Board of Trustees

Werner J. Bauer is the former chairman of the Supervisory Board of Nestlé Deutschland AG. As executive vice president of Nestlé AG, he was head of the company’s Technical, Production, Research and Development Division until August 2013. Born in 1950 in Prien, Germany, he studied chemical engineering in Erlangen-Nuremberg. His professional career began in the scientific field; among other positions he has held, he was professor of chemical engineering at the Technical University of Hamburg and director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Food Technology & Packaging in Munich. Since 1990, he has served Nestlé in different capacities. From 1998 to 2002 he worked for Nestlé South and East Africa as technical manager. In 2002 he became executive vice-president and was responsible for the company’s technology, environmental and R&D activities worldwide. From 2007 to August 2013 he not only served as executive vice president, but also as head of the Innovation, Technology, Research and Development Division.

He has been a member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Board of Trustees since 2003, and has served as its chairman since November 15, 2011.

He has also been a shareholder of Bertelsmann Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH since April 2008 and a member of the Supervisory Board of Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA since August 2012 respectively its vice-chairman since May 2017.

Following the death of her husband, Reinhard Mohn, philanthropist Liz Mohn represents the fifth generation of the Bertelsmann/Mohn founding family. Until June 2021, she was a member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Executive Board, where she was responsible for initiatives on modern leadership and corporate social responsibility, strengthening social cohesion and values, and promoting culture and music education. As a bridge-builder across languages and borders, she has used a variety of events to establish networks in different countries and cultures. Today, she is the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s worldwide representative and an honorary member of its Board of Trustees.

She leads the Liz Mohn Center, a nonprofit institution affiliated with the Bertelsmann Stiftung. Founded in 2021, the center brings together areas that Liz Mohn has always addressed in her work: international understanding and business topics focusing on contemporary leadership issues, as well as cultural projects and the promotion of talent. The center provides continuity for many of the internationally recognized dialogue venues she has initiated, such as the Trilogue Salzburg and the German-Spanish Forum, and develops them further. It also organizes leadership camps and executive trainings for next leaders, while promoting sustainable, responsible leadership through various events and media.    

Liz Mohn is head of the NEUE STIMMEN International Singing Competition, which she initiated. In addition, the Liz Mohn Foundation for Culture and Music allows her to strengthen her cultural commitment. Through the foundation, which she launched in 2005, she wants to highlight the importance of culture and music for both individuals and society as a whole. As president of the German Stroke Foundation, which she established, she promotes education, research, prevention and the development of a national and international network.

Moreover, she is president of the Board of Trustees of the Spain-based Fundación Bertelsmann and president of the Board of Directors of the Bertelsmann Foundation North America.

She is a member of the Supervisory Board of Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, and is a shareholder of Bertelsmann Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH.

Born in Stuttgart in 1950, Wolf Bauer studied Journalism and History of Art in Munich and Berlin (graduating with M.A. honours). He initially began working from 1976 as a political features writer for the ZDF programme "Kennzeichen D".

In 1980, Wolf Bauer came to UFA Film- und Fernsehproduktion as an editor and producer and has served as executive producer and CEO for UFA Film & TV Produktion from 1991 to 2017.

Under his leadership, UFA has developed into a production group with seven subsidiaries which have continuously expanded their leading market position as a film and television producer in Germany in recent years. As head of UFA, Wolf Bauer founded Grundy UFA in 1991 with Reg Grundy, the Australian gameshow and daily drama pioneer. Together with Mike Murphy, the two turned it into Europe's largest producer of daily dramas. In 1998, he joined forces with Prof. Nico Hofmann and Ariane Krampe to set up teamWorx which established itself within six years to become one of the Top 5 German producers with the production of quality TV movies and fiction programmes with event character. In early 2008, he founded UFA Cinema with Thomas Peter Friedl, Prof. Nico Hofmann and Dr. Jürgen Schuster and served as CEO and producer until August, 31,2017.

