Post-MSC Readout

he American Council on Germany and the Freundeskreis des American Council on Germanyinvite you to a Discussion with Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook, Executive Vice President and Senior Advisor at the Bertelsmann Stiftung and Benjamin Rohé, CEO and Co-Founder of Monarch, moderated by Sonja Gillert Head of Audio at “Welt” on 13. February 2025 at 18:00 at Noerr Partnerschaftsgesellschaft mbB.

Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook is Executive Vice President and Senior Advisor at the Bertelsmann Foundation in Berlin. She served previously as CEO of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). Ms. Clüver Ashbrook was executive director of the Future of Diplomacy Project at the Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts for ten years. The project, which she co-founded, addresses 21st-century foreign policy challenges through research by international leaders in academia and diplomacy as well as teaching conflict research and prevention. Beginning in 2018, Ms. Clüver Ashbrook also directed a research program on Europe and transatlantic relations. Previously, she served on the management board of the European Policy Centre (EPC) in Brussels and worked as both a consultant and senior journalist at Roland Berger

Strategy Consultants in France and China, among other countries. She began her career as a television journalist at CNN International in Atlanta and London.

Ms. Clüver Ashbrook contributes to international publications, such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, as well as leading German media on transatlantic relations – especially trade and security policy – and German foreign and digital policy. Additionally, she advises foreign ministries in Europe and South America on their digital strategy. She received her undergraduate honors degree in international relations and French civilization from Brown University, a master’s degree in European studies from the London School of Economics, and a master’s degree in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School where she was a Hauser Fellow in Non-Profit Management.

Benjamin Rohé is dedicated to drive transformation and change, with a focus on European digital sovereignty in security, defense, and innovation. After founding his first company at 17, he co-founded as CEO the company MONARCH in 2021, working alongside industry leaders such as Dr. Tom Enders, Gerhard Schindler, Prof. Dr. Stefan Kirsten, James Tucker CMG OBE, and Dr. Sandro Gaycken to tackle security challenges in an evolving world. MONARCH is an official partner of the Munich Security Conference.

With over 25 years of experience, he is a regular speaker at universities and global conferences on corporate innovation, digital change, and resilience. His work has been featured in major publications such as Business Insider, WirtschaftsWoche, Huffington Post, Manager Magazin, and Handelsblatt. Benjamin Rohé is a 2011 ACG young leader and chairman of the ACG Freundeskreis.

Sonja Gillert is the head of audio and podcast host for WELT. Previously, she served as an editor in the paper’s foreign policy department in Berlin. In 2015, she spent three months in China with the Media Ambassador China Germany Program. In 2017 she was selected to attend the two-month Arthur F. Burns Fellowship for Journalists to conduct research in the United States. In 2023, she completed an ACG Kellen Fellowship during which researched the influence of school boards and politics.

Ms. Gillert attended the journalist training program at Axel Springer Academy in Berlin and formerly worked as a freelance journalist at three of Germany’s major radio stations. She studied in Bonn and St. Andrews, Scotland, and earned her MA in Political Science and German Literature in 2009 at Bonn University. She currently sits on the Board of the Freunde des American Council on Germany e.V.