Dunja Hayali
Boardrooms and town halls increasingly stage conversations they cannot control: polarised audiences, contested facts, senior figures under pressure. The wrong chair lets the format drift into spin, defensiveness or conflict. The right one holds the room, asks the question everyone is waiting for, and protects the integrity of the exchange.
Dunja Hayali is a ZDF news anchor and moderator who chairs high-stakes corporate, political and broadcast conversations where neutrality, preparation and composure under pressure determine the outcome.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Dunja Hayali
- A working anchor on ZDF’s flagship heute-journal and main presenter of ZDF-Morgenmagazin, which means boards and conference organisers are hiring the same journalistic judgement that reaches millions of German viewers every morning.
- Trained to interview politicians, CEOs and activists on live television without losing the thread, an asset when a panel includes genuinely opposing positions or a keynote speaker the room wants pressed.
- Carries public recognition for civic engagement, including the Bundesverdienstkreuz and the Goldene Kamera Integration award, which signals to international audiences that the chair on stage has standing beyond the broadcast booth.
- Works fluently in German and English, useful for DAX-30, EU-level and cross-border corporate forums that need a single moderator across languages.
- Author of “Haymatland” (Ullstein, 2018), a published argument on belonging, migration and social cohesion that she can draw on directly when a brief calls for substantive contribution as well as stage craft.
Biography highlights
- Main presenter, ZDF-Morgenmagazin (since 2010); joined the heute-journal presenting team in 2023.
- Former host, “dunja hayali” talk show on ZDF (2017-2020), and co-presenter of das aktuelle sportstudio (2018-2023).
- Recipient of the Bundesverdienstkreuz (Federal Cross of Merit, 2018) for engagement against racism and online hate.
- Goldene Kamera 2016, Integration category.
- Author, “Haymatland: Wie wollen wir zusammenleben?” (Ullstein, 2018); co-author, “Ist’ was, Dog?” (Ullstein, 2014).
- UNICEF supporter and active with the initiative “Gesicht Zeigen! Fuer ein weltoffenes Deutschland”.
Biography
Live television is where reputations get made or broken in real time. For most of the last two decades, Dunja Hayali has been one of the German journalists entrusted with that responsibility, first on ZDF’s morning news strand and now also on the evening flagship heute-journal.
That role is the anchor of her speaking work. When a corporate conference, political forum or industry gala books her, they are not buying a keynote lecture. They are buying the same interviewer who questions ministers before breakfast and the same composure that keeps a studio conversation on track when a guest tries to pull it elsewhere.
Her publishing and civic work give that stage presence a specific edge. “Haymatland” (Ullstein, 2018) sets out her thinking on migration, belonging and social cohesion, drawing on her own Iraqi-German background. The Bundesverdienstkreuz followed in 2018 for her public stand against racism and online abuse, recognition anchored by her long association with Gesicht Zeigen! and UNICEF.
The practical case for organisations is narrow and strong. When an event puts senior leaders, politicians or campaigners on the same panel and the room will not settle for bland, Hayali is one of the few moderators in the German market with the journalistic standing, bilingual reach and on-stage authority to run it cleanly.
Key speaking topics
- Live event moderation and panel chairing
- Political and current affairs interviews
- Media, journalism and public discourse
- Social cohesion, integration and belonging
- Civic engagement and countering online hate
- Sport and public broadcasting
- Bilingual (German / English) corporate moderation
Ideal for
- Corporate and industry conferences needing a senior moderator for keynotes, panels and plenaries with politicians, CEOs or regulators in the room.
- Award ceremonies, galas and anniversary events that require an anchor-grade host rather than an entertainer.
- CSR, DEI and civic-themed summits where the moderator’s own public record on integration and anti-racism adds credibility.
- Bilingual German / English forums in DAX-30, EU policy and cross-border corporate settings.
Audience outcomes
- Conversations that stay on the agenda the organiser actually wanted, including the difficult questions.
- Senior speakers handled with the same level of preparation and follow-up they would expect from a flagship news interview.
- A neutral, credible chair presence that lets sensitive topics (migration, political polarisation, corporate controversy) be discussed without tipping into spectacle.
- Clear narrative threading across a multi-speaker programme, so that plenaries, panels and Q and A feel like one event rather than a sequence of slots.