Governance – Villa Aurora & Thomas Mann House e.V.

Board of Directors

Chair | Dr. Markus Klimmer

Dr. Markus Klimmer | Foto: Dirk Bleicker
Dr. Markus Klimmer
Dr. Markus Klimmer

Markus Klimmer is chairman of the board of directors of Villa Aurora & Thomas Mann House e.V. and Bauhaus Archive - Museum of Design. From 2000 to 2009, he was partner at McKinsey & Company, where he headed the "Public Sector" division, and until 2017 he was managing director and senior partner of corporate consultancy Accenture. In 2008/09 he was an economic adviser to the German Foreign Minister. Markus Klimmer studied political science, economics and public law at the London School of Economics, the University of California Los Angeles and the University of Hamburg.

Deputy Chairwoman | Marianne Heuwagen

Marianne Heuwagen
Marianne Heuwagen
Marianne Heuwagen

Marianne Heuwagen holds a State Exam in German Language, Literature and History from the University of Bonn, Germany and a MA in Communications from Stanford University in California. She went on to become a successful freelance journalist - working for such prestigious media sources as ARD (The Working Pool of the Broadcasting Corporations of the Federal Republic of Germany), Die Zeit and the Süddeutsche Zeitung. During this time she specialized in topics involving civil right, human rights, and societal development in the US. In 1978 she moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles, where she befriended Marta Feuchtwanger, widow of the German author Lion Feuchtwanger.

In 1986 Marianne Heuwagen returned to Germany to work as Berlin Correspondent for the Süddeutsche Zeitung. After the passing of Marta Feuchtwanger in 1988 the Friends of the Villa Aurora was founded, which established the Feuchtwanger Villa as cultural landmark in memory of the history of German and Jewish emigrants.

After the German Federal Government relocated in 1999 Marianne Heuwagen transferred to the Parliamentary Bureau of the Süddeutsche Zeitung. In 2002 she moved as op-ed editor to the head office of Süddeutsche Zeitung in Munich. Three years later she moved to Berlin to establish the German office for Human Rights Watch: From September 2005 to September 2010 she was the Director of the German Bureau of Human Rights Watch.

Marianne Heuwagen is Deputy Chairwoman of the Board of Directors and has been instrumental in the preservation of the Villa and its establishment as an Artist's Residency Program for more than 25 years.

Executive Member of the Board | Dr. Jakob Scherer

Dr. Jakob Scherer
Dr. Jakob Scherer
Dr. Jakob Scherer

Dr. Jakob Scherer studied philosophy and economics at Freie Universität Berlin and as a fellow of the Ernst Reuter Society at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He received his PhD in philosophy on the subject of ordoliberalism. Jakob spent several years as a strategy consultant and manager at an international consulting firm and subsequently worked for the State of Berlin as head of strategy for its 1,000-worker strong IT and digitization agency. Since May 2022, he has been managing director of VATMH e. V. He is also chairman of the advisory board of Stiftung Neue Kultur Berlin and co-founder and long-time co-host of a private salon with guests from culture and public life.

Board Member | Dr. Hans-Jörg Clement

Dr. Hans-Jörg Clement
Dr. Hans-Jörg Clement
Dr. Hans-Jörg Clement

Dr. Hans-Jörg Clement (*1961) is head of the Cultural Department of the Konrad-Adenauer foundation as well as curator and managing director of the Else-Heiliger-Fonds EHF 2010 for the support of young artists. Having received a PhD in philology, Clement regularly writes about the development of contemporary art in the German Federal Republic. He is also a member of various committees. Clement curated numerous exhibitions, among others as co-curator in the Bundeskunsthalle and the Deutsche Bank KunstHalle.

Board Member | Dr. Alexandra Gräfin von Stosch

Dr. Alexandra Gräfin von Stosch
Dr. Alexandra Gräfin von Stosch
Dr. Alexandra Gräfin von Stosch

Alexandra von Stosch is program director of Bauhaus Council Berlin, author and curator, who teaches among others at Humboldt University in Berlin, Bauhaus Universität Weimar and the Universität der Künste Berlin. 

