Klaus Scharioth
German Ambassador to the United States

Ambassador Dr. Klaus Scharioth presented his credentials on March 13, 2006. He was born 1946 in Essen, North Rhine Westfalia, Germany. He studied law in Bonn, Geneva and Freiburg, as well as international relations, international law, international finance and economics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Harvard Law School and the John F. Kennedy School of Government and holds M.A., M.A.L.D. and Ph.D. degrees in addition to the German Law Degree.

In 1976 he joined the German Foreign Service. Since then he has held posts around the world, including Quito, Ecuador, the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Nations in New York, Chef de Cabinet (director of the private office) to the NATO Secretaries General Wörner, Claes and Solana; but also in Germany as Head of the German Foreign Minister's staff and as Head of the North America and Security Policy Directorate.
From 1999 to 2002 he headed the Political Directorate-General and was Political Director of the German Foreign Office. From 2002 until March 2006 Dr. Scharioth served as State Secretary, the highest civil service post in the German Foreign Office.

Klaus Scharioth is married and has three children.

Lukas Streiff
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Chief Executive Officer

Lukas Streiff is a 2010 candidate for the Master in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and focuses on foreign, security, and energy policy. While studying philosophy, politics, and economics as well as diplomatic history at the University of Pennsylvania and at Sciences Po in Paris, Lukas gained first experience in start-up management, journalism, strategy consulting, and at the German Mission to the United Nations in New York. From 2006 to 2008, he served as Assistant to the President of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Germany‘s second largest public cultural foundation. Upon his graduation from Harvard in May 2010, Lukas hopes to work on the nexus of renewable energy and international politics.

Nadja Himpler
Harvard Business School
Chief Financial Officer

Nadja Himpler is a 2010 candidate for the Master of Business Administration (MBA) at the Harvard Business School and focuses on finance, emerging markets and general management. Before joining business school, Nadja worked as a Consultant in the Frankfurt office of McKinsey & Company. Nadja also studied at Cambridge University, Beijing University and Birmingham University, and holds a MA in European Studies and a MPhil in Chinese Studies.

Birte Schreitter von Schwarzenfeld
Harvard Business School
Chief Operations Officer

Birte Schreitter von Schwarzenfeld is a 2010 candidate for the Master of Business Administration (MBA) at the Harvard Business School and focuses on strategy, technology and general management. Before joining business school, Birte worked as a Consultant in the Berlin office of the Boston Consulting Group. Birte also studied at the Technical University in Berlin, Germany and at Duke University, NC, and holds a MS in physics.

Jonathan Mueller
Harvard Business School
Keynotes, Panel "Scaling Renewable Energy: Mega-Projects vs. Decentralized Solutions"

Jonathan Müller is an MBA candidate in the Harvard Business School Class of 2011. Prior to studying at Harvard, he was an Associate at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he specialized in the financial services industry. During his undergraduate studies at the Universities of St. Gallen and British Columbia, Jonathan gained further experiences at an entrepreneurial media company and as a member of the organizing committee of the 35th St. Gallen Symposium.

Cathryn Clüver
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Chair: Panel "Afghanistan - and no End?"

Cathryn Clüver is second-year MPA student at the Kennedy School with a focus on non-profit management and comparative immigration policy. She looks back on a ten-year career in journalism and communications, during which she covered global affairs, most notably EU politics and business, immigration and the aftermath of September 11th, working as producer and writer for CNN-International in Atlanta and London and for and a number of public policy journals. She served on the management team of the European Policy Centre in Brussels, Belgium before working on public policy issues (demographic change, urban competitiveness) as Senior Journalist for Roland Berger Strategy Consultants from 2005-2008. She is a Fellow at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from Brown University as well as a Master’s Degree in European Studies from the London School of Economics.

David Bachmann
Harvard University
Keynotes, Panel "Scaling Renewable Energy: Mega-Projects vs. Decentralized Solutions"

David Bachmann is a visiting researcher at Harvard University (Berkman Center) and a doctoral candidate in law at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. He was educated at the University of Cape Town, Humboldt University of Berlin and the University of St. Gallen, the latter from which he received a Bachelor and a Master degree in Law and Economics. Since 2005 David has been associated with CNC Communications, an international corporate consultancy which advises corporations, institutions and individuals on all aspects of strategic communications.

Matthias Röder
Harvard University
Closing Party and Concert, Panel "Peaceful Revolutions: Lessons from Berlin 1989?"

Matthias Röder is a Lecturer on music at Harvard University where he has just finished his PhD thesis on “Music, Politics, and the Public Sphere in Late Eighteenth-Century Berlin.” His main research interests include social history of music, digital musicology, as well as the creative process of Ludwig van Beethoven. He has published his research in the US, Germany, and Austria and has appeared frequently as a conference speaker and guest lecturer. Matthias is the founder and editor of Zeitschichten.com, a web magazine on music and history, where he writes on contemporary music, the future of the classical music industry, and the art of listening to music. Before coming to Harvard in 2002, Matthias studied music at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg.

