Silvia Petig
Chair
Silvia has been a member of WIIS.de since 2011 and was regional group chair for Cologne/Bonn and later both on the board and subsequently board assistant. Already as a student, she worked in the Bundestag for the defense policy spokesman Rainer Arnold, then spent several years in business at EADS/Airbus. After returning to the Bundestag, she was the office manager there from 2016 to 2022. She is now the Personal Assistant to Siemtje Möller, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Ministry of Defence (BMVg).
Nana Brink
Vice-Chair
Nana is a freelance presenter and writer specializing in: German domestic politics, security policy, transatlantic relations, and the USA. For many years she hosted the early morning program at Deutschlandfunk Kultur (Studio 9) and now hosts both election broadcasts and current political formats. Nana has been a special correspondent in the USA a few times, and she lived there from 2008 to 2009. She writes for the magazine Internationale Politik and various newspapers and magazines (Tagesspiegel, German Times). Nana was already once vice-chairwoman of WIIS.de from 2005 to 2011.
Mitra Bücke-Jahromi
Vice-Chair
Mitra is our communications specialist. She has contributed her many years of knowledge of strategic corporate communications to our social media team, until her honorary position on the board. She currently works as a Foreign Policy Advisor in the German Bundestag. Previous positions were at the Deutschen Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (German Society for International Cooperation), the Institut für Europäische Politik (Institute for European Politics) and the German Foreign Office.
Elisabeth Bauer
Treasurer
Elisabeth is a freelance consultant in the field of foreign and security policy with a focus on the Baltic States, the Nordic countries, the Arctic and Russia, as well as in the field of political education. She was employed by a political foundation for almost 30 years, where she was, among other things, head of civic education, and spent many years abroad in Russia (St. Petersburg) and in Riga, where she was responsible for the Nordic and Baltic states. Extensive expertise in the subject areas NATO / Russia / security policy / Arctic. Previously, she worked for seven years in various positions at the University of Cologne in the Department of Modern History, among others. Elisabeth studied History, Catholic Theology and English at the Universities of Cologne and Bonn./