Board of Directors
An honorary position against hunger and poverty.
Specialists in the areas of nutrition, social issues and development, economists, human beings – our Board of Directors consists of voluntarily acting experts who have one thing in common: the desire to end hunger and poverty in the world.
Guided by Marlehn Thieme, Chair of the Board, the Board oversees the work of the Executive Management internally, and represents the organization externally.
Marlehn Thieme, Chair of the Board
Marlehn Thieme has been Chair of the Board of Deutsche Welthungerhilfe e.V. since 2018. She chairs the ZDF Television Council and the supervisory board of a co-operative bank (Bank für Kirche und Diakonie). A lawyer who has been involved in various foundations, Marlehn Thieme held several leadership positions at Deutsche Bank until 2013. She also spent 15 years advising the German federal government as member and chairwoman of the Council for Sustainable Development.
Prof. Dr. Joachim von Braun, Vice Chair of the Board
An agricultural economist, Prof. Dr. Joachim von Braun is a director at the Centre for Development Research at the University of Bonn and a professor of economic and technological change. He has been Vice Chair of the Board of Welthungerhilfe since 2012. In addition, he is the president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the chairman of the Scientific Group for the 2021 Food Systems Summit of the UN.
Dr. Bernd Widera, Chair of the Finance Committee
Dr. Bernd Widera has been chairing the Welthungerhilfe Finance Committee since November 2019. The lawyer served on the executive board of RWE Deutschland AG for several years and is also a member of the board of trustees of the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics, a member of the AMOS business club at Kommende, the social institute of the archdiocese of Paderborn.
Carl-Albrecht Bartmer, Board of Directors
Carl-Albrecht Bartmer was appointed to the Board of Directors in 2020. He has been Chairman of the DLG Supervisory Board since 2018. Before that, the agricultural scientist and farmer was President of the DLG from 2006 to 2018. Carl-Albrecht Bartmer has been running an agricultural farm since 1991.
Amadou Diallo, Board of Directors
Amadou Diallo is the CEO of DHL Global Forwarding Middle East & Africa and the founder of Saloodo GmbH. He is also the chairman of the executive board of the NGO Amref Deutschland e.V., the founder of the Bamouna Ba foundation for Girls and the Blue Saxo Music Production and a member of the Board of Directors der Global Business School Networks in Washington.
Dr. Annette Niederfranke, Board of Directors
Dr. Annette Niederfranke is the director of the German branch of the International Labour Organisation. Until 2014, she was the undersecretary of the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS), before which she had served in leadership positions within BMAS and in the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth, ultimately as a head of department.
Prof. Dr. habil. Conrad Justus Schetter, Board of Directors
Prof. Dr. habil. Conrad Justus Schetter is a professor of conflict and peace research at the University of Bonn and director of the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies (BICC). Previously, he was deputy director at the Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn. In 2016, he joined the Board of Directors of Welthungerhilfe.
