Navigating AI: Politics and Society in Germany and the United States

Join the ACG and the Goethe-Institut San Francisco for a discussion with journalists Vladimir Balzer and Felix Holtermann.

The San Francisco Eric M. Warburg Chapter of the American Council on Germany and the Goethe-Institut San Francisco cordially invite you to a discussion and luncheon with Vladimir Balzer, Award Winning Journalist and Moderator, Deutschlandradio, Felix Holtermann, U.S. Bureau Chief, Handelsblatt, Steven E. Sokol, President and CEO, American Council on Germany.

Felix Holtermann was born in Stuttgart in 1987 and studied economics and journalism in Cologne and Auckland, New Zealand. Before joining Handelsblatt in 2017, he worked for Südwest Presse, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and served as a business editor and advisor to the radio director at West German Broadcasting Corporation (WDR). At Handelsblatt, he initially covered banking and fintech in Frankfurt before becoming a correspondent and U.S. Bureau Chief, reporting from New York and San Francisco on technology and the automotive industry since 2022. His work has received numerous awards, including the State Street Institutional Press Award, German Journalism Prize, Ernst Schneider Prize, Private Media Prize, Georg von Holtzbrinck Prize, DDV Prize for Business Journalism, and Quandt Prize. He is also the author of Geniale Betrüger – Wie Wirecard Politik und Finanzsystem bloßstellt, which was nominated for the German Business Book Award.

Vladimir Balzer is an award-winning radio journalist and moderator at Deutschlandradio. He grew up in Leipzig and studied in Dublin, Venice, and Leipzig. He began his career as a presenter, reporter, and editor at Deutschlandradio and MDR. Mr. Balzer hosts, among other programs, the daily program “Fazit – Kultur vom Tage” on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. In 2022, he was selected to be a Kellen Fellow by the American Council on Germany. In 2023, he started as a correspondent at Deutschlandradio’s main studio in Berlin. He is known as a commentator for German Television, such as ZDF. He also regularly reports for his broadcaster from the United States.

Dr. Steven E. Sokol (moderator) has been the President and CEO of the American Council on Germany since 2015. Previously, he served as President and CEO of the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh and prior to that he was the Vice President and Director of Programs at the American Council on Germany. Earlier in his career, Dr. Sokol worked at the Aspen Institute Berlin and in the Berlin office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. He holds a Doctorate from Northeastern University as well as an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins University’s Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. He has also studied at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität in Heidelberg and as a Fulbright Scholar at the Freie Universität in Berlin.