Preis Soziale Marktwirtschaft

* 13 August 1909 in Seelow

† 21 December 2011 in Berlin

Founder and visionary

The Hamburg businessman and entrepreneur Prof. Dr. h.c. Werner Otto was born on 13 August 1909 in Seelow (Mark Brandenburg). For Otto, his entrepreneurial work has always been in the foreground, never his person. In addition to his family and health, he considers the creative possibilities of the independent entrepreneur to be his greatest happiness. "Panta rhei" - everything flows, is his motto. "However, anyone who thinks statically and does not dare to take a step forward for fear of making mistakes should not become an entrepreneur," is Otto's conviction.

The nucleus and heart of his business is the mail-order company founded in Hamburg on 17 August 1949. In the 50-year history of the company, Otto Versand has developed into the largest mail order group in the world.

The basis of this unique development was the consistent implementation of Werner Otto's entrepreneurial convictions. His priorities were always a clear innovation-oriented corporate strategy, the development of an efficient management and the consistent multiplication of his own strengths. In this way, he avoided the cardinal mistake of many founding entrepreneurs of considering themselves indispensable in the day-to-day business and getting involved in too many details. Instead, he attached great importance to building up highly qualified management teams capable of acting largely independently and on their own responsibility. In 1981 he handed over the management of Otto Versand to his son Dr. Michael Otto.

It is in Werner Otto's nature to always look to the future and to think in big picture terms. When he founded ECE Projektmanagement in Hamburg at the end of the 1960s, he designed it to be completely independent of Otto Versand in terms of business and personnel, warned by the economic crises of his youth.

Today, ECE is the most important development, building and management company for shopping centres in Europe. In 2000, his son Alexander took over the management of ECE.

Werner Otto has always seen his entrepreneurial scope and his creative possibilities as a social obligation and socio-political task.

In order to be able to help in a targeted and effective way and to alleviate human need, he founded the "Werner Otto Foundation" in 1969. An important project of the Werner Otto Foundation is the scientific treatment centre for childhood cancer at the University Children's Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, which has saved the lives of numerous children suffering from leukaemia.

In 1974, he founded the Werner Otto Institute on the grounds of the Alsterdorf Foundation, Hamburg - the first and so far only specialised facility in northern Germany dedicated exclusively to the early diagnosis and treatment of children and young people with developmental disorders or disabilities.

Every two years, the Werner Otto Foundation Prize for the Promotion of Medical Research is awarded to researchers and doctors working in Hamburg for outstanding scientific achievements. Since 1996 there has been the "Werner Otto Scholarship for the Promotion of Young Medical Scientists at the University of Hamburg".

Werner Otto has also lived up to the principle of social responsibility in other areas, such as the promotion of nature conservation, art and architecture. In his birthplace of Seelow, where the last heavy fighting with 50,000 dead took place at the end of the war, Werner Otto had the church tower rebuilt and the nave renewed.

Werner Otto received various awards and decorations for his entrepreneurial and social commitment, including the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. He is an honorary doctor and honorary senator of the University of Hamburg. The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg has awarded him the honorary title of Professor.

State: 2002

* 26 November 1930 in Stuttgart

† 16 October 2018 in Stuttgart

Leading figure of the industrial middle class

Prof. Dr. Ing. E. h. Berthold Leibinger, Managing Partner of the globally operating TRUMPF Group, was born in Stuttgart on 26 November 1930 as the son of an art dealer in East Asian antiques. After graduating from high school in 1950, he began an apprenticeship as a mechanic at TRUMPF & Co. in Stuttgart, studied mechanical engineering at the Technical University there from 1951 to 1957, graduated as a graduate engineer and returned to TRUMPF as a design engineer. After a two-year stay in the USA, Berthold Leibinger took over the management of TRUMPF's design department in 1961, became Technical Managing Director and shareholder in 1966 and has been Chairman of the Board of TRUMPF GmbH & Co. KG SINCE 1978.

The "Manager-Magazin" wrote: "Without him, TRUMPF would probably never have become what it is today - one of the most flourishing owner-managed companies in the Republic." It was therefore only logical that the magazine included him in its "Hall of Fame". Jürgen Strube wrote in his laudation: "You are an outstanding entrepreneurial personality of our time, a leading figure of the industrial middle class. An entrepreneur who, through his personality, credibility and integrity, stands for what distinguishes family-run companies."

