Annalena Baerbock

Professor of Professional Practice, Columbia University, New York, former Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs

Annalena Baerbock is one of Germany’s most prominent voices in international politics. From September 2025 to September 2026, she served as President of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Prior to this, she was Germany’s Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs from December 2021 to May 2025 and the first woman to lead the Federal Foreign Office. Her term in office coincided with Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, a far-reaching energy crisis and growing geopolitical tensions.

Baerbock represented Germany at G7 meetings and in NATO bodies and took part in international negotiations on security, climate, energy and the rules-based international order. As President of the UN General Assembly, she also addressed the question of how common global principles for governing artificial intelligence can be developed.

Baerbock was a member of the German Bundestag from 2013 to 2025. Between 2018 and 2022, she co-chaired Alliance 90/The Greens with Robert Habeck, and in the 2021 federal election she stood as her party’s candidate for Chancellor. She was not only Germany’s first female Foreign Minister, but also the first woman from the Western European and Others Group to lead the UN General Assembly and only the fifth woman to hold the office since the United Nations was founded.

Since 2026, Annalena Baerbock has been Professor of Professional Practice and Co-Director of the MPA Program in Global Leadership at Columbia University in New York.

In her talks, she combines experience in international diplomacy and crisis management with the strategic questions facing businesses and their leaders. Her key topics include the impact of geopolitical shifts on markets, supply chains and investment, global rules for artificial intelligence, international cooperation, and leadership and decision-making under intense pressure.