About the Media Forward Fund

Martin is a journalist and Founding Director of the Media Forward Fund. Previously, Martin was editor-in-chief of the news organization "Der Standard" in Vienna, deputy editor-in-chief of "Zeit Online" in Berlin, investigative editor at "Die Zeit" and political editor at "Süddeutsche Zeitung" in Munich. As a Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University, Martin has worked on innovation, leadership, and entrepreneurship in media. Martin studied neurobiology and was born in Vienna. Photo: Peter Rigaud

Anne designed the Fund’s Grantee Journey and supports funding partners during the application process and the funding phase. Prior to that, she has been working for more than four years as a senior consultant at Wider Sense, advising foundations and companies and managing the #VertrauenMachtWirkung foundation initiative. Photo: Constanze Wenig

At the Media Forward Fund, Hanna handles the administrative aspects of the funding process and keeps an eye on the fund's operations. Previously, she was part of the development team at iac Berlin gGmbH and also brings several years of experience in grants management to the team. Photo: Jan Zappner

Katharina develops and supports potential partners and sponsors of the fund. She has many years of experience working for national (Deputy Head of Advertising at DIE ZEIT) and regional titles. She was most recently Chief Product Officer of the SV Group (including Schwäbische Zeitung). Katharina studied Media Management at the Hamburg Media School and was born in Ravensburg.

Olga is a former municipal councillor of the City of Geneva (2011-2018). She led two national referendum campaigns, including the package of measures in favor of the media (2022). Since 2021, she has been Secretary General of the CH++ association. At the same time, she is a member of the board of the Swiss media association VMZ and a member of the foundation boards of WePublish and SRG Geneva. Olga lives in Geneva and is our point of contact in French-speaking Switzerland.

Ulrike Teschke served as Commercial Director of the ZEIT Publishing Group for more than ten years and was also responsible for managing Tempus Corporate, the group's corporate publishing unit. In 2017, she became Managing Director of Der Tagesspiegel, which she led until 2024. Originally from Halle, Ulrike advises East German media organizations before and during the application process. Photo: Nassim Rad

Jascha accompanies applicants in the selection process of the Media Forward Fund, from the screening to the pitch. Previously, he worked for five years as an Advocacy Officer at the Civil Liberties Union for Europe in the areas of rule of law and media freedom and contributed in shaping the European Media Freedom Act. Jascha is originally from Brussels and studied political science at UNU-MERIT in Maastricht.

Swiss journalist and television producer, former Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross, international strategist in the non-profit sector, influencer, and changemaker. Daccord founded and leads the Edgelands Institute, the first pop-up institute at Harvard University. The trained journalist was, until recently, chairman of the board of directors of the media group that includes the leading local newspaper "Le Temps" in the Romandie region and the newly established digital outlet "Heidi.News."

Director of Publix, the new house for journalism and public engagement in Berlin, which opened a few weeks ago. Born in Dresden, she was previously co-editor-in-chief of "ZEIT-Magazin" and deputy editor-in-chief of "Zeit Online," where she developed, among others, journalistic dialogue formats such as "Deutschland spricht" ("Germany Talks").

Professor and Senior Visiting Research Associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University and board member of the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung." As an expert in strategy, innovation, and leadership, she advises leading media houses on digital transformation strategies and implementation, including BBC, CNN, NPR, NRK, SVT, and Schibsted.

Innovation manager with extensive experience in media funding. Currently, she applies her expertise as Chief Operating Officer at the start-up "Hashtag Media," which produces innovative digital journalism primarily on social media platforms. Previously, the Austrian native established and developed the "Wiener Medieninitiative" of the Vienna Business Agency for the city of Vienna, supporting over 200 media start-ups and projects.

Political journalist with extensive experience in video and audio journalism, founder of the video format “Deutschland3000”. Her podcast “Deutschland3000 – ’ne gute Stunde mit Eva Schulz” (NDR) has recorded more than 15 million streams, making it one of Germany’s most successful interview podcasts. Most recently, she traveled through Thuringia, Saxony, and Brandenburg as a reporter for the new ZDF documentary series “Deutschland, warum bist du so?"