Born in Ulm in 1963
married
three children

Education and career:

• 1982 – 1988 Student of Islamic studies (Arabic, Persian, Turkish) and Political Science in Freiburg im Breisgau
• 1984 – 1985 Year’s scholarship from the DAAD in Damascus to study the Arabic language
• 1990 – 1991 Editorial traineeship at the newspaper Heilbronner Stimme
• 1991 – 1993 Trained as a Goethe-Institut instructor in Munich, Prien, Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire)
• 1993 – 1994 Goethe-Institut instructor (teacher of German as a foreign language) at the Goethe-Institut Prien
• 1994 – 1995 Language course consultant at the Goethe-Institut Riga (Latvia)
• 1995 – 1997 Deputy head of the Public Relations division at the Munich head office of the Goethe-Institut
• 1997 – 2002 Director of the Goethe-Institut Kiev (Ukraine)
• 2002 – 2007 Director of the Goethe-Institut Cairo/Alexandria (Egypt) and Goethe-Institut Regional Director Middle East/North Africa
• 2007 – 2012 Director of the Goethe-Institut Moscow (Russia) and Goethe-Institut Regional Director Eastern Europe/Central Asia
• since 1 March 2012 Secretary-General of the Goethe-Institut