Markus Allbauer-Jürgensen, Research Associate at the Institute of Economic Education of the University of Oldenburg

He is in charge of the experimental laboratory for economic education in Oldenburg (OX-Lab). In his research, he addresses the attitude-behaviour-gap of sustainable consumption with action-oriented methods such as experiments, nudges or carbon footprint calculators.

Dagmar Balve-Hauff, Head of Division for Economic and Structural Policy Research, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy

Dr Dagmar Balve-Hauff is an economist and sinologist working at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). She is head of the Division for Economic and Structural Policy Research.

Anne Bamford, Strategic Director of the Education, Culture and Skills for the City of London

Professor Anne Bamford OBE has been recognised internationally for her research in creativity, lifelong learning and technology. She instigated the term, ‘fusion’ to describe the competencies needed for flourishing now and into the future.

Wiebke Baumhöver, Weger Consulting

Wiebke Baumhöver is a marketing expert with more than 20 years of working experience in the fields of digitisation of customer communication, strategy development and consumer goods marketing.

Verena Bentele, President Sozialverband VdK Deutschland e.V.

As president of the largest social lobby in Germany, she advocates for social justice and fairer social policies. In doing so, she stands up and represents the rights of our more than two million members. Hence, social issues such as pension, care work, accessibility and social participation for people with disabilities are at the core of her work.

Hans Bruyninckx, Executive Director of the European Environment Agency (EEA)

Dr Hans Bruyninckx is Executive Director of the EEA since 1 June 2019. The Agency aims to support sustainable development and to help achieve significant and measurable improvements in Europe’s environment, through the provision of timely, targeted, relevant and reliable information to policy-making agents and the public.

Juan Caballero, Mobility Project Coordinator at Eurocities

Juan Caballero coordinates the EUROPEAN MOBILITY WEEK Secretariat at Eurocities, on behalf of the European Commission – DG MOVE. The EUROPEAN MOBILITY WEEK is the Europe-wide awareness-raising campaign on sustainable urban mobility to facilitate behavioural change towards greener ways of moving within our cities.

Yu-Kai Chou, Chief & Founder of The Octalysis Group & Chou Force International Corp

Yu-kai Chou is an Author and International Keynote Speaker on Gamification and Behavioral Design. He was one of the earliest pioneers in Gamification. In 2015, Yu-kai was rated #1 among the “Gamification Gurus Power 100” by RISE, and was also awarded the “Gamification Guru of the Year” Award in 2014, 2015 and 2017.

Susanne Conze, Spokesperson of the European Commission

Dr Susanne Conze responds to questions related to education, culture, youth, sport, demography, democracy, inter-institutional relations and foresight.

Maria Demertzis, Deputy Director at Bruegel

Maria Demertzis, Ph.D., is in charge of coordinating research collaboration among scholars at Bruegel. She has conducted research herself on digital currencies, Brexit, capital flows and central banking. Her most recent project is on financial literacy and the role that banks could play in its promotion and implementation.

Klaus Dornbusch, Head of Economic and Finance Division, German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy

Klaus Dornbusch works for the Federal Commissioner for the Federal New States.

Sabine Frank, Executive Director at Carbon Market Watch

Carbon Market Watch is a not-for-profit association with unique expertise in carbon pricing and a track record of policy work in international organisations and the European Union. It exists to ensure that carbon pricing and other climate policies cut pollution and drive a just transition towards zero-carbon societies.

Robert Gampfer, Political Reporter at European Commission’s representation in Germany

Robert’s job is to report about important political developments in Germany to the Commission in Brussels and communicate European policy initiatives to the German government, parliament, and other societal stakeholders. The policy areas he focuses on are environment, climate, energy, agriculture, health, and regional development.

Raül Hernández Sagrera, Member of the Cabinet of the European Commissioner for Home Affairs: Ylva Johansson

Dr Sagrera is advising the Commissioner on relations in the area of migration and security with partners outside the EU.

Ellen Harrison, Marketing Manager, Triodos Bank UK

Ellen Harrison works in the marketing and communications team at Triodos Bank UK. Triodos is a sustainable bank, harness the power of money for positive social, environmental and cultural change. The bank looks to not only finance change, but also to change finance. Ellen has supported its collaboration with the ‚Centre for Thriving Places‘, considering the role of a wellbeing economy in the UK.

