Kirsten Witte heads the Bertelsmann Stiftung's Center for Sustainable Communities. As an expert on municipal affairs, she has worked intensively on topics such as Smart Country and local government approaches to prevention in child and youth welfare. Before joining the foundation, she was a manager for the city of Münster for several years, as well as a researcher at the University of Münster. She...

Malte Zabel is a European policy expert and Co-Director of the Europe’s Future program, which focuses on Europe’s role in the world, European cohesion policy and how the EU’s citizens view various European policy issues. Before becoming a member the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Europe team, he addressed various governance and strategy issues as head of the foundation’s Executive Office and advisor to...

Dirk Zorn has been a Director at the Bertelsmann Stiftung since 2020, currently in the Education and Next Generation program. He joined the foundation as Senior Project Manager in 2013. An expert in primary and secondary education, he publishes and consults on a range of topics, including the educational workforce and its professionalization, the expansion of high-quality all-day schools in...