Board of trustees

The Foundation’s Board of Directors – and therefore its most important body – exercises control functions and votes on important decisions.

The Board of Trustees is responsible in particular for the following tasks:

Representation of the Foundation (§ 6 of the foundation statutes)

The Foundation is represented in and out of court by the Board of Trustees, which is represented by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees together with one of his deputies or jointly by two of the deputies of the Chairman.

The Board of Trustees shall be represented by two of the Vice-Chairmen only if the Chairman is unable to attend.

The composition of the board of trustees

Chairman of the Board of Trustees

Prof. Dr. Kai Niebert
President Deutscher Naturschutzring (DNR)

Vice Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees

Prof. Dr. Katharina Reuter
Managing Director BNW Bundesverband Nachhaltige Wirtschaft e. V.


Dr. Beate Baron
Director-General, Industrial Policy, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy




Jakob Blankenburg
Member of the German Bundestag




Prof. Dr. Antje Boetius
President and CEO
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), U.S.A.




Harald Ebner
Member of the German Bundestag
Chairman of the Committee on the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection in the German Bundestag

Prof. Dr. Christiane Hipp
President of the European University of Flensburg

Dr. Silke Launert
Member of the German Bundestag, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Research, Technology and Space


Dr. Sabine Mauderer
Vice President of the Deutsche Bundesbank


Wilhelm Mauß
Managing Director Lorenz GmbH & Co. KG

Christian Meyer
Minister for the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection of Lower Saxony

Carsten Müller
Member of the German Bundestag

Dennis Rohde
Member of the German Bundestag, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Finance Supports the Minister

Christoph Schmitz-Dethlefsen
Member of the ver.di Federal Executive Board

Prof. Dr. Karsten Wesche
Site Director of the Senckenberg Museum für Naturkunde Görlitz Head of Section Phanerogamen I and Professor of Plant Biodiversity at the Technical University of Dresden

Dr. Christine Wilcken
Directorate-General W, Water Management, Water Protection, Marine Protection, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety