2012 Ashoka Globalizer Munich Panelists

Katharina Borchert studied law in Hamburg and Lausanne and worked in the Human Rights sector in Namibia and Switzerland before she got caught up in the Web. She served as editor in chief of an early print magazine about the Internet and continued to write for and about the Web after the magazine went down with the rest of the economy.

She joined WAZ NewMedia in 2006 and launched the regional news site DerWesten as editor in chief. In 2008 she was promoted to the management board of the WAZ Media Group where she was responsible for all of the company's online operations. In 2010 Katharina Borchert went on to work as CEO of Germany's leading news site Spiegel Online. She was nominated as Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum as well as Young European Leader in 2011.

Anke Domscheit-Berg, is founder and director of opengov.me, a consulting business, helping governments to become more open and transparent, as well as of fempower.me, a consulting and training business helping women managers and their organisations to break down barriers for women in leadership positions. Prior to this, she had been working for 15 years as IT consultant and project leader at Accenture and McKinsey's Business Technology Office and as a Director at Microsoft Germany. At McKinsey, she lead the study "A wake up call for female leadership in Europe" and contributed to the study "Women Matter". 

As an early activist for transparency and open government, she initiated the Open Government Barcamp series in Germany and co-founded the Government 2.0 Network Germany. She is a recognised speaker and author on open government, freedom of the internet, community public partnerships, and gender equality. As organizer or jury member she supported Apps for Democracy competitions at State, National and the EU level and helped organize the Random Hacks of Kindness Hackathon in Berlin. Anke Domscheit-Berg serves as Supervisory Board Member of Teachfirst Germany, dedicated to minimize disadvantages for children based on their social background. She is ambassador for the Barefoot College in India, which trains illiteral rural women to become solar engineers. She holds a Masters in European Business Administration (Newcastle, UK) and a BA in International Business Administration as well as a degree in Applied Textile Art. She was awarded Women of the Year 2010 by the State of Berlin. 

Peter Goldmark is chair of Ashoka's Changemakers. Previously, he directed the Climate and Air program for Environmental Defense from 2003 through 2010. Prior to joining Environmental Defense, he was Chairman and CEO of the International Herald Tribune.  Peter has had exceptional careers in both the public and private sectors.  His public service was highlighted by his tenure as Budget Director for the State of New York during the 1970s city- and state-wide fiscal crisis where he was an architect of its rescue; and as Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey through to 1983. He served as president of the Rockefeller Foundation from 1988 through 1997, encouraging its involvement in environmental issues, particularly as they related to energy.

Mr. Goldmark was also a trustee of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (1982-1988), member of Board Overseers and Chair of Harvard University’s Finance Committee (1984-1990), director of Knight Ridder Inc. (1991-1998), director of the Dreyfus Third Century Mutual Fund (1992-1998), member of the National Commission on Civic Renewal (1997-1998), trustee of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (2000-2007) and trustee of the Financial Accounting Foundation.  In addition, he serves as a board member of Lend Lease Corporation (1999-present), and member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Mr. Goldmark is a recipient of the Wilson Wyatt National Award for Urban Revitalization and a member of the Legion of Honor, France. He has taught courses at the JFK School of Government, Harvard; Yale College; The New School; Brandeis University; and Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University as Visiting Professor of Public and International Affairs. He holds a B.A. from Harvard University, and several honorary degrees.   

Lars Hinrichs is the founder of HackFwd and a serial entrepreneur and investor. One of his first efforts, politik-digital.de, was an award-winning platform for politics and new media he launched at 22. Following that early success, his next venture, a respected new media consulting firm, went bust -- but not without first paying rich dividends in learning.

Lars applied those learnings to his third major effort, XING, a highly successful business networking platform. As Founder and CEO, Lars oversaw its 2006 IPO, making XING the world’s first Web 2.0 company to go public. He then successfully steered it for two years post IPO. His most recent startup, HackFwd, is an innovative pre-seed investment company that supports Europe’s most passionate geeks in launching the world’s most exciting tech startups.

When he’s not working to promote European tech innovation, Lars can be found advising on the Global Leaders of World Economic Forum, the Young Global Leaders, and helping Germany with their digital strategy as part of the UNICEF council.