Christian Planck
Harvard Business School
Closing Party and Concert

Christian Planck is a 2011 candidate for the Master of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. During his international business studies at the University of St.Gallen in Switzerland and the Singapore Management University, Christian gained experience in international politics, operations management and strategy. From 2007 to 2009, Christian worked as a strategy consultant for The Boston Consulting Group’s Healthcare Practice in Munich. Christian’s interests lie in the area of strategy consulting, private equity and entrepreneurship.

Katrin Alberding
Harvard Business School
Marketing

Katrin Alberding is a 2011 candidate for the Master of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. Whilst studying for an M.A. in International Relations and Management at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, Katrin gained work experiences in diplomacy at the German Embassy in Washington D.C., marketing at DaimlerChrysler in Kuala Lumpur and corporate finance at Citigroup in London. From 2006-2008, she worked as a Financial Analyst in M&A and financing as part of the Citigroup Healthcare & Consumer Investment Banking Team in London. From 2008-2009, she pursued an international rotation with the firm and became part of the Nikko Citigroup Cross-Border M&A Team in Tokyo.

Manuel Hartung
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Keynote Organizer, Chair: Panel Science

Manuel J. Hartung is a McCloy Scholar and 2011 candidate for the Master in Public Administration at Harvard Kennedy School. He has been serving as the editor-in-chief of ZEIT CAMPUS, the bi-monthly university magazine of the German weekly DIE ZEIT, since 2007. In 2004, he had become the youngest editor and reporter at DIE ZEIT. Furthermore, Manuel studied History, Law, and Psychology at Bonn University and New York University and obtained his Master's with a thesis on the Cold War and the expansion of higher education; he graduated from the Henri Nannen School of Journalism and taught journalism at Göttingen University. In 2007 and 2008, he published a novel and a non-fiction book.

Rainer Hoell
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Panel "Where is the next Harvard? Future Excellence in Scientific Research"

Rainer Höll is a 2010 candidate for the Master of Public Administration (MPA) at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government with a focus on higher education, new media and strategic management. Rainer studied Philosophy and Modern German Literature in Tübingen, Berlin and London. He worked for the Bertelsmann Foundation in media policy projects and later for the Robert Bosch Foundation where he was responsible for science cooperation with China, research into sustainable resource use and science journalism programs. Last summer, he worked for E.ON Ruhrgas AG and the global strategy department of Deutsche Telekom AG. Since 1998, Rainer has supported the establishment of alumni networks in German schools to improve career counseling for high school students.

Johann Blauth
Harvard University
Chair: "Innovate or Bust", Panel "Redesigning Health Care from Scratch"

Johann Blauth is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Economics at Harvard University and currently researches issues in public, political, and social economics. Prior to beginning his graduate studies at Harvard in 2009, Johann studied economics and business administration at the University of St.Gallen and spent a year at Harvard College which ignited his interest in academic economic research. Besides working there as a research assistant, Johann gained valuable experiences in consulting, investment banking, and start-up management.

Ariel Stern
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Panel "Innovate or Bust"

Ariel Dora Stern is a PhD candidate in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and focuses on applied microeconomics in health policy and private sector entrepreneurship and innovation in emerging markets. Ariel studied economics at Dartmouth College, Oxford University and the Free University of Berlin and has been a researcher at the German Institute for Economic Research and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. She has worked as an economist on Wall Street as well as in an IT start-up in Berlin and currently works with LeapFrog Investments, the world's first Microinsurance Fund.

Björn von Siemens
Harvard University
Chair: Panel "Scaling Renewable Energy: Mega-Projects vs. Decentralized Solutions", Panel "Innovate or Bust"

Björn von Siemens is an Entrepreneurship scholar and Ph.D. candidate at the University of St. Gallen and Ph.D. fellow at Harvard University. He has earned an M.Sc. in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics and a B.Sc. from European Business School in Oestrich-Winkel. Previously, Björn has done projects at the Boston Consulting Group as well as Bain & Company for corporate clients, and worked for the Droege & Company Private Equity in New York and the Corporate Business Development at Siemens AG in Singapore.

Holger Wilms
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Panel "Innovate or Bust"

Holger studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford before going on to obtain a MA from Johns Hopkins University in International Economics and International Relations. During his studies he worked for the European Parliament, the German Foreign Ministry, United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Before coming to Harvard, Holger worked for two years as a strategy consultant for McKinsey & Company in Berlin, focusing on public sector and financial services. At the Kennedy School of Government Holger is pursuing his interest in macro-economics and the political economy of international development.

Laura Mehler
Harvard Business School
Panel "Innovate or Bust"

Laura Mehler is a 2011 candidate for the Master in Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. While studying at the European Business School in Germany and Harvard College, Laura gained first experience in strategic consulting and investment banking. Before attending Harvard Business School, Laura worked at a management consulting company for a year.