Wolfgang Jamann, Executive Director at the International Civil Society Centre in Berlin

Dr Jamann has been working in the field of development cooperation and humanitarian assistance for most of his professional life. He has lead strategic partnerships like the ‘Alliance 2015’ to promote collective approaches toward large ambitions under the SDGs.

Emily Johnston, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Unity Effect

She is a social entrepreneur and co-founder of Unity Effect, a for-purpose organisation which offers training and tools for leaders, changemakers, teams and communities to become more effective, impactful and human in their work. She designs and moderates events and workshops with a focus on creating engagement, reflection and action. Emily co-moderates the YES! finals.

Juliane Kemnitz, Social Worker, Flüchtlingsrat Thüringen e.V. / Refugee Council Thuringia

Juliane Kemnitz is a social worker at the „Flüchtlingsrat Thüringen e.V.“, which is part of the federal ESF-Programm „IvAF- Integration von ASylbewerbern und Flüchtlingen“. Juliane Kemnitz gives information about the right of education and possibilities to work in Thüringen and also about the right to stay.

Angelika Yuki Köhler, Head of Corporate Communications & Strategy, Brand Leader Germany at PwC Germany

Angelika Yuki Köhler works at the Marketing & Communications department at PwC in Germany. As Head of Corporate Communications & Strategy and Brand Leader Germany, she is responsible for internal and external corporate communications as well as brand management.

Bernard Kuiten, Head of External Relations at World Trade Organisation

Mr Kuiten is in charge of relations with the private sector, civil society, parliaments and other intergovernmental international organisations.

Nina Lemmens, Member of the Executive Board at the Joachim Herz Stiftung

Dr Nina Lemmens was appointed Member of the Executive Board of the Joachim Herz Stiftung as of October 1, 2018. In this role, she is responsible for the three central program areas – Science, Economics, and Personal Development – in which the Foundation performs its operational project work.

Fuad Mahamed, CEO of Ashley Community Housing Ltd, Bristol

Fuad is the Chief Executive Officer of ACH. Setting up ACH in 2008 in order to support the resettlement of refugees like himself, he has built the organisation into one of the leading providers of integration support for excluded and marginalised people.

Dirk Messner, President of the German Environment Agency

Professor Messner is an internationally recognised expert on globalisation / global governance, transformation pathways to sustainability, decarbonisation of the global economy,
sustainability and digital change and international cooperation and societal change.

Pao-Yu Oei, Head of research group CoalExit at the Technische Universität Berlin

Dr Pao-Yu Oei works on examining the transition from fossil fuels towards renewable energy sources. He has been involved in numerous projects on the German and Global coal phase-out, worked for the German Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU) and as managing editor of the Journal Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy (EEEP).

David Patrician, freelance Journalist

David Patrician is an American freelance journalist and moderator currently based in Hamburg. He has reported for a variety of media outlets, including the Voice of America, Deutsche Welle, N-TV, Newsweek, the Hamburger Abendblatt and RTL Nord. He has been involved with the YES! for 3 years and is looking forward to co-moderate the first-ever digital Bundesfinale.

Rebecca Peters, Deputy Chairwoman of the German Cyclists Association (ADFC e.V.)

Rebecca Peters is responsible for transport policy at the ADFC. There she advocates climate-friendly mobility in the sense of a sustainable change in transport with the bicycle as a central element.

Marisa Pettit, Editorial Manager at RESET.org

Marisa Pettit works at the digital sustainability platform RESET.org, an organisation that explores solutions and innovative approaches to environmental and social challenges. She manages the communication strategy, coordinates a global team of freelance writers and carries out research into the latest digital innovations for positive impact.

Panu Poutvaara, Professor of Economics at the University of Munich (LMU) and Director of the ifo Center for International Institutional Comparisons and Migration Research

Professor Poutvaara’s main research interests are migration, political economics, and public economics. He is also a member of The Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration.

Wolf Prieß, Director of the Program Area Economics, Joachim Herz Stiftung

Dr Wolf Prieß is Director of the Program Area Economics at the Joachim Herz Stiftung. After studying business administration, he completed the subsequent doctorate at the Department for Vocational Studies and Economic Education of the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel. He also worked for several years in the formation of secondary and vocational teachers at the Institute of Education at the CAU before joining the Joachim Herz Stiftung in the program Area Economics in 2012.