This company, the TRUMPF Group with its headquarters in the Swabian town of Ditzingen near Stuttgart, embodies the spirit of innovation and tradition, of international orientation with firm roots in pietism in the same way that Berthold Leibinger himself is equally committed to his Swabian homeland and modern cutting-edge technology. "It is always the spiritual forces that change the world," is the firm conviction of the engineer who was one of the first to use laser technology as a universal tool for machines. Social competence as well as responsibility for employees and society are a matter of course for this impressive entrepreneurial personality.

As early as the mid-nineties, TRUMPF established an alliance for work that includes extensive job guarantees. For Leibinger, the "limits of growth" are reached when new projects can no longer be financed with own funds. This is another reason why he does not want to take TRUMPF public. The TRUMPF Group, with over 5,700 employees and sales of approximately 1.2 billion euros in more than 20 countries, has long been a leading global high-tech group in the machine tool, laser technology, electronics/medical technology and power tool sectors. The company owes this success to Berthold Leibinger's spirit of optimism, risk-taking and enthusiasm for technical developments and his conviction that technology is part of our culture. Berthold Leibinger stands for the Christian entrepreneur committed to ethical values, who sees no contradiction between economic efficiency and faith, but finds in pietism a secure foundation and a positive attitude to work and life.

Berthold Leibinger was, among other things, President of the Stuttgart Chamber of Industry and Commerce, President of the Association of German Mechanical and Plant Engineers; he advises the state government of Baden-Württemberg as Chairman of the Innovation Advisory Board, is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Stiftung Demoskopie Allensbach and in 1992 founded the non-profit Berthold Leibinger Foundation for the promotion of scientific, cultural, social and ecclesiastical institutions and causes. The TRUMPF Group was and is particularly innovative as the world market leader in the application of laser technology as an industrial manufacturing technique. In this field, the Berthold Leibinger Stiftung awards the Berthold Leibinger Innovationspreis, worth a total of 35,000 euros, every two years.

State: 2003

* 9 December 1927 in Eisenharz

† 5 March 2018 in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe

Responsibility worldwide and for the individual

Helmut O. Maucher was born on 9 December 1927 in Eisenharz in Allgäu. After graduating from high school, he completed a commercial apprenticeship at Nestlé in his birthplace. In 1951, his path led him to Nestlé headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, where, in addition to his professional activities, he simultaneously completed a degree in business administration at the University of Frankfurt.

After holding various positions within the management of Nestlé in Frankfurt, Helmut O. Maucher became Executive Vice President of Nestlé Group Germany in 1975. On 1 October 1980 he was appointed to Switzerland as Executive Vice President of Nestlé S.A. and member of the Executive Committee. In November 1981, he was appointed Delegate of the Board of Directors of Nestlé S.A., Vevey, Switzerland, and from 1 June 1990 to 5 June 1997 he was both Chairman and Delegate of the Board.

On 5 June 1997, he initially resigned as Delegate of the Board of Directors, but continued as its Chairman until 25 May 2000. After relinquishing his mandate as Chairman of the Board, Helmut O. Maucher was appointed Honorary Chairman of Nestlé.

Helmut O. Maucher's time at the top of the Executive Board was marked by an unprecedented rise of Nestlé as the world's largest food company. Numerous national and international honours are an expression of his great authority. Respect and example for employees, accompanied by the company's manifold social, cultural and societal commitments, were and are part of Helmut Maucher's self-image as a guiding figure for responsible corporate management in a global context.

"Incidentally, I gave Ludwig Erhard's book 'Prosperity for All' to my son to read when he was 16, and he understood that this system serves humanity best," is a brief admission by the laureate on the liberal and democratic economic order to which the Konrad Adenauer Foundation also feels particularly committed.

"Without assuming ethical and social responsibility, companies cannot survive in the long run", with this conviction Helmut O. Maucher led "his" company Nestlé to become a global player with a human face.

State: 2004

* 29 July 1940 in Zeulenroda

Virtues and values as the basis for success

Hans B. Bauerfeind was born on 29 July 1940 in Zeulenroda/ Thuringia. After graduating from high school and studying economics in England, France, the United States and South Africa, he completed training as a certified textile engineer at the Institute of Textile Technology in Nottingham (UK).