From 2001 to 2007, Wolf Bauer was on the board of film20, an interest group for film production. He has also been a member since 2001 of the Advisory Board East for the Deutsche Bank and the chairman of the advisory board for the Erich Pommer Institut. Since 2008, Wolf Bauer has belonged to the board of the German Producers Alliance (Allianz deutscher Produzenten).

Wolf Bauer has been a member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Board of Trustees since 2008.

^{© Bertelsmann, Photographer Kai Uwe Oesterhelweg}

Thomas Coesfeld is CEO of BMG, the world’s fourth-largest music company and Bertelsmann subsidiary.

After studying business administration in Vallendar, Washington and Atlanta, he began his professional career in 2014 as a management consultant at McKinsey. He joined Bertelsmann at the beginning of 2016 and initially spent one year working for several subsidiaries – including BMG and Relias in the US – as part of the Bertelsmann Entrepreneurs Program (BEP). Also, Coesfeld was a member of the Executive Committee at the Bertelsmann Printing Group, Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of Mohn Media in Gütersloh and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of BMG in Berlin. He has been a member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Board of Trustees since 2021.

Thomas Coesfeld is Chief Executive Officer of BMG effective July 1, 2023 and a member of Bertelsmann’s Group Management Commitee.  

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Saori Dubourg has been CEO of Greiner AG in Austria since March 1, 2024. Previously, she worked for BASF for many years, where from 2017 she was responsible as a member of the Board of Executive Directors for several operating divisions such as Agricultural Solutions, Construction Chemicals, Health & Nutrition, Care Chemicals, Biotech Research and Petrochemicals, as well as for the Europe region and the start-up Trinamix.

Her professional career took her to Singapore from 2001 to 2004 and, as president of the Asia Pacific region, to Hong Kong from 2009 to 2013. She has also worked in the US and Japan.

In addition to her operational duties, Dubourg was a member of the European Commission’s High Level Industrial Group and contributed with other experts to a vision paper on Europe 2030. She has been a member of the German government’s Council for Sustainable Development since 2020.

Together with partners, she founded the Value Balancing Alliance in 2018. The aim of the alliance is to demonstrate the overall contribution made by companies not only in terms of profits, but also in terms of their monetized impacts on society and the environment. Operating under the auspices of the OECD, the alliance was commissioned by the European Commission in 2020 to develop generally accepted accounting principles (E-GAAP) as part of the Green Deal.

In July 2021, Dubourg was appointed to the Steering Committee of the G7 Impact Taskforce, which, among other activities, makes policy proposals for implementing framework conditions that promote standardized impact investing.

Saori Dubourg has been a member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Board of Trustees since July 1^st, 2023.

^{© Marine Séhan}

Arancha González Laya is the Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po and the first woman to lead the world's third school for Politics and International Studies.

Prior to joining PSIA, Ms González Laya served as Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation (2020-2021). She previously was Assistant-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the International Trade Centre (2013-2020). Between 2005 and 2013 she served as Chief of Staff to the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation. Before that she held senior positions at the European Commission in the areas of international trade and development. Ms González Laya started her career as lawyer in the private sector.

A Spanish national, Ms González Laya holds a degree in law from the University of Navarra and a Master in European Law from the University Carlos III of Madrid.

Arancha González Laya has been a member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Board of Trustees since July 1^st, 2023.

Born in Stuttgart in 1965, Christoph Mohn studied business administration at the University of Münster. From 1992 to 1994, he worked at the Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) in New York and Hong Kong. From 1994 to 1996 he worked for the consulting group McKinsey & Company in its Electronics and Telecommunications division. In 1996, he joined the Bertelsmann subsidiary Telemedia as vice-president of Business Development. From 1997 to 2009, he served as CEO of Lycos Europe, which was formed from a joint venture with US-based Lycos Inc.

He is chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA and of Bertelsmann Management SE. He is family spokesman and chairman of the Steering Committee of Bertelsmann Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH. In addition, he is chairman of the Reinhard Mohn Stiftung and managing director of Christoph Mohn Internet Holding GmbH.

Christoph Mohn has been a member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Board of Trustees since 2009.

