Ambassador Ischinger has been the Chairman of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) since 2008 and is the 

President of the Munich Security Conference Foundation Council.

Ischinger began his diplomatic career in 1973 in the cabinet of the UN Secretary General in New York. In 1975, he 

joined the Federal Republic of Germany’s Foreign Service. In 1993, he was named Director of Policy Planning and 

in 1995 Political Director. In this role, Ischinger led the German delegations during the Bosnian Peace negotiations 

in Dayton/Ohio in 1995, the negotiations on the NATO-Russia Founding Act in 1996/1997, and during the Kosovo 

crisis in 1998/99. In 1998, he was appointed State Secretary of the German Federal Foreign Oficce. From 2001 to 

2006, he served as German Ambassador in Washington, DC, and, from 2006 to 2008, in London. Wolfgang 

Ischinger is a Member of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and serves on several nonprofit 

boards, including the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), the American Academy Berlin, the Centre for 

European Reform (CER), the Yalta European Strategy Group (YES), the Atlantic Council, Washington D.C., and the 

Geneva School of Diplomacy, Geneva. He also serves on the Global Advisory Boards of Kekst CNC, and of Palo 

Alto Networks.

Wolfgang Ischinger studied law at the universities of Bonn and Geneva and obtained his law degree in 1972. He 

earned an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and did postgraduate work at Harvard Law School. 

He has received honorary doctorates from universities in Geneva, Pristna and Yerevan.