In 1962 Hans B. Bauerfeind joined the company for the manufacture of medical compression stockings in Darmstadt, which was managed by his father Rudolf, initially as head of the production and development department. With the takeover of Hans Grothe Nachfolger in Kempen, a manufacturer of orthopaedic bandages, Bauerfeind became managing director of Bauerfeind Darmstadt and owner of GROTENA, which he merged in 1978 to form BAUERFEIND GmbH.

From 1984, Bauerfeind founded its own sales companies in Europe and the USA. After reunification, Hans B. Bauerfeind returned with the family business to his home town of Zeulenroda in 1991, where one of the world's most modern production facilities for medical compression stockings was built under his leadership in 1994. Further takeovers followed, including BERKEMANN in Hamburg (specialist shoe manufacturer) and Globus K. Kremendahl in Remscheid (market leader for orthopedic foot products) as well as IPOS PROSTETHIC COMPANY in Lüneburg. In 1997 Bauerfeind founded BAUERFEIND HOLDING, which he transformed into BAUERFEIND AG in 2002, and moved the company headquarters to Zeulenroda.

Since 1 January 2005, the manufacturer of compression stockings, bandages, orthopaedic insoles, orthoses and prostheses has specialised in business areas both nationally and internationally. In the meantime, 1,800 employees worldwide generate a turnover of more than 200 million euros per year at German locations and in many European production and sales facilities as well as overseas. The company is the market leader for bandages and the second largest manufacturer of medical compression stockings in Germany.

Hans B. Bauerfeind not only embodies the successful medium-sized family entrepreneur. He also made an important contribution to the difficult restructuring of the economy and to stable political and social conditions in the young countries. His entrepreneurial decisions are characterised by his attachment to his home state of Thuringia, but above all by his trust in the ability and will to perform of the people in the new federal states.

His outstanding social commitment to regional, popular and top-class sport underlines Hans B. Bauerfeind's view that all success finds its basis in virtues and values such as team spirit, perseverance and the will to perform. His charitable commitment to the reconstruction of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Zeulenroda illustrates the responsibility of entrepreneur Hans B. Bauerfeind for the common good. For this, Hans B. Bauerfeind is awarded the Social Market Economy Prize 2005 of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

State: 2005

* 4 June 1937 in Leipzig

Think about tomorrow today!

Sybill Storz was born in Leipzig in 1937. After completing her education with a focus on foreign languages at a boarding school in French-speaking Switzerland, she began working in the family business at the end of the 1950s alongside her father, company founder Karl Storz.

There, Sybill Storz went through all the departments and got to know the company from the ground up. From the beginning, she devoted herself to both market-oriented and production or technology-oriented areas. Soon after starting in the company, she managed the picking department as well as the system testing department, where the compatibility of the products with the comprehensive product range is checked.

Sybill Storz acquired a complex understanding of a wide variety of company processes as well as a comprehensive knowledge of activities and developments in the relevant markets and accepted the responsibility and challenge that entrepreneurial decisions entail. With the continuous growth of the company, Sybill Storz concentrated her work on the area of sales & marketing, in parallel accompanying the numerous product developments. Already in the seventies and eighties, she pursued the development of a worldwide network of production sites, sales and marketing companies in Europe and North America.

After the death of Dr. med. h. c. Karl Storz in 1996, Sybill Storz took over the management of the Karl Storz Group and continued the successful development and sales policy. Since then, 100 new patents have been registered and the worldwide turnover has increased by about 15 to 20 percent annually.

Karl Storz GmbH & Co KG, founded in 1945, is one of the world's leading suppliers of endoscopes, endoscopic instruments and devices for 15 human medical disciplines. The company offers solutions for veterinary medicine as well as for industrial applications. The company develops, manufactures and distributes all of its own products, setting the tone through visionary design, precise craftsmanship and clinical effectiveness.

In 2006, more than 1,500 employees work at the Karl Storz headquarters; a total of 3,800 people are employed worldwide. Maintaining and expanding quality and innovation leadership with daily work performance is recognised and lived as one of the most important company maxims.

