European Young Leaders (#EYL40)

Max Siedentopf is a German-Namibian multi-disciplinary conceptual artist, who works across video, photography, sculpture, creative direction and more. He founded Ordinary, a quarterly art magazine that reimages ordinary household objects, transforming them into the extraordinary. Siedentopf’s latest artworks also include ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’, a dark-humoured satirical installation that reflects on society’s delusional positive outlook in the face of major crises, and ‘Toto Forever’, an installation in an undisclosed location in the Namib Desert, which earned him acclaim in Vogue Italy as a “viral artist”. He currently creatively collaborates with Gucci on campaigns, brand image and special projects, having most recently led the creative art direction for the Italian fashion house’s experimental online space Gucci Vault. Siedentopf has directed music videos, even starring in one of them, and was nominated by Campaign Magazine among the top ten directors of 2022. He is also the former creative director and youngest-ever partner of the creative agency KesselsKramer.

Slawomir is the founder and leader of ‘Krytyka Polityczna’ (the Political Critique), the widest Polish movement of left-wing intellectuals, artists and activists, with branches in Ukraine, Germany and Russia. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the daily ‘Dziennik Opinii’ (The Opinion Daily) and The Publishing House and Director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Warsaw. He is President of the Stanislaw Brzozowski Association, running six cultural centres and 25 local centres in Poland, Ukraine, Russia and Germany. Slawomir has written numerous essays and op-eds, mainly devoted to Polish and European politics and culture.

Michal Šimečka is the Vice-President of the National Council of Slovakia and Chair of Progressive Slovakia, a pro-European national political party. Prior to this, he was the first Slovak politician to serve as a vice-president of the European Parliament. The highest-ranked Slovak in the Parliament’s history, Šimečka was responsible for democracy and human rights. He is a former vice-president of Renew Europe and was the rapporteur for a key proposal to introduce a new mechanism for the protection of democracy, the rule of law and European values in member states. A champion of a free, secure and democratic Europe, Šimečka is a Founding Member and Chair of Progressive Slovakia, a pro-European party in Slovakia. Previously, he worked as a senior researcher at the Institute of International Relations Prague, studying European integration and security, and served as an advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. Šimečka began his professional career as a journalist for SME, a Slovak newspaper, and then the Financial Times.

Baiba is an award-winning Latvian classical violinist who performs around the world with prestigious orchestras and renowned conductors. Baiba regularly performs with Berliner Philharmoniker, Boston Symphony Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra, amongst others. In 2019 she played with Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Orchestra Symphonique de Montreal and gave her debut with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in early 2020. An internationally sought-after chamber musician, Baiba commits to the long-established duo with her sister Lauma and tours worldwide with the Skride Quartet. She recently released a recording of Mozart Violin Concertos with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Eivind Aadland.

Hanke is currently serving as the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations in the Dutch government. She is a former military officer, former vice-governor at the Province of Utrecht. As a member of the Dutch parliament, Hanke served as the Christian Democratic Appeal party’s spokesperson on health and defence issues, while also focusing on local government, medical law, psychiatry and sports. Prior to her career in politics, Hanke attended the Dutch Royal Military Academy (KMA), where she undertook officer training and specialised as an artillery commander. She went on to serve in Afghanistan as a tank platoon commander, where she was promoted to acting field officer, assisting the Director of Operations of the Land Forces Command Staff. She has also worked in the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations as a senior policy officer and is avid hockey player, who won the Rabobank Premier Division national indoor hockey championship in 2005.

Jens is the Deputy Chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. He was formally the Federal Minister of Health in the Cabinet of Angela Merkel. He has been a member of the Bundestag since 2002, with responsibility for health policies, and a Member of the CDU/CSU Youth Group. He has gathered his experience in government during his time as the Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Finance, a post he has held since July 2015. He holds a degree in Banking and Political Science from the University of Hagen, and previously worked as a banker in his hometown of Munster. Jens is a founding member of the ‘Young Member of Parliament’ cross-party group that promotes integration and equality in politics and society.

A human rights lawyer from Serbia, Jovana Spremo is a fierce advocate of the rule of law and the protection of fundamental rights, whose work focuses on supporting the EU negotiation process. As the Advocacy Director of YUCOM, she leads the development and implementation of advocacy strategies aimed at promoting its research and policy recommendations on the rule of law and human rights. Spremo coordinates the Working Group for Chapter 23 of the National Convention on European Union, which deals with Serbia’s policies related to judiciary and fundamental rights, and monitors access to justice pertaining to the Belgrade – Pristina dialogue.

Tamara served as the minister for public administration, digital society and media in Montenegro, in which role she advocated for public administration reform, digital transformation and the development of e-government services. Prior to this, Tamara was integral to the launch of the Government of California’s Digital Innovation Office, established to improve the state’s digital services. In this capacity, she led the COVID-19 digital response, the Policy Design Lab and the Inclusive by Design initiative. She is also the Co-Founder and former deputy director of the Office of Innovation at the California Health and Human Services Agency, where she was responsible for driving innovation to provide critical healthcare and social services. She has been involved with a number of organisations and programmes, including Alchemist, CivicMakers, Code for America, New America and most recently, Regional School of Public Administration (ReSPA), where she provides support for public administration reform in the Western Balkans.

