Anticipating Economic Challenges

Dr. Angela Stanzel is a Senior Policy Fellow in the Asia Program and the representative in Germany of Institut Montaigne. Before joining Institut Montaigne in December 2018, Angela worked as Senior Policy Fellow and editor of China Analysis in the Asia Program at ECFR. Prior to that, she worked for the Koerber Foundation (Berlin), GMF (Asia Program, Brussels), and for the German Embassy (cultural section, Beijing). Her recent policy papers include "Fear and loathing on the New Silk Road: Chinese security in Afghanistan and beyond" and "Geoeconomics at an Inflection Point," co-authored with David Livingston.

Her recent publications include: Fear and loathing on the New Silk Road: Chinese security in Afghanistan and beyond (2018), The Trump opportunity: Chinese perceptions of the US administration (2018), The United Nations of China: A vision of the world order (2018), China’s "New Era" with Xi Jinping characteristics (2017), Grand Designs: Does China have a 'Grand Strategy'? (2017), China and Brexit: what’s in it for us? (2016), A hundred think tanks bloom in China (2016), Absorb and conquer: An EU approach to Russian and Chinese integration in Eurasia (2016), Eternally displaced: Afghanistan’s refugee crisis and what it means for Europe (2016).

She was a 2017-2018 participant in AICGS’ project “A German-American Dialogue of the Next Generation: Global Responsibility, Joint Engagement,” sponsored by the Transatlantik-Programm der Bundesrepublik Deutschland aus Mitteln des European Recovery Program (ERP) des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Energie (BMWi).

David Livingston is Deputy Director for Climate & Advanced Energy at the Atlantic Council. Previously, he was an associate fellow in the Carnegie Endowment’s Energy and Climate Program, where his research focuses on geoeconomics, markets, and risk. He is also a nonresident associate of Carnegie Europe in Brussels.

Previously, Mr. Livingston served as the inaugural Robert S. Strauss fellow for geoeconomics at the Office of the United States Trade Representative, where he concluded as acting Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Congressional Affairs. He also has worked at the World Trade Organization in Geneva and at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Vienna. Mr. Livingston is an alumnus of the Atlantik Brücke Young Leaders Program.

He is a 2017-2018 participant in AICGS’ project “A German-American Dialogue of the Next Generation: Global Responsibility, Joint Engagement,” sponsored by the Transatlantik-Programm der Bundesrepublik Deutschland aus Mitteln des European Recovery Program (ERP) des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Energie (BMWi).

Lisa Kastner is a policy advisor at the Foundation for European Progressive Studies, a Brussels-based think tank, and associate fellow at the Centre d’études européennes at Sciences Po Paris. She holds a PhD in political science from Sciences Po Paris and an MA in European Studies from the University of Bath. Lisa was a visiting fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne, the Elliott School at George Washington University in Washington, DC, and at AICGS.

Her research on the politics of financial regulation has been awarded the research award in the category PhD thesis by the Erasmus academic network on Parliamentary Democracy in Europe (PADEMIA) in 2016, the journal article prize of the Max Planck Institute in 2015 and the Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Common Market Studies, the Journal of European Public Policy (both forthcoming 2017), the Journal of Civil Society and in several policy outlets. Her book “Civil Society and Financial Regulation” will be published with Routledge in 2018.

She is a 2017-2018 participant in AICGS’ project “A German-American Dialogue of the Next Generation: Global Responsibility, Joint Engagement,” sponsored by the Transatlantik-Programm der Bundesrepublik Deutschland aus Mitteln des European Recovery Program (ERP) des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Energie (BMWi).

Manuel Kilian is a Senior Project Manager for Investing and Venturing at the Axel Springer ecosystem firm which supports industries and governments in their digitalisation efforts. Prior to this, Manuel served as the Senior Manager to the President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), the biggest economic lobby group in Germany. Apart from this, he gained professional experience at the Cabinet Office, Deutsche Bank and the UN Environmental Programme.

Manuel holds an MPhil in Public Policy from the University of Cambridge and a BA in European Studies from Maastricht University and Sciences Po Paris. He is passionate about the digital transformation and its impact on society and economics.

