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Dr. Peter Frey, born in 1957, served as Editor-in-Chief of ZDF from 2010 to 2022. On the program heute journal, he regularly provided commentary on national and international politics. He hosted numerous shows, including Berlin direkt, auslandsjournal, and ZDF-Morgenmagazin, and, together with Bettina Schausten, interviewed all key figures in German politics as part of the series Was nun? (What Now?). Since the 1990s, he conducted 48 interviews with Angela Merkel. Highlights of his television career include the coverage of Barack Obama’s election as U.S. President, the elections and funerals of Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis, as well as the ceremonies surrounding the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Frey also served as a correspondent in Washington and authored the book Von Bagdad nach St. Petersburg, published by Hoffmann und Campe. He began his journalistic career in his early twenties at Südwestfunk radio and for the newspaper Die Zeit, where one of his first features was a report on the writer Anna Seghers and her novel The Seventh Cross. Between 1978 and 1986, he studied political science, Romance studies, and education in Mainz and Madrid, earning a doctorate on Spain’s accession to the European Union. As Editor-in-Chief, Frey actively engaged in dialogue with viewers and critics of public broadcasting. Since his retirement, he has been involved in German-Polish initiatives.

Dr. Emily Margarethe Haber served as the German Ambassador to the United States from 2018 to 2023. Prior to her assignment in Washington, D.C., she held various leadership positions at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. In 2009, she was appointed Political Director and in 2011 State Secretary, becoming the first woman to hold each of these positions. Subsequently, she was seconded to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, where she served as State Secretary from 2014 to 2018, responsible for internal security and migration policy. Ms. Haber has extensive experience with Russia and the former Soviet Union. She was posted multiple times to the German Embassy in Moscow, including as Head of the Political Department. At the Foreign Office in Berlin, she also headed the OSCE division and served as Commissioner for the Western Balkans. Ms. Haber holds a doctorate in history and is married to former diplomat Hansjörg Haber. The couple has two sons.

Dr. Thomas de Maizière was born in 1954 in Bonn. After completing his Abitur in 1972 and serving in the military, he studied law. Following his second state law examination and earning his doctorate, he began his professional career in 1984 at the Senate Chancellery under the then Governing Mayor of West Berlin, Richard von Weizsäcker. During the German reunification process, he advised the last democratically elected Prime Minister of the GDR, his cousin Lothar de Maizière, and was a member of the GDR negotiation delegation for the Unification Treaty. He then held various positions as State Secretary and Minister in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony until 2005. In Saxony, he served successively as Chief of the State Chancellery, Minister of Finance, Minister of Justice, and Minister of the Interior. In 2005, Angela Merkel appointed him Chief of the Federal Chancellery. He served twice and for a total of six years as Minister of the Interior, two years as Federal Minister of Defence, and was a member of the Bundestag for twelve years. With 28 years in government service, Thomas de Maizière is one of the most experienced politicians in Germany. Since leaving active politics, he has been, among other roles, Chairman of the Deutsche Telekom Foundation. In 2023, he served as President of the German Protestant Church Assembly (Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag).