Munich, September 23 – Jens Stoltenberg and Helga Maria Schmid have been unanimously elected to jointly lead the Munich Security Conference gGmbH. They will serve as co-chairs, taking over from Wolfgang Ischinger, who has shaped the conference for nearly two decades. Their tenure will officially begin before the 63rd Munich Security Conference in February 2027.
Experienced Diplomats at the Helm
The appointment of Stoltenberg and Schmid brings a wealth of international experience to the leadership of the prestigious security conference. Both will serve in an honorary capacity as equal co-chairs.
Jens Stoltenberg currently holds the position of Norwegian Minister of Finance. His distinguished career includes serving as NATO Secretary General, Prime Minister of Norway, and UN Special Envoy for Climate Change. Helga Maria Schmid is a diplomat, currently serving as Ambassador for Global Affairs. Her previous roles include Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the European External Action Service. She also presides over the Directorate of the European Institute of Peace and is Deputy President of the MSC Foundation Board.
Quotes from the Foundation Council
Nikolaus von Bomhard, President of the Foundation Council, expressed his confidence in the new leadership: “With Jens Stoltenberg and Helga Maria Schmid, two of the world’s most experienced diplomats are taking the lead of the Munich Security Conference.”
The Munich Security Conference is an informal international forum where politicians, military leaders, business representatives, non-governmental organizations, and experts discuss security policy issues. Its focus is on current topics in foreign, security, and defense policy. The conference originated from the International Wehrkunde-Begegnung, founded in 1963 by Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist, a resistance fighter from the July 20, 1944 plot against Hitler.
Structure of the Munich Security Conference
The Munich Security Conference’s structure combines a gGmbH (a non-profit limited liability company) and a foundation. Under Wolfgang Ischinger, the MSC was converted into a non-profit GmbH in 2011. In 2018, he additionally established the Munich Security Conference Foundation under civil law to ensure its long-term political and financial independence.
Schmid and Stoltenberg will be appointed to the gGmbH’s board by the Foundation Council. The Foundation itself is led by Benedikt Franke as Chairman of the Board, who also serves as Deputy Chairman of the gGmbH.
Funding and Financials
The foundation’s assets were primarily built up by Ischinger contributing his shares in MSC-gGmbH to the foundation. Subsequent endowments came from various sources, including the German federal government, the Free State of Bavaria, the Robert Bosch Foundation, and EnBW.
The four-member board of the foundation is headed by Benedikt Franke, with an eleven-member Foundation Council chaired by Nikolaus von Bomhard. Other foundation bodies include the Advisory Council and a Board of Trustees.
The Munich Security Conference receives support from numerous partners and sponsors annually. State supporters include the Federal Foreign Office. Academic partners such as the Bundeswehr University Munich, institutional partners like the Körber Foundation and the German Council on Foreign Relations, and partners from the business sector also contribute.
In the 2024/25 fiscal year, the MSC generated approximately 30 million Euros from supporter contributions. Additionally, it received nearly two million Euros in state funding, with about half coming from the Federal Ministry of Defense.
Source: die-stiftung.de