The latest developments are currently presented by the company in the field of digital documentation systems and in the creation of comprehensive operating theatre concepts. These concepts include the integration of the diverse technical equipment in the operating theatre, taking into account medical requirements as well as ergonomic aspects. Sybill Storz attaches great importance to the company's willingness to take up and help shape new technologies. In this way, technical innovations can be made usable for endoscopy or endoscopy can be expanded to include innovative fields of application. Karl Storz's achievements in the company's 60-year history have contributed to the establishment of minimally invasive surgery as a standard medical application.

Sybill Storz's goal is not only to maintain endoscopic technology at this level, but to develop it further in a forward-looking way. She meets these challenges with high personal commitment, responsibility and credibility.

This impressive lifetime achievement was worth it to the Konrad Adenauer Foundation to award Sybill Storz with the Social Market Economy Prize 2006.

State: 2006

* 30 March 1939 in Bielefeld

Artists among entrepreneurs

Arend Oetker was born on 30 March 1939 as the son of a farmer in Bielefeld and grew up with four younger siblings on a manor near Detmold. He is the great-grandson of Dr August Oetker, the founder of the Oetker Group.

After graduating from high school, he completed his military service as a reserve officer and studied business administration and political science in Hamburg, Berlin and Cologne from 1962 to 1966. He received his doctorate in 1967 from Professor Dr. Erich Gutenberg in Cologne with a thesis on the financing of family businesses.

The parts of the Oetker Group taken over by Arend Oetker's mother Ursula Oetker essentially included three companies that had been struggling in the 1960s: the jam factory Schwartauer Werke GmbH & Co. KG, the juice factory Altländer Gold GmbH & Co. and the sewing machine factory Kochs Adler AG. Arend Oetker was faced with the task of taking over this maternal legacy in 1968.

In doing so, Arend Oetker restructured the Schwartau factories, which had been founded in 1899, using thoroughly unconventional methods by concentrating the business on a few offerings that were not taken up by the big food companies at the time. With this concept, Arend Oetker gradually managed to become the market leader in jam, as well as baking and decorative products. Later, fruit and power bars were added.

Arend Oetker had already developed Kochs AG, a manufacturer of typewriters and sewing machines, into a producer of special sewing machines for the textile industry, which he sold after the company was restructured.

The remaining family-owned Schwartau factories formed the basis for Arend Oetker's further activities, which he built up internationally in market niches. From July 1986 to November 1989, he headed the Cologne-based holding company Otto Wolff AG (OW) with 16,000 employees as chairman of the board.

In 1989 he merged his holdings into Dr. Arend Oetker Holding GmbH & Co. in Cologne, which he headed from then on as managing partner. In this company he bundled various business areas such as food/agricultural products, ferry shipping or investment and real estate companies.

In July 1995 he took over the Swiss Hero AG (jams, bars, baby food, fruit juices). With the combination of Hero and Schwartau, the Cologne-based Oetker Group became one of the major players in the food industry in Europe. Arend Oetker thus expanded the internationalisation of the group to a foreign share of two thirds of sales.

State: 2007

* 5 January 1949 in Büdingen

For co-determination with a sense of proportion

Peter Wichtel was born in 1949 in Büdingen (Upper Hesse). After training as a retail salesman, he initially worked in wholesale and retail.

In 1971, he began his professional career at Fraport AG in the personnel social service department. Since 1975, he has been a member of the Works Council, which he chaired on 6 May 2002. Since 2004, he has also been a member of the Supervisory Board of Fraport AG and Chairman of the Personnel Committee.

Peter Wichtel is thus responsible for the co-determination of 12,000 Fraport employees in a decisive position at Fraport AG, the company that operates Frankfurt Airport. Worldwide, the Fraport Group employs about 23,000 people, of whom about 19,000 work in Frankfurt am Main alone, generating a turnover of 2.3 billion euros (as of 2007).

Peter Wichtel symbolises the active, forward-looking side of co-determination as a core component of the German social partnership: he has played a decisive role in shaping the working conditions in the Fraport Group in the interests of the workforce, always keeping an eye on the good of the company and the Frankfurt site.

Peter Wichtel is an example of dialogue-oriented communication between management and staff in order to initiate and drive forward difficult processes, such as the expansion of Frankfurt Airport, which has been decided since December 2007.

