Christoph Meineke

Christoph Meineke
In office January 1, 2007 – September 31, 2021
Preceded by	first directly elected mayor
Personal details
Born	March 13, 1979 Hanover, Germany
Nationality	Germany
Political party	Independent
Alma mater	Vienna University of Economics
Profession	Economist
Website	Bürgermeisterblog.de (German)

Christoph Meineke (* March 13, 1979 in Hanover) is a German non-party politician and since January 2007 the first directly elected strong mayor of the municipality of Wennigsen (Deister).

Career

In September 2006, Meineke became the youngest full-time mayor elected in Germany.^[1] Meineke is the first mayor in Northern Germany, who ran for and won a direct election for mayor as an independent candidate without the support of a political party or initiative of voters. His election made headlines on a national level and to this day is used as a reference non-party politics in Germany.^[2][3][4]

Meineke is a member of the presidium of the League of Cities of Lower Saxony ("Niedersächsischer Städtetag") and of the Innovators Club of the German Association of Cities and Municipalities, and has developed a particular expertise on leveraging technology (such as Web 2.0 capabilities) in local politics. He was also a member of the working committee of the highly renowned Reinhard-Mohn-Price (formerly known as the Carl-Bertelsmann-Price), judging world wide projects on democracy and participation.^[5] He established citizen participation programs in his city and received awards like the first German "Award for Digital Participation" in 2012 or got nominated for the German sustainability award in the category 'Governance and Administration'.

Background

After graduating from the Matthias-Claudius-Gymnasium in Gehrden, Meineke studied economics at the Vienna University of Economics, the University of St. Gallen and the Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen. He is currently also working toward a doctorate degree in economics under Prof. Birger Priddat at Witten/Herdecke University. In 2012, he completed the Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

Publications

Kommunalwahlkampf 2.0 (Municipal elections 2.0 experiences and tips), in: F.-R. Habbel/A.Huber (Hrsg.): Web 2.0 für Kommunen und Kommunalpolitik, Boizenburg: Verlag Werner Hülsbusch, 2008. (In German)

References

1. "Menschen bei Maischberger - Menschen bei Maischberger - ARD | Das Erste". Daserste.de. Retrieved 2013-02-07.
2. "Politik an der Basis: Wie vom Himmel gefallen - Inland". FAZ. 2011-03-11. Retrieved 2013-02-07.
3. "Deutschlandfunk - Campus & Karriere • Magazin für Hochschule und Karriere". Dradio.de. Retrieved 2013-02-07.
4. "brand eins Online: "Berufswunsch: Bürgermeister" - brand eins 11/2006 - SCHWERPUNKT: Vorurteile". Brandeins.de. Retrieved 2013-02-07.
5. "Reinhard Mohn Prize 2011 | Vitalizing Democracy through Participation". Vitalizing-democracy.org. Retrieved 2013-02-07.