Our Team

Director / FES Geneva Office

As the director of the FES Geneva office, Hajo Lanz is responsible for all programs and activities related to this office. Since joining FES in 1993, he has held various positions at FES headquarters and abroad, including project leader in Kenya (1993-1996) and FES Representative in Uganda (1996-2000), Morocco (2005-2008) as well as Costa Rica, Panamá and Nicaragua (2013-2019).  From 2008 to 2013 he was Head of Department for Northern Africa, Near & Middle East at FES headquarters in Berlin. He studied Economics and Geography at the Free University of Berlin (Germany) and graduated from the Center for Advanced Training in Rural Development (SLE) of the Technical University, Berlin.

Senior Program Officer / Trade and Development, Employment and Social Policy

Yvonne Bartmann holds a Master's Degree in Political Science, studied also economics and public law at the universities of Tübingen (Germany), Lille (France) and Potsdam (Germany). She completed several internships in the area of political education, journalism and women empowerment in Sub-Sahara Africa. Yvonne has worked for a Member of Parliament in Germany and at the World Health Organization.

Program Officer / Human Rights and Development

Ira Gibson moved into the role as Program Officer at FES Geneva in March 2019, after joining the office in November 2016. She holds a Master’s Degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Cologne (Germany) and completed a postgraduate distance study in Sustainable Development Cooperation at the University of Kaiserslautern (Germany). She has a broad variety of experience gained working in both the private and non-profit sectors.

Program Officer / Human Rights and Development

Salome Lienert holds a Doctoral Degree in history from the University of Basel (Switzerland), and a Master’s Degree in political science and English literature from the University of Geneva (Switzerland). She has a broad experience in issues on women’s rights and gender and previously worked for a Swiss Human Rights NGO.

Finance and Administration Manager

Claudia Manns holds a Master's Degree in art history, history and media science from the Philipps-University of Marburg (Germany) and the University of Cagliari (Italy). She joined FES Geneva as Office Manager in July 2013 where she is responsible for all administrative, financial and IT matters. Before moving to Geneva she worked several years as Project Manager for Digital Design in Manchester.

Assistant Program Officer

Matthias Pesch holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science from the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University of Bonn (Germany). He gained experiences working for several civil society actors in the field of Development Policy and the United Nations in Germany before joining FES Geneva in February 2019.

Assistant Program Officer

Sabine Dörfler holds a Master's Degree in translation in Spanish and Portuguese. She studied linguistics, Latin American studies and political science in Berlin, Germersheim (Germany) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). After working at the world exhibitions in Seville, Lisbon and Hanover, at Siemens, a publishing house and a university of applied sciences, she has held various positions at the FES in Berlin and Santiago de Chile since 2004. She joined FES Geneva in March 2022.