Leadership

Foundation Operations

We are committed to transparency, fairness, cost-effectiveness and simplicity in all of our funding procedures and operations. As a funder, we also value our capacity for flexibility and responsiveness in relation to those who seek our support. To make the most of our philanthropic resources, the Foundation maintains a lean managerial structure.

The Foundation is owned by the Zundel family, who share responsibility for its management. Ultimate authority rests with the three shareholders, Johannes, Georg and Maxim Zundel, who form the primary governing body of the Foundation. Together, the brothers provide strategic direction to the Foundation. They also ensure that grant-making decisions are guided and inspired by the original intentions of their father, Professor Georg Zundel, who established the Foundation.

Two CEOs, Renate and Johannes Zundel, jointly oversee day-to-day operations. The family maintains financial control over the Foundation, including management of the endowment.

The Foundation also has a Board of Trustees composed of internationally recognised leaders drawn from a wide range of academic fields. We intentionally foster a diverse perspective at this level of our operations in order to reflect the multi-disciplinary nature of conflict studies. Board members serve five years in office, with a one-time renewal.

Meeting annually in November, the Board is fully responsible for all grant-making decisions of the Foundation. These decisions are final. They also serves as the academic advisory body to the foundation’s research center in Berlin.

The Berghof Foundation for Conflict Studies is a non-profit philanthropic organisation incorporated under German law as a Limited Liability Company with tax-exempt status. Our financial practices are monitored and certified by an independent accountant each year.

Top
 

Board of Trustees

Professor Dr. Horst Fischer, Chairperson
Johannes Zundel, Permanent Member

Elisabeth Bosch
Edelgard Bulmahn
Prof. Dr. Kjell-Åke Nordquist
Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Dieter Senghaas

Dr. Reiner Steinweg, Secretary

Top
 

Biographical Notes

  • Professor Dr. Horst Fischer
    Chairperson of the Board of Trustees

In addition to his role with the Foundation, Professor Dr. Fischer is Director of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) Representation in Brussels, which focuses on development cooperation. He is currently on leave from his post at Bochum University in Germany, where he is an expert on international law and human rights.

Professor Dr. Fischer holds a number of other academic posts. He is a Professor at Leiden University, Netherlands and a fellow at the Grotius Centre in The Hague. Since 2001, he has been an Adjunct Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University in New York and a Visiting Professor at Robert Schuman University in Strasbourg
since 2005.

He is President of the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation (EIUC) in Venice, Italy, which is an interdisciplinary centre formed by 41 universities from all European Union Member States. He is also Honorary President of the NOHA-Foundation Brussels, a network focused on humanitarian assistance.

Professor Dr. Fischer has authored articles and books on issues of humanitarian and human rights questions, the maintenance of peace and security, international criminal law and diplomatic and consular relations.

  • Johannes Zundel
    Permanent Member of the Board of Trustees

In his function as the Zundel family representative, Johannes plays a guiding role in relation to the Foundation’s strategic development. In particular, this includes ensuring that the Foundation’s grant-making policy is based on an agenda relevant to the cutting-edge issues in the field of conflict transformation. At the same time, he guarantees the preservation of the founding values of the organisation as these were determined by his father, Professor Georg Zundel.

As CEO, he is additionally responsible for managing the Foundation’s endowment and defining its investment strategy. This is a task he shares with his mother, Renate Zundel, who is also a Foundation CEO.

Together with Norbert Ropers, Johannes established Berghof Peace Support in 2004. He is a shareholder of the organisation and sits on the Advisory Board.

Johannes Zundel has a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of York and an MA in International Business from the University of Vienna.

Top