Benjamin Stappenbeck is the Director of Communications at the Hertie School. Before joining the university, he worked at the German Ministry of Justice, overseeing communications for the Corporate Digital Responsibility Initiative (CDR-Initiative). Benjamin was previously a spokesperson at the Bertelsmann Stiftung, responsible for communication and strategy for the CEO Aart De Geus as well as for the research areas democracy, the European Union and global economic trends. He also worked 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, and he also studied European Affairs at Sciences Po Lille in France. Benjamin is fluent in English and French and has basic knowledge of Italian.