In addition to his tireless commitment to the interests of Fraport AG, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation also recognises Peter Wichtel's social commitment. With his work in local politics as head of the town council in the municipality of Obertshausen, Peter Wichtel also assumes responsibility for the common good in his place of residence.

State: 2008

* 4 January 1935 in Stuttgart | * 18 April 1932 in Stuttgart

Siblings, family entrepreneurs, world market leaders

Hans Peter Stihl was born in Stuttgart on 18 April 1932. After graduating from high school, he studied mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Stuttgart. At the beginning of 1960, Hans Peter Stihl joined his father's company Andreas Stihl in Waiblingen. In 1966, he became a member of the management board. After the death of his father, he took over the management of the world's largest manufacturer of power saws with 2,500 employees and an annual turnover of 220 million DM as the sole personally liable partner in 1973.

Eva Mayr-Stihl was born on 4 January 1935. She began her professional career in 1959, a few months before her brother Hans Peter Stihl, also in her father's company. She studied linguistics and business administration in Munich. In 1969, Eva Mayr-Stihl became a member of the Executive Board, where she was initially responsible for marketing and in 1975 for finance and controlling.

In mid-2002, Hans Peter Stihl, as Chairman of the Executive Board of the STIHL Group, and Eva Mayr-Stihl, as his deputy, jointly retired from the operational management of the family-owned company. Hans Peter Stihl has since been Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Group and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of STIHL AG. Eva Mayr-Stihl is his deputy on the Advisory Board and a member of the Supervisory Board. In 2008, the STIHL Group was active in 160 countries and generated a turnover of 2.1 billion euros with more than 11,000 employees worldwide. The company's social benefits are exemplary. Since 1985, employees have had a share in the company's capital through a profit-sharing rights model.

The siblings also assumed socio-political responsibility in various offices. Hans Peter Stihl was particularly involved in association work, as Chairman of the Baden-Württemberg Metal Industry Association (VMI) and Vice-President of the Gesamtverband der Metallindustriellen Arbeitgeberverbände e.V. (Gesamtmetall), as President of the Stuttgart Region Chamber of Industry and Commerce (where he succeeded Berthold Leibinger, winner of the 2003 Social Market Economy Award of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation) and before that as President of the German Association of Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHT) since 1988, to name only the most important offices.

Eva Mayr-Stihl founded the "Andreas-Stihl Foundation" in 1986 together with her husband Robert Mayr. The choice of the foundation's name was made in memory of the founder of the STIHL group of companies, Andreas Stihl. In April 2004, also so that the foundation could be better distinguished from the company, the name was changed to that of the founder. The Eva Mayr-Stihl Foundation is committed to four different purposes: The support of persons who are dependent on the help of others or who are in need through no fault of their own, the promotion of animal welfare, education and training as well as science and research.

State: 2009

* 27 May 1950 in Trier | * 21 April 1927 in Iserlohn | * 27 September 1943 in Kaufbeuren

| † 18 December 2019 in Iserlohn |

The German Social Partnership - Core Component of the Social Market Economy

Regina Görner was born in Trier on 27 May 1950. After graduating from high school, she studied history and social science for the teaching profession at grammar schools at the Ruhr University in Bochum and received her doctorate in 1984. Her professional career began as personal assistant to the Federal Minister and President of the Bundestag, Professor Dr. Rita Süssmuth. Her trade union career began in 1989 as district secretary of the ÖTV Hessen. From 1990 to 1999 Regina Görner was an executive board member of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), and from 1999 to 2004 she was Minister for Women, Labour, Health and Social Affairs in Saarland. Today Regina Görner is an executive member of the executive board of IG Metall and a member of the federal executive board of the CDU. For Regina Görner, trade union work has always meant education and training work. The fact that the DGB today pursues these issues with particular vigour is also due to Regina Görner's commitment.

Jochen F. Kirchhoff was born in Iserlohn on 21 April 1927. After studying mining and mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Clausthal, he received his doctorate in 1953. After working for Deutsche Babcock in Oberhausen and taking over the family business Stephan Witte & Comp. in 1968, he was managing partner of the Kirchhoff Group, one of the leading medium-sized companies in automotive and environmental technology, from 1993 to 2006. From 1983 to 1997, Jochen F. Kirchhoff was President of the Association of the Metal and Electrical Industry and until 2004 President of the North Rhine-Westphalian Employers' Association. Exemplary are Jochen F. Kirchhoff's efforts for the "Alliance for Work", with which the social partnership in Germany was structurally developed further.

