Wolfgang Ischinger

Ambassador (ret.) Ischinger is the President of the Munich Security Conference Foundation Council. He served as Chairman of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) from 2008 to 2022. Ischinger teaches at the Hertie School in Berlin and at the University of Tübingen. Under his leadership, the MSC grew to more than 70 staff members and increased its budget to more than 15 million Euros, funded via corporate partnerships and international sponsors. He advises the private sector, governments, and international organizations on strategic issues. He has published widely on foreign, security and defense policy issues.

Wolfgang Ischinger is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and serves on a number of non-profit boards and advisory councils, including the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), the American Academy Berlin, as well as the Atlantik-Brücke and the Yalta European Strategy Group (YES). He also serves on the International Advisory Council of Investcorp, London, and is member of Advisory Boards of Kekst CNC, Schwarz Group, as well as the Supervisory Board of NAX.

Having served in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations (1973-75), Wolfgang Ischinger joined the German Foreign Service in 1975, followed by a distinguished diplomatic career. From 2006 to 2008, he was the Federal Republic of Germany's Ambassador in London and from 2001 to 2006 in Washington, DC. He served as Deputy Foreign Minister (State Secretary) of Germany from 1998 to 2001.

In 2007, he represented the European Union in the Troika negotiations on the future of Kosovo. In 2014, he served as the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairman-In-Office in the Ukraine crisis. In 2015, he chaired the OSCE “Eminent Persons Panel on European Security”, mandated to offer recommendations on how to build a more resilient European security architecture.

From 2008 to 2014, he was also Global Head of Government Relations at Allianz SE, Munich.

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, Cambridge/USA.