Bart Staszewski is a Polish filmmaker and fierce champion of LGBTQI+ rights. His “Article 18” documentary details the LGBTQI+ struggle for equality in the country to showcase that the government has failed to introduce legislation that protects same-sex relationships. Staszewski was among the organisers of the first-ever Equality March and went on to establish an association of the same name. He also belongs to Miłość Nie Wyklucza (Love Does Not Exclude), an organisation that fights for marriage equality, and serves as the Co-Founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board at the Basta Foundation, which monitors homophobic and transphobic hate speech in Polish media. Notably, Staszewski created the internationally acclaimed “Zones” photography project to remind politicians of their LGBTQI+ constituents and protest the infamous ‘LGBT-free zones’ in approximately 100 Polish municipalities. He was named an Obama Leader for Europe by the Barack Obama Foundation and among the TIME100 Next rising individuals.

Ivan Štefunko is a Member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, representing the political movement Progresívne Slovensko (Progressive Slovakia), which he co-founded, in the committees on foreign affairs and on economic affairs. He was also the party’s first chairman. Štefunko used to be a serial entrepreneur and angel investor and has been extensively involved in building the venture capital industry in Slovakia by co-founding Neulogy Ventures, a management company investing public and private funds in early-stage tech companies through a Bratislava-based, 25mn VC fund with more than 36 technology investments. Štefunko previously co-founded Neulogy (now CIVITTA), a Bratislava-based consultancy boutique specialising in R&D management, technology commercialisation and start-up consulting. He has an extensive entrepreneurial background, particularly in deep technology and the internet space. He has also been at the helm of a number of start-up companies with global or regional reach, including Diagnose.me, Pelicantravel.com, Piano Media and GA Drilling.

Michal started programming when he was just seven years old and developed his own operating system by the time he was 20. In 2004, he co-founded Sygic, a mobile navigation company focused on business and holiday travellers. It now has more than 20 million active users worldwide. The company became the first to offer navigation for iPhone and the second for Android. In 2015, Sygic reached the milestone of 100 million downloads of its navigation app. It ranks second in the App Annie Index Travel & Local category, just after Google. Sygic’s automotive team cooperates with companies such as Honda, Jaguar and Land Rover to bring the latest connected driving innovation to cars.

Before her current appointment, Sonja worked at the Vienna Insurance Group AG amongst others as their regional director in Styria after having joined the private sector in 2016. Prior to this, she served as Austria’s State Secretary for Public Administration as well as State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Finance. Sonja has also been Deputy Chairwoman of the SPÖ Regional Party Committee in south-east Styria, Member of the Women’s Federal Executive Committee of the SPÖ and Chairwoman of Volkshilfe social services in Feldbach. In addition to this, she has been Chairwoman of the Nomination Committee of the Austrian State and Industrial Holding Ltd (ÖBIB). Sonja was first elected as a Member of Parliament in 2009, and concurrently taught business law at the KMU-Academy & Management in Linz.

Anders Storgaard is a Member of the Frederiksberg City Council. A social conservative, he aims to make his municipality Denmark’s greenest through sustainable wood construction, CO2 tax and green urban development and infrastructure policies. Storgaard is also a consultant for renewable energy at Green Power Denmark and a radio host on the talk radio channel, 24syv. He contributed to the push for Denmark to drop an eighth bidding round for North Sea oil and increase CO2 taxes, while serving as the national chairperson of Conservative Youth, a Danish political organisation.   

A pioneering businessman from Luxembourg, Tobias Stüber is the CEO of Flibco, a digital company specialised in the niche of airport to city transportation. He is an expert in change management and digital transformation, who champions progressive working models to boost productivity and employee motivation. Stüber was the first CEO in the country to successfully implement a four-day, 32-hour work week that maintains a full-time salary. Under his leadership, Flibco has expanded with new connections to 12 airports, with plans to become Europe’s leading digital sales platform for airport shuttles. In addition to his role as CEO, Stüber has successfully worked as a strategical and digital consultant for election campaigns in German national and regional levels.

Through her current work as DEI consultant, and event host with Nordic Edge organisation, Kamilla Sultanova has been an influential voice in Finland‘s Talent Boost programme, aimed at diversifying Finnish companies and establishing talent management programmes for the employment of international students, refugees and immigrants. Her advocacy extends to promoting employment-driven mentoring programmes, anti-racism training, and women’s positions in industries, cities, boards, politics and media through an intersectional lens. Prior to her current roles, Sultanova worked in producing speaker programmes and inspiring dignity-centric leadership for Finnish secondary school students. Sultanova is recognised as one of the top 60 speakers in Finland by the leading speaker agency in the Nordics and a winner of the My Speaker of the Year 2023 award in the ‘Sustainability and Ethics’ category.