Following her studies in art history at the Sorbonne in Paris, she became the artistic director at the agency Art Public Contemporain Paris. In this capacity, she realized public art projects in France and was responsible for the setup of the international collection of contemporary art at the new headquarters of the French bank Société Gènérale (La Défense). As a founding member, curator and chief editor, she ran the International Center for Curatorial Studies ICCARUS (Munich and New York), among others overseeing exhibition and publication projects on Jeff Koons, Ed Ruscha, and Louise Bourgeois.

Alexandra von Stosch earned her doctorate with a study on the hitherto unknown photography of film director Stanley Kubrick and organized an international exhibition tour. In Berlin, she was a founding member of the interdisciplinary non-profit initiative Contemporary Arts Alliance Berlin, then became board member with responsibility  for the CAA Academy. She published a monograph about Anish Kapoor (together with Rainer Crone; Prestel Verlag, 2008) and Ed Ruscha (Walther König, 2009).  Alexandra von Stosch is an active member of the branch Art & Science of the international Center for Human Sciences (HWZ Munich) and participates in interdisciplinary work groups of the Academy of Sciences Berlin-Brandenburg. In addition, she is involved in various arts juries (including CAA and the BDI Kulturkreis).

Since March 2017 she is Head of Art and Culture at the Artprojekt Unternehmensgruppe, carrying out cultural development projects in Berlin and Brandenburg.

Board Member | Dr. Ulrich Köstlin

Dr. Ulrich Köstlin
Dr. Ulrich Köstlin
Dr. Ulrich Köstlin

Dr. Ulrich Köstlin is a private art and music patron and collector of emerging artists. In addition to the Villa Aurora, he is also involved with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (Else Heiliger Fonds), the Association of Arts and Culture of the German Economy, and Spectrum Concerts in Berlin. He served on executive boards in the pharmaceutical industry for many years and is currently a member of various supervisory boards. He studied law in Germany, Switzerland and the United States.

Board of Trustees, Berlin

Chair: Anna Bartels / Stefan Rössel | Federal Foreign Office, Commissioner for Foreign Cultural Policy

Dr. Nicole Zeddies | Unit K 21 at the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media

Markus Wener | Berthold Leibinger Stiftung

Johannes Ebert | Goethe-Institut e. V.

Florian Hauer | Berlin Senate

Dr. Marion Müller | Einstein Foundation

Sybille Uken

Advisory Board Thomas Mann House in Los Angeles

Steven D. Lavine | Chairman of the Advisory Board, President Emeritus Calarts

Helmut Anheier | Past president and Professor, Hertie School of Governance, member of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, and Emeritus, Max-Weber-Institute of Sociology, Heidelberg University

Austin Beutner | Investment Banker, Former Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles, Former Superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District

Jose Luis Blondet | LACMA Curator for Special Projects

Craig Calhoun | University Professor of Social Science at Arizona State University, joint appointments in the School of Politics and Global Studies, the School of Public Affairs, the School for the Future of Innovation in Society, the School of Sustainability, and the School of Arts, Media and Engineering

Manuel Castells | University Professor and the Wallis Annenberg Chair of Communications, Technology and Society at the University of Southern California, Director of Research for the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge

Michelle Chihara | Editor-in-Chief at Los Angeles Review of Books

Kimberly Marteau Emerson | lawyer, civic leader, and human rights advocate, Chair of the Board of Governors of Bard College Berlin, member of the Board of Trustees of Bard College; member of the Board of Human Rights Watch; Advisory Boards: United Way in Germany, ALLRise, USC Center on Public Diplomacy.

