President, Foundation Council of the Munich Security Conference Foundation

Ambassador (ret.) Wolfgang Ischinger is the President of the Foundation Council of the Munich Security Conference Foundation. He served as Chairman of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) from 2008 to 2022. Ischinger teaches at the Hertie School in Berlin as Senior Professor for Security Policy and Diplomatic Practice. Under his leadership, the MSC grew as organization from 2 to more than 50 staff members, and increased its budget from 0,5 to ca. 10 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 Trilateral Commission and 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.

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 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.