Daniela Schwarzer, a leading expert on European and international affairs, has been appointed a member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Executive Board in April 2023. Since 2021 she led the work of the Open Society Foundations in Europe and Central Asia as Executive Director. As special advisor to the High Representative and Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell she served from 2020 to 2022. Prior to that, she served as Executive Director for Europe and Central Asia at the Open Society Foundations from 2021 to 2023. From 2016 to 2021, she was director and CEO of the German Council on Foreign Relations. (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik, DGAP). Prior to that, she served as research director on the executive team of the German Marshall Fund of the United States and lead its Berlin office and Europe program. From 2004 to 2013, she worked for the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

Daniela Schwarzer is currently a member of the working group on reforming the EU and a member of the supervisory boards of BNP Paribas and Covivio, an honorary board member of DGAP, a Council member of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and of the advisory board of the Jacques Delors Institute, Paris.