Johannes Arzner
Harvard Business School
Panel "Scaling Renewable Energy: Mega-Projects vs. Decentralized Solutions"

Johannes Arzner is a 2011 candidate for the Master of Business Administration (MBA) at the Harvard Business School. From 2007 to 2009, Johannes was working in the Global Healthcare Team at UBS Investment Bank in London. Johannes holds a Bachelor of Science degree in International Business (Major: Finance) from Maastricht University, The Netherlands. Upon his graduation, Johannes hopes to work for a German based Private Equity company focusing on Healthcare and Energy investments.

Martin Hoff
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Chair: Panel "Redesigning Health Care from Scratch"

Martin Hoff is a 2010 Master in Public Administration in International Development candidate at Harvard Kennedy School of Government. His main focus lies on health care policies and health care financing with an emphasis on the particular economic and political challenges in developing countries. After studying business administration in Oestrich-Winkel (D), San Diego (USA) and Viña del Mar (Chile) Martin gained experience in strategy consulting for clients in the health care as well as the financial service industry from 2005 to 2008. In the summer of 2009 he expanded his range of experiences to the public sector as the assistant to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health in Rwanda.

Claudia Friedrich
Harvard Medical School
Panel "Redesigning Health Care from Scratch", Panel "Where is the next Harvard? Future Excellence in Scientific Research"

Claudia Friedrich recently finished her research work for her PhD thesis on “Engineered vascular networks” in the field of stem cell research at Harvard Medical School (HMS). Therefore, she worked in the Laboratory of Tissue Engineering and Organ Fabrication at Massachussetts General Hospital. Claudia is a 5th year medical student at the Charité Berlin, a joint faculty of both Free University Berlin and Humboldt University Berlin. During her studies she absolved medical clerkships in Singapore and Berlin in cardiothoracic as well as reconstructive surgery and anesthesiology. In 2008, Claudia has been leading the department of program and science of the European Students’ Conference (ESC). Since 2009 she is a member of the Theodor-Billroth-Akademie (TBA). She is going to receive practical training at Harvard, at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and at Charité Berlin in 2010. After having received her MD in 2011, Claudia will pursue a career as a clinical researcher.

Jo Aylor
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Panel "Peaceful Revolutions: Lessons from Berlin 1989?", Marketing

Jo Aylor is a Master of Public Policy (MPP) student at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and will graduate in May, 2010.
Her focus at the Kennedy School is in international and global affairs, negotiations, public private partnership and inclusive business.
Prior to her studies at Harvard, Jo worked for the Kyoto Prefectural Board of Education as an advisor for education policy and cultural exchange.

Ijad Madisch
Harvard Medical School
Panel "Redesigning Health Care from Scratch", Panel "Where is the next Harvard? Future Excellence in Scientific Research"

Ijad Madisch is CEO and Co-Founder of Researchgate, a Science and Research Network. Ijad Madisch is also conducting research in the field of Radiology at Massachussetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He studied both medicine and computer science at the University of Hannover, Germany. The focus of his doctoral thesis (awarded in 2007) was in the field of virology at the Department of Virology, Medical School of Hannover, Germany, the molecular typing, evolution and gene therapy vector design of adenoviruses. Besides adenoviral vector design, his research interests are ultra-high resolution volume CT. He (co-)authored more than 14 original articles in high ranking journals, and more than 30 conference abstracts for international conferences. He spent close to two years as a researcher at the Massachusetts General Hospital, a division of Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts USA. In 2005, his research won the Young Investigator Prize by the RSNA, awarded to medical students in the USA.

Kathrin Bimesdörfer
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Panel "Peaceful Revolutions: Lessons from Berlin 1989?"

Kathrin Bimesdoerfer is a Master of Public Policy Candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School and focuses on political and economic development studies. Before coming to the US, she worked with the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in Laos and China in private sector promotion and economic reform projects. Kathrin holds a Bachelor degree in Social Science from Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf and a post-graduate certificate in Mandarin and China Studies from Peking University. She enjoys studying languages and spending time outside in nature.

Fabian Meinel
Harvard University
Marketing

Fabian Meinel is a visiting fellow in the Department of the Classics at Harvard University and a Ph.D. candidate at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. He received his B.A. and M.Phil. degrees in Classics from Cambridge University. His doctoral research focuses on religion in Greek tragedy but he has also published on the intellectual history of late antiquity and is immensely interested in the reception of antiquity in the 19th century. He was associate in a Berlin-based research project on the role of theatre in the formation of European identities from antiquity to the present and worked, as an intern, at the German Cultural Center in Atlanta, GA.

Giannina Schaefer
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Sponsor Relations

Giannina Schaefer is a first year PhD student in Chemistry and Chemical Biology at the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Her interests focus on organic synthesis and chemical biology geared towards drug discovery.  Prior to her graduate studies, she studied at Jacobs University Bremen in Germany where she received her BSc in June 2009. During this time, she also  worked at Nankai University in Tianjin, China as part of a research internship.