Benjamin Stappenbeck is the Director of Communications at the Hertie School. Before joining the Hertie school, he worked at the German Ministry of Justice, overseeing communications for the Corporate Digital Responsibility Initiative (CDR-Initiative). Prior to this, as a spokesperson at the Bertelsmann Stiftung, he oversaw communication and strategy for the CEO Aart De Geus as well as for the research areas of democracy, the European Union and global economic trends. Moreover, Benjamin has been working as a project lead at the international PR-Agency Scholz&Friends and as an editor at Berliner Zeitung. He holds a Diploma in Political Science from the University of Potsdam, where he specialised in international relations. Moreover, he has studied European Affairs at Sciences Po Lille in France. He is fluent in English and French and has basic knowledge of Italian.