads the DECODE project on data sovereignty in Europe, is a senior adviser to the United Nations (UN-Habitat) on digital cities and digital rights and was formerly Chief Digital Technology and Innovation Officer of the City of Barcelona, Spain.

Francesca Bria has a PhD in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from Imperial College, London. As Senior Programme Lead at Nesta, the British Innovation Agency, she led the D-CENT project, the biggest European Project on digital democracy and cryptocurrencies. She has taught at several universities in the UK and Italy and has advised governments, public and private organizations on Technology and Innovation policy and its socio-economic and environmental impact.

Francesca Bria has been listed in the Top 50 Women in Tech by Forbes Magazine, and in the World’s top 20 most influential people in digital government by Apolitical. Francesca Bria has been awarded Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

Christoph Gottschalk has extensive experience in advising international executives, companies and non-profit organizations at the intersection of politics, business, media, science and culture. Until 2019, he was a partner and head of Kekst CNC’s Berlin office. Previously, he led the Hamburg office of Russell Reynold Associates from 2007 to 2017 and was responsible for global, high-profile mandates in the areas of non-profit, public policy, government affairs and media. From 2003 to 2005, he was the German advisor to the French Prime Minister and a member of his cabinet in Matignon.

Christoph Gottschalk sits on the advisory boards of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) and Bucerius Law School and is a member of the board of trustees of the Übersee-Club Hamburg. He is also a senior adviser to 365 Sherpas. He studied Political Science and European Public Policy (MSc) in Berlin, London and Aix-en-Provence. He is a graduate of the „Studium Generale“ of the Leibniz-Kolleg in Tübingen and a certified systemic coach and organizational consultant.

Uwe Jean Heuser is Head of the Green Department of the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT. He studied economics in Bonn and Berkeley (USA), completed his PhD in Cologne and achieved a master’s degree at Harvard. He is one of Germany’s most renowned business journalists and non-fiction authors.

At DIE ZEIT, he was a co-founder of the Reform Workshop, which searched worldwide for new reform ideas from 1997 to 2000 and also worked internally to open up the newspaper. He was then head of the business department until 2021, when he co-founded, developed and has since headed GREEN, ZEIT’s new sustainability department. From 2015 onwards, he additionally edited the magazine ZEIT Geld (ZEIT Money). Today, he is the editor of the quarterly magazine ZEIT für Unternehmer (ZEIT for entrepreneurs), which he co-developed in 2018.

In 2004 he received the Herbert Quandt Media Prize for the collection of articles „Creators and Destroyers“. In 2011, he was awarded the Dietrich Oppenberg Media Prize by Stiftung Lesen.

His book „Humanomics“ won the getAbstract International Book Award as German Business Book of the Year 2008. „Anders Denken“ was shortlisted for the German Business Book Award in 2013. His latest book, „Capitalism Included“, describes how we can survive the battle against the populists.

In addition to his journalistic work, Uwe Jean Heuser has lectured at Harvard, New York University and St. Gallen. Today he is an honorary professor of economics at Leuphana University in Lüneburg and is involved in several foundations.

Igor Levit, born in 1987 in Gorki (now Nizhni Novgorod ) in Russia, moved to Germany with his family when he was eight years old. He studied at the Hanover Academy of Music and in 2005 won the silver medal at the Arthur Rubinstein Competition as the youngest participant ever. Igor Levit is Gramophone Classical Music Awards‘ „Artist of the Year 2020,“ Music America’s „Recording Artist of the Year 2020,“ and a recipient of the „2018 Gilmore Artist Award.“ In June 2022, his album „On DSCH“ received both the „Recording of the Year“ award and the Instrumental Award from BBC Music Magazine.

In 2019, he was appointed professor of piano at his alma mater, the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media. Since spring 2022, Igor Levit has been co-artistic director of the  International Music Festival „Heidelberger Frühling“. In spring 2021, Hanser Verlag published Igor Levit’s first book „Hauskonzert“, co-authored by Florian Zinnecker. In collaboration with Bayerischer Rundfunk, two podcasts have been produced in the last two years, „32x Beethoven“ as well as „Variations – Everything will be different“, in which Igor Levit, together with Anselm Cybinski, presents the rich piano repertoire in an entertaining way.

For his political commitment, Igor Levit was awarded the 5th International Beethoven Prize in 2019. This was followed in January 2020 by the award of the „Statue B“ of the International Auschwitz Committee on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. For the House Concerts as a sign of hope and public spirit in times of isolation and despair, as well as for his commitment against anti-Semitism, Igor Levit was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in fall 2020.

Alaa Murabit a medical doctor, global health and security expert and strategist, women’s rights advocate, and United Nations High-Level Commissioner on Health Employment and Economic Growth. Alaa Murabit is one of 17 Sustainable Development Goal Advocates appointed by the UN Secretary-General and a 2020–2021 Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. She leads The Gates Foundation’s Global Policy and Advocacy Health work. Her work has shaped policies in over 190 countries and impacted the lives of billions.

Alaa Murabit previously founded the women’s rights organization Voice of Libyan Women in 2011 at the age of 21 and later founded an accelerator for emerging women’s leadership in security, health, peacebuilding, and policy. Her TED Talk, “What My Religion Really Says About Women,” has been viewed nearly 7 million times. In 2016, she became executive director of Phase Minus 1, providing thought leadership in emerging security and inclusive security. Alaa Murabit is the recipient of 100+ honors and awards, including the Canadian Meritorious Service Cross, BBC 100 Women, Forbes 30 Under 30, CNN Leaders You Should Know, Nelson Mandela International Changemaker Award, and was the youngest Harvard Law’s Women Inspiring Change honoree. She is an MIT Media Lab Director’s Fellow and serves on the board of the Malala Fund. Alaa Murabit received an M.D. from the University of Zawia in Libya and an MSc in International Strategy and Diplomacy from the London School of Economics and Political Science.