Berlin, 5 August 2025.

The search and rescue organisation SOS Humanity has a new additional general director: on 1 July 2025, Nina Geisler joined the management of the German emergency aid organisation, founded in 2015, with her numerous years of experience in humanitarian work. She previously worked for ‘Aktion Deutschland Hilft’, afterwards for ‘Aktion gegen den Hunger’, where she most recently headed the editorial and digital department. Together with Till Rummenhohl, sole managing director of SOS Humanity until June this year, Nina Geisler wants to overcome the increasing hurdles facing the search and rescue organisation:   

“The challenges for non-governmental search and rescue are growing in all areas: financing, political conditions and the implementation of our life-saving missions,” says the new co-managing director Nina Geisler. “I am honestly shocked at how far the obstruction of search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean has gone by now. It is inhumane. From over a decade of humanitarian work, I know how important it is to observe and act. That is why I am committed to raising public awareness of this human catastrophe. The deaths at Europe’s external borders must stop!”   

“I am delighted to have Nina Geisler at my side, an experienced expert in communication and fundraising in humanitarian aid,” explains Till Rummenhohl, who has been responsible for ship operations since the beginning of 2022 and additionally for the general management since June 2023. “The tasks have grown further this year, not least in the financing of search and rescue operations. In addition, the humanitarian emergency in the Mediterranean and our life-saving work are receiving less public attention. Together, we will now be able to tackle the challenges ahead even more effectively.”  

Since its foundation in 2015, the non-profit organisation has rescued over 38,500 people from distress at sea.