Florian Hoffmann is a German social entrepreneur, author, investor and founder o
The DO
He speaks on topics including the green business transformation, innovation and the future of lifelong learning. His book, "Our New World / Unsere Neue Welt" was published in English and German by Murmann Verlag in 2022. Hoffmann sits on the Supervisory Board of the

World Future Council The World Future Council (WFC) is a German non-profit foundation with its headquarters in Hamburg. It works to pass on a healthy and sustainable planet with just and peaceful societies to future generations. FuturePolicy.org The website f ...

, and was named one of 100 Young Global Leaders by the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

in 2017. He has taught at the

Hasso Plattner Institute The Hasso Plattner Institute (Hasso-Plattner-Institut für Digital Engineering gGmbH), abbreviated HPI, is a German information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, an ...

at Potsdam University and the EBS University of Business and Law. His work has been covered in publications including the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'',and

Monocle (media company) ''Monocle'' is a global affairs and lifestyle magazine, 24-hour radio station, website, retailer and media brand, produced by Winkreative Ltd. It was founded by Tyler Brûlé, a Canadian entrepreneur, ''Financial Times'' columnist, and founder ...

Early life and education

Florian Hoffmann is the son of designer Mathias Hoffmann and grew up between

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in thr ...

, Germany and

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...

, Spain. He played competitive handball and was later listed at the European Handball Federation playing first in the German youth league. Hoffmann graduated from the Kepler Gymnasium and served as student speaker from 1998–2000. Hoffmann studied at the

European College of Liberal Arts Bard College Berlin (formerly known as ECLA or European College of Liberal Arts) is a private, non-profit institution of higher education in Berlin, Germany. It was founded as a non-profit association in 1999. Courses are taught in the English lan ...

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

Humboldt University Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of ...

and

St Antony's College, Oxford St Antony's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1950 as the result of the gift of French merchant Sir Antonin Besse of Aden, St Antony's specialises in international relations, economic ...

. At Duke, his professors included Frederick Jameson and Peter Feaver. Hoffmann wrote his BA on normative foreign policy supervised by Ellen M. Immergut. Hoffmann also participated in the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations in 2005. Hoffmann received the

DAAD Scholarship The German Academic Exchange Service, or DAAD (german: Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst), was founded in 1925 and is the largest German support organisation in the field of international academic co-operation. Organisation ''DAAD'' is a ...

to pursue his graduate studies at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. At Oxford, Florian Hoffmann worked with Kalypso Nicolaidis, Timothy Garton-Ash and

Michael Freeden Michael Freeden is a Professorial Research Associate at the Department of Politics and International Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is also Emeritus Professorial Fellow at Mansfield College, Oxford. ...

researching a common European Value Pluralism. He completed an MPHil with distinction and started a DPhil, which he did not complete.

Career

In 2008, Hoffmann co-founded the Dekeyser&Friends Foundation in Geneva, together with entrepreneur and former footballer

Bobby Dekeyser Robert Dekeyser (born 7 October 1964) is a Belgian-German entrepreneur and former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is the founder of , a Germany-based manufacturer of outdoor furniture with distribution in more than 80 countries. An ou ...

. From 2009 until 2012, Hoffmann worked as a creative strategist at furniture company DEDON and co-founded DEDON Island, an island resort and social business supporting

sustainable tourism Sustainable tourism is a concept that covers the complete tourism experience, including concern for economic, social and environmental issues as well as attention to improving tourists' experiences and addressing the needs of host communities. Su ...

in the Philippines. In 2013, he founded The DO School, an educational institution offering programs for social entrepreneurs, as well as executive consulting programs. Since 2021, The DO School has been known as The DO, home to The DO School and change accelerator, DO Catalyst. The DO operates in three different continents with offices in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Engagements and awards

The DO School was named an outstanding educational platform by the " Germany - Land of Ideas" initiative in 2016. Hoffmann is a fellow of the Disruptor foundation by

Craig Hatkoff Craig M. Hatkoff (born March 19, 1954) is an American real estate investor from New York City. Along with his now ex-wife Jane Rosenthal, and Robert De Niro, he co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Institute in 2002. The th ...

and

Clayton Christensen Clayton Magleby Christensen (April 6, 1952January 23, 2020) was an American academic and business consultant who developed the theory of "disruptive innovation", which has been called the most influential business idea of the early 21st century. ...

. The World Economic Forum named Hoffmann a Young Global Leader in 2017. Hoffmann is a member of the judging academy of the Global Teacher Prize. He also serves as a jury member for the German Sustainability Award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffmann, Florian 1981 births Living people