Meet the HSC
Council

Achim Steiner has been appointed as the Chair of the Hamburg Sustainability Conference (HSC). His new position concurrently entails the designation as Chair of the HSC Council. From December 2025 onwards, Achim Steiner will also serve as Senior Fellow of the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.

Until June 2025, Mr. Steiner served as UN Under-Secretary General and Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for two consecutive terms. In this capacity, he also served as Vice-Chair of the UN Sustainable Development Group, which unites 40 entities of the UN system that work to support sustainable development. Over nearly three decades, he has been a global leader on sustainable development, climate resilience and international diplomacy. He has worked tirelessly to champion sustainability, economic development and equality for the vulnerable, and has been a vocal advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals.

Prior to joining UNDP, he was Director of the Oxford Martin School and Professorial Fellow of Balliol College, University of Oxford. Mr. Steiner has served across the United Nations system, addressing global challenges from both a humanitarian and a development perspective. He led the United Nations Environment Programme (2006–2016), helping governments invest in green economy transitions, technologies and renewable energy. He was also Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi. Achim Steiner previously held other notable positions including Director General of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Secretary General of the World Commission on Dams.

Achim Steiner, born in Brazil is a German and Brazilian national who has lived and worked in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America and the United States. He graduated in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (MA) from Worcester College, Oxford University, and holds an MA from the University of London/School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

Juliana Rotich is a CEO, a Fintech leader and technology entrepreneur of repute, keynote speaker, consultant, advisor and Board Member/Advisor with years of experience spearheading and scaling technology companies; operating in markets domestic and international.

Her personal mantra is to build impactful technology, fix problems, and help others. She enjoys  forging powerful partnerships to accomplish transformational projects and provide opportunities for innovators in East Africa. Wherever technology and science can help to do these three things and accelerate progress, she enjoys figuring out that intersection and adding constructive value.

She is passionate about putting together high performance teams. She champions internet connectivity in underserved areas, science education, financial literacy, inclusion and empowerment. An ardent supporter of Learning Lions in Turkana, she also supports entrepreneurs to scale their work and impact as an angel investor in FinTech and other startups.

She serves in boards as a sought after advisor on strategy, ecosystem development, business, tech, development, AI, entrepreneurship, impact and more.

Isabel de Saint Malo is a global leader in governance, sustainability, and multilateralism. She served as Vice President and Foreign Minister of Panama (2014–2019), becoming the first woman to hold both roles. During her tenure, she advanced transparency, social inclusion, and international cooperation, positioning Panama as a proactive voice in global sustainability and democratic governance.

Her career spans government, multilateral organizations, and the private sector, with a focus on strategic policy and stakeholder engagement. Isabel currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the IFRS Foundation, which develops global accounting and sustainability disclosure standards to enhance transparency and comparability across markets.

She has held two fellowships at Harvard University: one at the Institute of Politics, where she led a study group on the Sustainable Development Goals and another with the Advanced Leadership Initiative, focused on cross-sector solutions to global challenges.

Isabel is actively involved in international leadership networks, including the Global Women Leaders (GWL), the Aspen Institute, the Editorial Board of Americas Quarterly, the Inter-American Dialogue, and the Women Political Leaders Global Forum (WPL). She has led multiple Electoral Observation Missions for the Organization of American States, reinforcing democratic processes across Latin America.

As Vice Chair of the Hamburg Sustainability Conference, Isabel continues to champion inclusive, accountable, and forward-looking governance to accelerate progress on the global sustainability agenda.

Niels Annen has been State Secretary of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) since May 2025. Prior to that, he served as Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development from 2021 to 2025. Between 2018 and 2021, he was Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office. Annen was a member of the German Bundestag for 15 years between 2005 and 2025. He holds a Master of International Public Policy from the renowned Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C., USA. His fields of expertise include Latin America, the Middle East, Afghanistan, and the United Nations.

Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, has many years of experience in international cooperation and climate and environmental policy, with a career dedicated to sustainability and conservation. Previously, he has been the State Secretary of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Chair of the GIZ Supervisory Board. From 2013 to 2021, Jochen Flasbarth was State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Prior to that, he held the position of President of the German Environment Agency for four years. He holds a degree in economics from the Universities of Münster and Bonn.

Prof. Dr. Michael Otto, born 1943, is honorary Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Otto Group, a Hamburg-based retail and services group.

After an apprenticeship at a bank and studying economics, he joined the Otto Group in 1971 as Member of the Executive Board Merchandise (Textile). Between 1981 and 2007, he was Chairman & CEO of the Otto Group. Under his leadership, the company developed into a globally active retail and services group. Prof. Dr. Otto already recognised the potential of online trade back in the mid-nineties and turned the Otto Group into one of the world's most successful e-commerce companies.

Acknowledging the company’s responsibility for acting socially and ecologically, Prof. Dr. Otto declared the protection of the environment as business goal already in the 1980s.

Being also a founder and philanthropist, Prof. Dr. Otto has established several foundations, and donates for social, environmental, and cultural projects. His desire to give back to society is reflected in the variety of honorary posts he holds. Among the various awards and honours, Prof. Dr. Otto is honorary citizen of Hamburg and has received the Knight Commander’s Cross (Great Cross with Star) of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Peter Tschentscher was born on January 20th 1966 in Bremen. Beginning in 1987, after secondary school and civil service, he studied medicine with postgraduate studies in molecular biology in Hamburg, which he completed with a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1995. This was followed by a Habilitation in 2008. Until 2011, he was a senior physician at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. Peter Tschentscher joined the SPD as a student. From 2008 to 2011, he was Deputy Chair and Financial Policy Spokesman of the SPD faction in the Hamburg Parliament. In 2011, he was named Minister of Finance in the Hamburg Senate. On 28 March 2018 and again on 10 June 2020, the Hamburg Parliament elected Peter Tschentscher as the First Mayor of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. He was re-elected in 2025.

Melanie Hauenstein has been the new Director of the UNDP Representation in Germany since January 2024. She brings many years of experience from various positions within UNDP and the United Nations system. For the past two years, she has headed the UNDP country office in Lebanon as Resident Representative. Prior to that, she worked at UNDP Headquarters in New York as Regional Advisor responsible for Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti, Libya, and the Maghreb countries. In 2016, she also gained important experience in the field of international security policy as Senior Stabilization Advisor to the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo and as Head of Office of the UN peacekeeping mission in northern Mali (2014–2016).

Previously, Melanie Hauenstein worked in New York at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA, 2013–2014) and the UNDP Office for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (2010–2013). She supported the Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan (2007–2009). She began her career with the United Nations in Congo in 2005 and worked as a UN election expert during the first democratic elections there.

Melanie Hauenstein holds a Master’s degree in Population and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and previously studied international politics, sociology, and economics in Regensburg, Leipzig, and Paris. She is fluent in English, French, and Spanish.