Political Campaign Festival

Chris is the Republican National Committee’s National Field Director. He was the architecht of the RNC’s 2016 ground operation which deployed more than 7,600 organizers to communities across the country. Under his leadership, the RNC developed the first fellowship programme which trained more than 5,000 activists in 34 states to serve as community organizers

Ayata is managing partner of BALLHAUS WEST, a campaigning agency in Berlin. Ayata developed and managed campaigns for various distinguished German and international clients, among them federal ministries, corporations, associations and NGOs. Ayata specialises in political communication and campaigning, but also consults his clients on strategy. For his campaigns, Ayata won several awards.

Nicolas is Head of Campaigning at BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN. He started his career at Scholz & Friends Berlin in 2010 and has been working in political campaigning since then. Prior to joining BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN he was Managing Director at the agency ZBA where he was responsible for developing the Green Party’s recent federal election campaign.

Carl Philipp Burkert works at the interface between politics and computer science. Moreover, he is the director of Universum AG, which is a small and agile agency that focusses on digital political communication for the Free Democrates. Overall, the agency is building innovative software tools and informative digital products which aims to facilitate the communication of parties, political groups, foundations and associations.

Thomas is the CEO and Founder of Data Sciences Inc. He is also co-founder and chairman of Canada 2020, Canada’s leading, independent, progressive think-tank. He previously served as the Chief Digital Strategist for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal election campaign, as well as his campaign for leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Mario Voigt is Professor of Digital Transformation and Politics at the Quadriga University Berlin.

He has published five books, numerous studies and articles on digital communication, smart city, political campaigns and big data. In more than 50 countries, he has been keynote speaker on digital transformation, big data, campaigning, and digital public affairs. Voigt is member of several international Award juries, eg. European Excellence Award, Politikaward or German Award for Digital Communication.

Prof. Voigt is a consultant to DAX-companies, NGOs and public affairs campaigns from local to international levels in areas of mobilization, campaigning and digital communication. In the 2017 Bundestag election campaign, he was strategy consultant for mobilization for Angela Merkels Reelection bid.

Since 2009, Voigt has been elected twice as a Member of the State Parliament Thuringia and is speaker for business, science and digital society. He studied politics, law and history at the universities of Jena, Bonn and University of Virginia (USA).

Radu Magdin is an international analyst, consultant and trainer. He worked as a honorary advisor to the Romanian Prime Minister (2014-2015) and was an advisor to the Moldovan PM (2016-2017) on a range of strategic issues, from political strategy and communications to reforms implementation and external affairs. Radu spent 5 years in Brussels (2007-2012) working for the European Parliament, EurActiv and Google. Radu is a NATO Emerging Leader with the Atlantic Council of the US (2014) and a Forbes Romania Trendsetter (2014). Since 2012, he is the CEO of Smartlink Communications. In his role, he advises people and organisations on how to best campaign and manage reputations or a crisis.

Dara Murphy is an Irish MP and a member of Ireland's government Party, Fine Gael. Deputy Murphy was first elected to the National Parliament in 2011, and from 2014-2017 served as Minister of State with responsibility for European Affairs in the Irish government. He also had responsibility for Data Protection and the Digital Single Market. Deputy Murphy was elected in 2015 as Vice-President for the European People's Party and was recently appointed to the position of EPP Campaign Director for the 2019 European elections. He holds a degree in Economics from University College, Cork.

Daniel has been Communications Director of the Council of Europe and Spokesman of Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland since 2010. Previously, he was Head of Unit in the Federal Ministry of Transport, Public Relations Spokesman in the Federal Ministry of the Interior and worked as a public relations expert in the Directorate-General for Enlargement of the EU Commission.

Juri Schnöller is co-founder and managing director of Germany's first political start-up Cosmonauts & Kings, which is developing political and technological innovations. Schnöller already worked on political campaigns for Barack Obama, Angela Merkel, Jean Claude-Juncker, among others. He studied in Friedrichshafen and Washington D.C, and is training digital political activists around the world.

Utta joined the S&D Group in 2011 and is Head of Department Press and Communications/Spokesperson for the Group. The S&D press and communications department is an interdisciplinary, multinational and multilingual team that covers different activities ranging from media relations, to audio-visual production, events & publications as well as online and new media communication. Furthermore, Utta is responsible for the S&D Group´s "#EuropeTogether" initiative, which was launched after the Brexit referendum, and aims at engaging citizens in the upcoming EP Elections.

Principal of Strategy for Tectonica Digital Organizing Solutions, co-founded the company with a vision for digital organizing to catalyze people-based movements, causes, and campaigns. Tectonica has served major clients including the UK Labour Party, the Scottish National Party, La Republique En Marche!, Belgium's Groen, and Sadiq Khan’s campaign for Mayor of London.

Anja Pfeffermann is a Senior Advisor at the Berlin headquarters of the governing party CDU. She has specialised in strategic online communications since 2008 and has advised various campaigns for various charitable causes, the Catholic Church and in politics, all on regional, national, and European levels.

Jeannette Gusko is Regional Manager for Germany, Austria and Switzerland at GoFundMe, the world’s leading social fundraising platform. In this position, she helps people and organisations create successful fundraising campaigns. Jeannette is an experienced expert in social campaigning with a strong focus on the chances the internet provides for social engagement.

Matthias is the brainchild behind Twiplomacy, a study which looks at how governments and international organizations use digital platforms. Lüfkens is a social media architect at BCW, advising a wide range of Fortune 500 companies as well as non-profit organisations on the use of social media. Previously he was Head of Digital Media at the World Economic Forum.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbaur is the party leader of the CDU Germany. She has been a member of the Executive Committee of the CDU Germany since 2010 and of its Federal Board since 2011. From 2011 to 2018 she was the Prime Minister of Saarland.

Philipp Maderthaner knows what moves people. After more than 150 campaigns that have touched the lives of millions, he knows the secret to success. Maderthaner himself is a successful founder and manager of the up-and-coming Campaigning Bureau. He is also an internationally renowned campaigner and a popular and inspirational speaker. In the US, he is considered a rising star in the world of campaigning, and he has even received an award for his stellar work.

Heather Grabbe is director of the Open Society European Policy Institute in Brussels. She works to ensure that open society values are at the heart of EU policies and actions, both inside and outside its borders. Her publications and conferences have focused in defending EU Values and the rise of populism and how to counter it.

Camila is currently President of the Pro Youth Wing in Argentina, and she works as Director of Youth in the Ministry of Health and Social Development since 2015 after President Macri was elected. In 2017, Camila was elected councilwoman in her district in the Province of Buenos Aires.

Tobias is the Head of the newsroom in the SPD Party Executive Committee. He has a vast experience in digital campaigns that include beign the Head of Online Campaign, and the Referent for Digital Campaigns and Strategies of the Party's Executive Committee.

Christian carries out mobilization-campaigns on all federal levels in Germany. With his platform „Mobilizer“ he has been working in all national and federal election-campaigns in Germany since 2016. With his team they are developing mobiliziation-campaigns, apps and digital platforms to help customers in politics, administration and associations reach out for stakeholders, members and citizens.

Dirk is a Professor of Computational Sciences in the ETH Zurich. He was elected as a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in 2008 and of the World Academy of Art and Science in 2016. The work of Prof Helbing has been widely cited in the media and academia and he has written more than 10 papers in Nature, Science and PNAS.

Lucero is the Digital Campaign Coordinator of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the Peace Nobel Price awarded campaign. She joined ICAN due to her mission to discover an apply the most effective ways to move people into action for the planet.