Stefan Profit, Deputy Director-General in the Economic Policy Department of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy

Dr Profit’s directorate deals with macroeconomic developments, economic analyses and projections. He has an academic background in labour economics, holding a doctoral degree in Economics from Humboldt University Berlin.
Gerd Rosenkranz, Senior Advisor at Agora Energiewende

Dr Gerd Rosenkranz joined Agora in 2014, after heading the department of politics and public relations at the Berlin-based environmental NGO, Deutsche Umwelthilfe (German Environmental Aid), since 2004. Previously, he worked as a journalist and as a scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Materials Science.

Willi Scholz, Head of the YES! – Young-Economic-Summit

Dr Willi Scholz is Head of the YES! – Young-Economic-Summit. Moreover, he is Science Policy Consultant at the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.

Sandeep Sengupta, Global Coordinator for Climate Change at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

Dr Sengupta leads the organisation’s engagement on climate change. He is also IUCN’s focal point for the UNFCCC and IPCC. He has previously worked on a wide range of environment and development issues, both within and outside the government in India, and in international organisations abroad.

Virginius Sinkevičius, European Commission’s Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries

In his role, Commissioner Sinkevičius is tasked to ensure that our environment, blue economy and fisheries sector form an integral part of the European Green Deal, helping to deliver on our climate ambitions while creating jobs and sustainable growth.

Sarah Smith
Professor and Head of Economics at the University of Bristol

Professor Sarah Smith is chair of the Royal Economic Society Women’s Committee and chair of the RES campaign to promote diversity in undergraduate economics. Her research interests are in empirical microeconomics, focusing primarily on public policy issues.

Ralf Strauß, President of the German Marketing Association

Dr Strauß holds numerous positions like Managing Partner of a Consulting Company Customer Excellence GmbH, President of the German Marketing Association or Chairman of the Board European Marketing Confederation.

Olivia Sundberg Diez, Policy Analyst, European Policy Centre

Olivia’s work involves drafting policy-oriented publications to guide and improve EU policy, analysing policy developments and political preferences, and providing regular commentary for international media. Her recent work has focused on the human rights implications of EU policy concerning irregular migration, such as return and readmission practices.

Hermann-Josef Tenhagen, Editor-in-Chief at Finanztip

Hermann-Josef Tenhagen is a renowned expert on financial questions. Prior to his work at Finanztip, he was amongst others head of the editorial department of the magazine Finanztest, which is published by the Stiftung Warentest foundation, for 15 years.

Director of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics

Since June 2010, Professor Tochtermann has been the director of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics in Hamburg and Kiel. He also holds a professorship for Digital Information Infrastructures at Kiel University.

Wendel Trio, Director of Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe

CAN Europe is the European federation of NGOs working on climate change. Wendel Trio coordinates the high-level policy work on issues such as greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and policies, the energy transition and international climate negotiations.

Christian van Stolk, Executive Vice President, RAND Europe

Dr Christian van Stolk works extensively on health and wellbeing in the workplace. His work in the past has focused on improving the health and wellbeing of staff in the National Health Service in the UK, maintaining and gaining employment for those with common mental health conditions and looking at the relationship between productivity and health and wellbeing outcomes.

Hilmar von Lojewski, Head of the Department of Urban Development, Building, Housing and Transport of the Association of German of Cities (Deutscher Städtetag)

The Association of German Cities is the voice of cities and the national local-authority association of cities which are not belonging to a county as well as many cities and towns within counties. Hilmar looks primarily after urban development issues, housing, traffic and planning. He strongly interacts with the cities, fosters city networks and represents the interests of the cities towards federal and state government.

Nuria Villanova, Communication Campaigns Manager, OECD

Nuria Villanova works for the OECD on the coordination and mainstreaming of communication campaigns. She also works on the promotion of the OECD Better Life Index, a project dedicated to citizen engagement and the measurement of well-being.

Clemens Weegman, Deputy Chairman of the German Kitaverband Baden-Württemberg

Clemens Weegman works at Konzept-e-Network, which provides independent day-care centres and schools. He is also a member of the board of the Baden-Württemberg regional association of the German Kitaverband and initiator of the quality development platform TopKita.