Ambassador Ischinger has been the Chairman of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) since 2008 and is the President of the Munich Security Conference Foundation Council.
Ischinger began his diplomatic career in 1973 in the cabinet of the UN Secretary General in New York. In 1975, he joined the Federal Republic of Germany’s Foreign Service. In 1993, he was named Director of Policy Planning and in 1995 Political Director. In this role, Ischinger led the German delegations during the Bosnian Peace negotiations in Dayton/Ohio in 1995, the negotiations on the NATO-Russia Founding Act in 1996/1997, and during the Kosovo crisis in 1998/99. In 1998, he was appointed State Secretary of the German Federal Foreign Office. From 2001 to 2006, he served as German Ambassador in Washington, DC, and, from 2006 to 2008, in London. Wolfgang Ischinger is a Member of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and serves on several nonprofit boards, including the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), the American Academy Berlin, the Centre for European Reform (CER), the Yalta European Strategy Group (YES), the Atlantic Council, Washington D.C., and the Geneva School of Diplomacy, Geneva. He also serves on the Global Advisory Boards of Kekst CNC, and of Palo Alto Networks.
Wolfgang Ischinger studied law at the universities of Bonn and Geneva and obtained his law degree in 1972. He earned an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and did postgraduate work at Harvard Law School. He has received honorary doctorates from universities in Geneva, Pristina and Yerevan.