Carolina Müller-Möhl, born 1968 in Zurich, studied political science at the Freie Universität in Berlin and the London School of Economics. She also completed further studies at the Harvard Kennedy School and Singularity University. Since 2000, she has been managing and presiding the Müller-Möhl Group, a single family office founded by her that actively manages the family's investments. She also holds numerous mandates, including as a member of the Board of Directors of Fielmann AG Deutschland. She is also a member of the advisory board of the University of St. Gallen, Avenir Suisse and the Zurich University of the Arts. In 2012, she founded the Müller-Möhl Foundation, which she has been chairing ever since. Carolina Müller-Möhl was nominated Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2007.

Carolina Müller-Möhl has been a member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Board of Trustees since 2013.

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Andreas Pinkwart has been professor of Innovation and Technology Management in the Faculty of Business and Economics at Technische Universität Dresden since March 1, 2023.

After studying Economics and Business Administration at the University of Münster and the University of Bonn, he held a number of positions including research assistant at the Institut für Mittelstandsforschung in Bonn, receiving his doctorate from the University of Bonn in 1991. He was subsequently appointed professor at the University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration NRW in Düsseldorf in 1994, and at the University of Siegen in 1997. In 2003, the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Siegen recognized his research activities as being equivalent to a postdoctoral thesis.

In 2011, Pinkwart became a senior research fellow at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS) at the Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC. In the same year, he began serving as rector of the HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management while also becoming a professor of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship at the same institution. He held both positions until the end of 2017. On January 1, 2023 he was appointed professor of Digital Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management at the University of Siegen.

Pinkwart has served as Minister of Science (2005–2010), Minister of Innovation (2005–2010 and 2017–2022), Minister of Economics, Digital Affairs and Energy (2017–2022) and Deputy Minister President (2005–2010) of the State of North Rhine–Westphalia.

In addition, he has been a member of the Bundestag (2002–2005), the Bundesrat (2005–2010 and 2017–2022) and the North Rhine–Westphalian state parliament (2010 and 2022). He was also state chairman (2002–2010) and deputy national chairman of the Free Democratic Party (2003–2011). He has many years of experience serving in academic institutions such as the German Rectors' Conference and the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Andreas Pinkwart has been a member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Board of Trustees since 2023.

^{© Martin Lengemann}

Matthias Schulz studied concert piano and economics. After working at Konzerthaus Dortmund, he became project manager for the Mozart 22 opera project at the Salzburg Festival in 2004. After completion of the project, he served as the Salzburg Festival's concert and media officer from 2005 to 2009, during which time he was responsible for concerts and for the initiation and strategic planning of media productions. In the following years, as head of concert planning at the Salzburg Festival, he was involved in the development of program content in addition to his concert-related activities.    

In 2012, he became commercial manager and artistic director of the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation. In terms of artistic activities, he was responsible for concerts as well as for the foundation's two other core areas of academic affairs and museums.

In June 2015, he became designated artistic director of Berlin's Staatsoper Unter den Linden. In September 2017, he was appointed co-director and he has served as artistic director of Staatsoper Unter den Linden since April 2018. In summer of 2025, he will become the new artistic director of the Zurich Opera House.

Matthias Schulz was and is a board member of various festivals and a member of the jury at international competitions.

Matthias Schulz has been a member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Board of Trustees since 2023.

Born in Solingen in 1959, Bodo Uebber studied industrial engineering at the University of Karlsruhe. He has been an independent management consultant since 2020. From 2003 to 2019, he was a member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG. He also served on the Investment Advisory Board at Germany’s Stifterverband association. From 2009 to 2012, he was chairman of the Board of Directors of EADS, now Airbus SE. He has been a member of the Supervisory Board of Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA since 2011. In addition, he is a shareholder of Bertelsmann Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH. In 2019, he was appointed to a five-year term on the Supervisory Board of Adidas AG. He also chairs the Supervisory Board of the investment bank Evercore in Germany.

Bodo Uebber has been a member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Board of Trustees since 2021.