Peter Conze is a co-founder and partner of the HUMBOLDT-VIADRINA Governance Platform, where he advises on extractive industries as well as other transparency initiatives. He is also a member of the advisory board of the Garment Industries Transparency Initiative.

Peter Conze worked for 35 years for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ, formerly GTZ). He started as an assistant to the board of directors and then was a government advisor to the Ministry of Finance. Subsequent positions include GIZ representative in Somalia and division chief for Southern Africa, and after the breakup of the Soviet Union he served as the first division chief of GIZ for Eastern Europe. After his time as project manager for the German government’s support program for the Expo 2000 in Hannover, he served as GIZ’s Africa director for seven years and then was director of the regional office in South Africa for five years.

For 20 years, Peter Conze was a member of the Supervisory Board of GIZ as an employee representative, including a term as deputy chair.

Peter Conze was a founder of the anti-corruption organization Transparency International (TI) in 1993. Since then he has served as one of the few individual members of this world-wide organization, advising the international secretariat of TI in its Africa activities. He is also a member of the board of directors of Transparency International – Germany. In addition, Peter is a regular speaker at conferences and universities on the prevention of corruption and topics related to African development.

Peter studied law and political science in Freiburg, Geneva and Munich. After finishing his legal education in Germany, he studied at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston, graduating with an M.A. in international relations.