Ferdinand Habsburg appointed Secretary General of ACN International
Former Red Bull executive joins ACN following a successful international career in the media and education sector.
The pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need-International (ACN) has announced the appointment of Ferdinand Habsburg as its Secretary General. The appointment was formally made by Executive President Regina Lynch January 13 and follows the appointment by Pope Leo XIV of Cardinal Kurt Koch as the President of ACN International in November 2025.
Habsburg, an Austrian national, is 60 years old, married and has three adult children. He was raised in Zurich, Switzerland, where he completed his Swiss Matura at the Benedictine monastery school of Einsiedeln. His first contact with ACN dates to 1985, when he spent one year working for the Coptic Catholic Patriarchate in Cairo, Egypt, an ACN project partner.
He later moved to Berlin, Germany, for his university studies, completing a master’s degree in German Literature, International Relations and Anthropology. After graduating, he pursued a successful career in media and marketing, working for, among others, the Pay TV department of Bertelsmann, as an agency executive for Procter & Gamble, and as Head of TV for Red Bull.
In 2007, Habsburg founded Da Vinci Media, a company specializing in educational and family-oriented content for Europe, Asia and Africa. He joined ACN in September 2025 as Director for Communications and Fundraising.
Commenting on the appointment, Regina Lynch said:
“During the time that I and the rest of the management have worked with Ferdinand Habsburg, we have come to appreciate his great analytical and strategic mind, his capacity to listen and create synergies, his extensive business experience and his deep love for our mission.”
Habsburg stated:
“I am deeply grateful for the trust placed in me by the Administrative Council of ACN. At a time when our Christian brothers and sisters are being persecuted in many parts of the world, the mission of ACN to support the suffering and persecuted Church is more relevant than ever.”
As Secretary General, Habsburg is responsible for financial oversight and the monitoring of ACN’s budget; project management and the use of funds; preventing mission drift; communication and marketing development; supporting ACN’s 24 national offices in their development, and strategic thinking and vision.
He succeeds Philipp Ozores, who, after 12 years of dedicated service, chose to step down from the position in order to devote himself fully to personal and family projects, including the continued management of his family’s historic Dr. Bürklin-Wolf winery.
“In his time here, Philipp Ozores was responsible for initiating and accompanying years of significant growth for ACN, during which our capacity to support the suffering and persecuted Church almost doubled,” said Lynch. “We are deeply grateful to him for all that he has done for the foundation.”
Aid to the Church in Need is a pontifical charity with national sections in 24 countries across Europe, Asia, Oceania, Latin America and North America. Its mission is to support the Church in situations of material and spiritual need, including extreme poverty and persecution. In 2024 the foundation funded 5,335 projects in 138 countries. ACN also publishes a landmark Religious Freedom in the World Report, which is the only non-governmental survey which covers all religions, all over the world.
–Maria Lozano / Filipe d’Avillez