Walter Riester was born in Kaufbeuren on 27 September 1943. After training and passing the master craftsman's examination in tiling, he attended the Labour Academy in Frankfurt. He began his trade union career in 1970 as a departmental secretary for youth issues at the DGB district in Stuttgart. He later served as district secretary and district leader of IG Metall, Stuttgart district, before becoming second chairman of IG Metall from 1993 to 1998. From 1998 to 2002 he was Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, and from 2002 to 2009 he was a member of the German Bundestag. Walter Riester's achievements in collective bargaining policy at IG Metall were exemplary for the modernisation course of Germany's largest industrial union.

State: 2010

* 27 May 1950 in Trier | * 21 April 1927 in Iserlohn | * 27 September 1943 in Kaufbeuren

| † 18 December 2019 in Iserlohn |

The German Social Partnership - Core Component of the Social Market Economy

Regina Görner was born in Trier on 27 May 1950. After graduating from high school, she studied history and social science for the teaching profession at grammar schools at the Ruhr University in Bochum and received her doctorate in 1984. Her professional career began as personal assistant to the Federal Minister and President of the Bundestag, Professor Dr. Rita Süssmuth. Her trade union career began in 1989 as district secretary of the ÖTV Hessen. From 1990 to 1999 Regina Görner was an executive board member of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), and from 1999 to 2004 she was Minister for Women, Labour, Health and Social Affairs in Saarland. Today Regina Görner is an executive member of the executive board of IG Metall and a member of the federal executive board of the CDU. For Regina Görner, trade union work has always meant education and training work. The fact that the DGB today pursues these issues with particular vigour is also due to Regina Görner's commitment.

Jochen F. Kirchhoff was born in Iserlohn on 21 April 1927. After studying mining and mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Clausthal, he received his doctorate in 1953. After working for Deutsche Babcock in Oberhausen and taking over the family business Stephan Witte & Comp. in 1968, he was managing partner of the Kirchhoff Group, one of the leading medium-sized companies in automotive and environmental technology, from 1993 to 2006. From 1983 to 1997, Jochen F. Kirchhoff was President of the Association of the Metal and Electrical Industry and until 2004 President of the North Rhine-Westphalian Employers' Association. Exemplary are Jochen F. Kirchhoff's efforts for the "Alliance for Work", with which the social partnership in Germany was structurally developed further.

Walter Riester was born in Kaufbeuren on 27 September 1943. After training and passing the master craftsman's examination in tiling, he attended the Labour Academy in Frankfurt. He began his trade union career in 1970 as a departmental secretary for youth issues at the DGB district in Stuttgart. He later served as district secretary and district leader of IG Metall, Stuttgart district, before becoming second chairman of IG Metall from 1993 to 1998. From 1998 to 2002 he was Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, and from 2002 to 2009 he was a member of the German Bundestag. Walter Riester's achievements in collective bargaining policy at IG Metall were exemplary for the modernisation course of Germany's largest industrial union.

State: 2010

* 27 May 1950 in Trier | * 21 April 1927 in Iserlohn | * 27 September 1943 in Kaufbeuren

| † 18 December 2019 in Iserlohn |

The German Social Partnership - Core Component of the Social Market Economy

Regina Görner was born in Trier on 27 May 1950. After graduating from high school, she studied history and social science for the teaching profession at grammar schools at the Ruhr University in Bochum and received her doctorate in 1984. Her professional career began as personal assistant to the Federal Minister and President of the Bundestag, Professor Dr. Rita Süssmuth. Her trade union career began in 1989 as district secretary of the ÖTV Hessen. From 1990 to 1999 Regina Görner was an executive board member of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), and from 1999 to 2004 she was Minister for Women, Labour, Health and Social Affairs in Saarland. Today Regina Görner is an executive member of the executive board of IG Metall and a member of the federal executive board of the CDU. For Regina Görner, trade union work has always meant education and training work. The fact that the DGB today pursues these issues with particular vigour is also due to Regina Görner's commitment.

