German

Amelie Buchwald is a program assistant with GMF’s Indo-Pacific Program. Based in Berlin, she focuses on the India Trilateral Forum.

Buchwald previously worked as a junior project assistant with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Brussels. She has experience working with the EU Delegation to the United Nations in New York, the Federal Academy for Security Policy (BAKS) in Berlin, and the German embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia. 

Buchwald holds a master’s degree in international relations awarded jointly by the Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University, and the University of Potsdam; a master’s degree in peace and security studies from the University of Hamburg; and a bachelor’s degree in European studies from Maastricht University.

Gunnar Wiegand is a visiting distinguished fellow in the Indo-Pacific program since November 2023. From 2016 to 2023, Wiegand served as the managing director for Asia and the Pacific at the European External Action Service (EEAS). In this function, Wiegand was a key contributor to the EU’s policy orientations on EU relations with China and India, the Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, Europe Asia Connectivity Policy (the precursor for the Global Gateway initiative), and enhanced security engagement with Indo-Pacific partners. He was also the EU's senior official for the Asia Europe meetings (ASEM) and EU-ASEAN relations. Among other tasks, he served as the EU's chief negotiator for the new EU-Japan Strategic Partnership Agreement. Prior to that, Wiegand served as EEAS director for Russia, Eastern Partnership, Central Asia, OSCE and Northern Dimension (2011–2015).

Wiegand held various senior positions at the European Commission, including director for Eastern Europe, Southern Caucasus, and Central Asia at DG RELEX (2008–2011), head of unit for Relations with Russia and the Northern Dimension at DG RELEX (2006–2008), head of unit for Relations with the United States and Canada (2003–2006), and spokesman for Lord Chris Patten, EU Commissioner for External Relations (1999–2002).

Wiegand holds a law degree from the University of Hamburg and a master’s degree in international relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. He is a visiting professor at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, and the Paris School of International Affairs in Paris, France.

David Voegtle is GMF’s development coordinator for government funding. Before joining GMF, he served as the external affairs officer for Charities Aid Foundation America (CAF America), a nonprofit specializing in the facilitation of donor-advised grants to charities worldwide. He managed the organization’s international grantmaking partnership and disaster response programs. Voegtle’s efforts raised $33 million for charities responding to the 2021 floods in Germany’s Rhineland, Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and the 2023 earthquake in Turkey.

Prior to entering the nonprofit sector, Voegtle served as a staffer for a major US gubernatorial campaign and for a congressional fundraising firm. He is a 2017 graduate of Rhodes College, where he studied political science with a concentration in political philosophy. He speaks Spanish and German.

Gillian Ziegler is GMF's alumni relations coordinator and helps to engage the more than 4,000 alumni of GMF's leadership programs. He manages the alumni database and coordinates the alumni relations office's outreach and engagement activities with GMF’s development team.

Prior to joining GMF, Ziegler worked at the Silverado Policy Accelerator, a nonprofit, bipartisan policy organization dedicated to solving geopolitical challenges in trade and industrial security, economic and ecological security, and cybersecurity. He was also a researcher at the University of Notre Dame, focusing on religion and right-wing political parties in Central Europe. From 2015 to 2017 he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania.

Ziegler holds a master's degree in international relations from Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a bachelor's degree in history from Goucher College.