Anna Sophie Herken to join the GIZ Management Board

As of summer 2023, Anna Sophie Herken will head the company together with Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven and Chair of the Management Board Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel.

Eschborn/Bonn, 6 Decembre 2022. At today’s meeting, the Supervisory Board appointed Anna Sophie Herken as the new third Managing Director. As of summer 2023, the GIZ Management Board will again be complete.

Jochen Flasbarth, Chair of the GIZ Supervisory Board and State Secretary at BMZ explained: ‘Anna Sophie Herken is a huge gain for GIZ. Her business experience and her expertise in development and sustainability are recognised nationally and internationally. Her impressive and diverse experience in the private sector, government, international organisations and academia will be incredibly valuable.’

Chair of the Management Board Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel said: ‘We are really looking forward to working with Anna Sophie Herken. Her personality, experience and expertise will be an asset to us in our mission to work for a future worth living around the world. Welcome to GIZ!’ 

Anna Sophie Herken has been Business Division Head at Allianz Asset Management GmbH since 2018. Her previous posts include Chief Financial Officer at HPC Germany, Managing Director of the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin and a role at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London. Prior to that she worked for the World Bank in Washington DC and for the German Federal Ministry for Economics and Labour. Herken studied law in Germany, France and the USA and later completed an MBA at Cambridge University. In addition, she is on the Board of Trustees of the Allbright Foundation, which champions women and diversity in executive business positions, the Supervisory Board of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) Germany, and the General Assembly of Save the Children Germany. She is German-Swedish and has two children.

Herken stated: ‘Working for a life worth living around the world has always been a central motivation for me. I am incredibly happy that my path has led me to GIZ and that I can now dedicate myself to this important mission together with GIZ’s workforce and partners aroun.