Jochen F. Kirchhoff was born in Iserlohn on 21 April 1927. After studying mining and mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Clausthal, he received his doctorate in 1953. After working for Deutsche Babcock in Oberhausen and taking over the family business Stephan Witte & Comp. in 1968, he was managing partner of the Kirchhoff Group, one of the leading medium-sized companies in automotive and environmental technology, from 1993 to 2006. From 1983 to 1997, Jochen F. Kirchhoff was President of the Association of the Metal and Electrical Industry and until 2004 President of the North Rhine-Westphalian Employers' Association. Exemplary are Jochen F. Kirchhoff's efforts for the "Alliance for Work", with which the social partnership in Germany was structurally developed further.

Walter Riester was born in Kaufbeuren on 27 September 1943. After training and passing the master craftsman's examination in tiling, he attended the Labour Academy in Frankfurt. He began his trade union career in 1970 as a departmental secretary for youth issues at the DGB district in Stuttgart. He later served as district secretary and district leader of IG Metall, Stuttgart district, before becoming second chairman of IG Metall from 1993 to 1998. From 1998 to 2002 he was Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, and from 2002 to 2009 he was a member of the German Bundestag. Walter Riester's achievements in collective bargaining policy at IG Metall were exemplary for the modernisation course of Germany's largest industrial union.

State: 2010

* 21 September 1953 in Geseke

"Where the Spirit of the Lord works, there is freedom".

Reinhard Marx was born on 21 September 1953 in Geseke, Westphalia. After graduating from high school in 1972, he studied theology and philosophy in Paderborn, Paris, Münster and Bochum. He was ordained a priest in Paderborn in 1979. From 1981 to 1986 Reinhard Marx was spiritual rector and from 1996 director of the social institute "Kommende des Erzbistums Paderborn". He received his doctorate in theology in 1989 with a dissertation on "Is the Church Different?: Possibilities and Limits of a Sociological Approach". From 1996 to 2002, he was professor for Christian social teaching at the Faculty of Theology in Paderborn. In 1996, he was consecrated bishop by Archbishop Dr. Johannes Joachim Degenhardt in the High Cathedral of Paderborn on 21 September. The appointment as Episcopal Vicar for Society, Culture and Science in 1997 was followed four years later by the appointment as Bishop of Trier, into which office Reinhard Marx was inaugurated on 1 April 2002. On 2 February 2008, Reinhard Marx was inaugurated as Archbishop of Munich and Freising, and on 20 October 2010, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Cardinal.

Reinhard Marx's many special tasks include his appointment to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the chairmanship of the Commission for Societal and Social Issues of the German Bishops' Conference. He is also a member of the advisory board of Ordo Socialis - Wissenschaftliche Vereinigung zur Förderung der Christlichen Gesellschaftslehre e.V. and one of the most profound experts on Catholic social teaching. His contributions, such as the book Das Kapital. Ein Plädoyer für den Menschen (Capital: A Plea for the Human Being), which was published in 2010, have dominated public discussion and provided impulses for economic and socio-political policy. The motto of his episcopate, "Ubi spiritus Domini ibi libertas - Where the Spirit of the Lord works, there is freedom" (2 Cor 3:17), is an expression of his special understanding of freedom, which is also a credit to the social market economy.

Among other things, Reinhard Marx said: "With this word from 2 Corinthians, I wanted to make it clear that freedom is the essential theme of our faith. [...] In the modern world, faith has been assumed to go hand in hand with a loss of freedom. But the opposite is the case. Freedom is the prerequisite for responsibility and love."

State: 2011

* 20 August 1946 in Reutlingen

Global business leader with regional roots

Dr. rer. nat. Jürgen Hambrecht, born in Reutlingen in 1946, is married and has four children. He received his doctorate in chemistry from the University of Tübingen in 1975. Hambrecht worked for BASF for more than 35 years in various fields of responsibility worldwide, most recently as Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors from 2003 until his retirement in May 2011. Hambrecht is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Fuchs Petrolub AG and a member of the Supervisory Boards of Daimler AG and Lufthansa AG. In 2013 Hambrecht will take over as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Trumpf Group.