Josh Kun | Professor of Communication and Journalism, Director of the School of Communications and Chair of Cross Cultural Communication in the Annenberg School at the University of Southern California, and joint appointment in the Department of American Studies and Ethnicity

Alexandra Lieben | Deputy Director of the Burkle Center for International Relations at the University of California - Los Angeles

Roberto Lovato | Journalist and Author

Robin Meili | Director for International Programs and Senior Analyst at the Rand Corporation

Laure Murat | Professor in the Department of French and Francophone Studies at the University of California - Los Angeles

Dawn Nakagawa | Executive Vice President of the Berggruen Institute and  co-Director of the Future of Democracy program

Alex Ross | music critic and staff writer for the New Yorker

Ananya Roy | Professor of Urban Planning, Social Welfare and Geography and Meyer and Renee Luskin Chair in Inequality and Democracy at the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University of California - Los Angeles

Derek Shearer | Director of the McKinnon Center for Global Affairs and Chevalier Professor of Diplomacy and World Affairs at Occidental College in Los Angeles

Thomas Aujero Small | CEO of Culver City Forward, 2018 Mayor of Culver City, Chair of LA METRO Sustainability Council and member of the Mobility Committee of the Urban Land Institute Los Angeles

Marcelo Suarez-Orozco | Chancellor of University of Massachusetts-Boston

Krista Tippett | Broadcaster, author, and National Humanities Medalist. Founder and CEO, The On Being Project

Pete White | Founder & Executive Director of the Los Angeles Community Action Network

Members of the Villa Aurora & Thomas Mann House e.V.

Feo Aladag · Züli Aladag · Dr. Zaia Alexander · Manuela Alexejew-Brandl · Hans Amann · Gabriela Bacher · Prof. Ulrich Baehr · Dr. Friedrich Barner · Doris Barnett MdB · Dr. Ingeborg Becker · Wolfgang Behr · Dr. Joachim Bernauer · Dr. Agnes Bidmon · Dr. Daniel Biene · Dr. Matthias Birkholz · Jan Brandt · Dr. Tanja Buchholz · Peter Carpentier · Prof. Dr. Oliver Castendyk · Dr. Hans-Jörg Clement · Dr. Max Dehmel · Reinhard Dinkelmeyer · Staatssekretärin Hella Dunger-Löper · Freimut Duve (†)· Johannes Ebert · Petra Eichhorn-Korte · Lilly Engel · Marianne Esser · Jürgen Falkenburg · Nina Franoszek · Lucas Froese · Christian Gaebler · Dr. Volker Hage · Marianne Heuwagen · Susanne Hockling · Prof. Dr. Peter Jelavich  · Dr. Tanja Kinkel · Dr. Markus Klimmer · Wolfgang Knepper · Clemens Köhler · Dr. Ulrich Köstlin · Torsten Limbach · Hans-Dieter Lochmann · Bernhard F. Lunkewitz · Heike Catherina Mertens · Dr. phil h.c. Ingrid Mössinger · Arnd Mühle  · Dr. Marion Müller · Andre P.H. Müller · Dr. Pipa Neumann · Claus Nieländer · Prof. Franz Martin Olbrisch · Susanne Palme-Waldemer · Hinrich Peiper · Mani Pournaghi · Konstanza Prinzessin zu Löwenstein · Monica Chana Puginier · Jörn Jacob Rohwer · Dr. Joachim Sartorius · Dr. Bernd-Michael Scherer · Volker Schlöndorff · Dr. Dirk Schmalenbach · Lisa Schmitz · Dr. Marieluise Schmitz-Kössendrup · Gabriele Scholz · Edwin G. Schuck, Jr. · Kerstin Seidel · Christian Sommer · Dr. phil. Stephanie Tasch · Volker Treffenstädt · Ginka Tscholakowa-Henle · Sybille Uken · Dr. Moritz Viehweger · Dr. Gabriele von Halem · Dr. Alexandra Gräfin von Stosch · Ulrike von Trott zu Solz · Markus Warncke · Oliver Wand · Dr. Kirsten Weiss · Dr. Hans Jürgen Wendler · Markus Wener · Babette Marie Werner · Philipp Zettel ·

(As of December 2021)