He is a 2017-2018 participant in AICGS’ project “A German-American Dialogue of the Next Generation: Global Responsibility, Joint Engagement,” sponsored by the Transatlantik-Programm der Bundesrepublik Deutschland aus Mitteln des European Recovery Program (ERP) des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Energie (BMWi).

Megan Leary is an International Economist at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and is responsible for economic and financial matters involving a portfolio of European countries, including Germany and Greece. Megan previously served as the G-20 Coordinator during the Chinese and German G-20 presidencies, preparing senior Treasury officials on issues ranging from the global economy to international taxation. During the global financial crisis, Megan worked in the U.S. Treasury’s Markets Room, where she was responsible for briefing senior Treasury officials on financial market developments and served as a specialist on the U.S. mortgage backed securities market. Megan earned a B.A. in economics and political science from Pennsylvania State University.

She is a 2017-2018 participant in AICGS’ project “A German-American Dialogue of the Next Generation: Global Responsibility, Joint Engagement,” sponsored by the Transatlantik-Programm der Bundesrepublik Deutschland aus Mitteln des European Recovery Program (ERP) des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Energie (BMWi).

Monika Kerekes is an expert and deputy head of the division “International Economic and Monetary Issues” in the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. In this capacity, she works together with international organizations such as the OECD focusing on macroeconomic questions. In addition, she monitors macroeconomic developments in specific countries, among others in the United States. Previously, she worked as an expert and deputy head of division in the unit “Money, Credit and Banking.” Before joining the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Monika Kerekes worked as economist at the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations (BDA), as a research associate at the Free University of Berlin (FU Berlin) and as a visiting researcher at the Hungarian Central Bank (MNB). She obtained her diploma in economics at the University of Mannheim and spent a year at the University of Melbourne receiving grants from the DAAD. She conducted research on economic growth and holds a doctorate degree in Economics.

She is a 2017-2018 participant in AICGS’ project “A German-American Dialogue of the Next Generation: Global Responsibility, Joint Engagement,” sponsored by the Transatlantik-Programm der Bundesrepublik Deutschland aus Mitteln des European Recovery Program (ERP) des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Energie (BMWi).

Sidney Rothstein is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Williams College. Rothstein studies the political economy of wealthy democracies in comparative perspective, focusing on Europe and the United States, and his current research examines the politics of digital transformation. He is co-editor (with Tobias Schulze-Cleven) of Imbalance: Germany’s Political Economy after the Social Democratic Century (Routledge, 2021), author of Recoding Power: Tactics for Mobilizing Tech Workers (Oxford University Press, 2022), and his research has appeared in the British Journal of Industrial Relations, German Politics, Perspectives on Politics, Review of International Political Economy, Socio-Economic Review, and Studies in American Political Development. Rothstein holds a BA in Political Science from Reed College and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Sven Hilgers is a member of the FDP's federal committee on international politics and chairman of the FDP Berlin’s committee on international and European politics. A board member of the FDP Berlin, he chaired the group that drafted the election manifesto for the upcoming state election in Berlin in September 2021. Among other things, he was vice president and international officer of the young liberals Germany (JuLis) and worked as an assistant for a liberal MP in the Bundestag. Beside his political work, Mr. Hilgers is manager globalization, free trade and market economy at the global themes unit of the Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation (FNF) in Berlin. Before joining the FNF, he was part of the research project on EU-IMF cooperation in the Eurozone at the Free University Berlin and the University of Hagen, where he analyzed the economic adjustment programs in Greece and Cyprus as well as the policies of the European Central Bank. His research has appeared in the Review of International Political Economy, West European Politics and New Political Economy. Mr. Hilgers studied political science and global studies in Berlin and Roskilde (Denmark). He holds an MA and BA in political science from Freie Universität Berlin, where he is pursuing his PhD.

He was a 2017-2018 participant in AICGS’ project “A German-American Dialogue of the Next Generation: Global Responsibility, Joint Engagement,” sponsored by the Transatlantik-Programm der Bundesrepublik Deutschland aus Mitteln des European Recovery Program (ERP) des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Energie (BMWi).