State: 2013

* 30 November 1962 in Essen

Family business with tradition and future

Heinrich Otto Deichmann not only studied business administration in Cologne, but also listened to theology, philosophy and history. In 1989 he joined his father's company and took over its operational management in 1999. In addition to expanding the market position in Germany, he also pushed ahead intensively with international expansion. Today, the group employs over 35,000 people worldwide and achieved a turnover of around 4.6 billion euros (gross) in 2013.

Heinrich Deichmann gave essential impulses to the development of the company, which are an important part of the success of the group of companies today.

In addition to expanding the market position in Germany, he drove international expansion. Furthermore, he consistently paid attention to the verticalisation of procurement. Under his leadership, from 1995 onwards, DEICHMANN was the first shoe retailer in Germany to rely extensively on television advertising and "celebrities" (e.g. Cindy Crawford, Halle Berry).

Like his grandfather and father, Heinrich Deichmann's decisions are guided not only by economic expertise but also by his fundamental Christian convictions. For 35 years, the company has supported large development aid projects in India and Africa, but is also socially active with aid projects in Europe and specifically in Germany. Heinrich Deichmann not only preserves this commitment, but continuously develops it. For example, he has launched an aid project in Moldova with local partners, but also supports a project for the homeless in Duisburg and an initiative for family assistance in Dortmund's Nordstadt.

State: 2014

* 15. August 1942 in Oldsum on the island of Föhr

Entrepreneur with courage and foresight

Friede Springer was born in Oldsum/Föhr in 1942. She was married to the publisher Axel Springer (1912 - 1985) from 1978 to 1985 and is the founder of the Friede Springer Foundation (2010) and the Friede Springer Heart Foundation (2004). She is Deputy Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board of Axel Springer AG, Managing Director of Axel Springer Gesellschaft für Publizistik GmbH & Co. and Chairwoman of the Board of the Friede Springer Foundation.

Friede Springer is distinguished by a wide range of voluntary activities: Among others, as Chairwoman of the Friends of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, member of the Board of Trustees of the German Society, member of the Board of Friends and Patrons of the German State Opera Berlin and member of the Board of Trustees of the Friends of the Prussian Palaces and Gardens as well as member of the Board of Trustees of the Axel Springer Prize for Young Journalists.

State: 2015

* 1944

Family entrepreneur with courage and social commitment

Brigitte Vöster-Alber was born in 1944. Since 1968, she has been managing partner of GEZE GmbH, a leading global supplier of door, window and safety technology systems based in Leonberg near Stuttgart.

Brigitte Vöster-Alber is characterised by a wide range of voluntary activities: She is a member of the board of trustees of the Olgäle Foundation for the Sick Child in Stuttgart, the House of History in Stuttgart and the Foundation for the Promotion of the Semper Opera in Dresden. She is also an economic senator of the European Economic Senate (EES), a member of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the Family Business Network (FBN). In 2009, she was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon; in 2013, she became the first woman in the history of the city to be made an honorary citizen of Leonberg.

State: 2016

Founded: 14. August 2006 in Berlin

Successful for bureaucracy reduction and better regulation

"The overall responsibility for the coordination of bureaucracy reduction and better regulation within the Federal Government lies with the responsible Minister of State at the Federal Chancellor's Office. He is supported by the State Secretaries' Committee on Bureaucracy Reduction and, at the operational level, by the Bureaucracy Reduction Office in the Federal Chancellery.

The task of the National Regulatory Control Council (NKR) as an independent body is to check whether the follow-up cost calculations of the federal ministries in draft laws and ordinances are plausible and comprehensible. The NKR advises the Federal Government on matters of cost transparency and cost containment as well as on improving legislation. In accordance with its legal mandate, the National Regulatory Council is an independent advisor and at the same time a controller. It works to ensure that bureaucracy and cost burdens for citizens, business and administration are sustainably limited or reduced. Better regulation and bureaucracy reduction affect all levels of government. For this reason, the NKR is in dialogue with all those involved in the legislative process, in particular the Federal Government and the ministries, the Bundestag and Bundesrat, the Länder and municipalities, as well as associations."

State: 2017

* 19 November 1963 in Dernbach

Pioneer of German IT entrepreneurship

Ralph Dommermuth was born in Dernbach on 19 November 1963. After completing his secondary education at the commercial school in Dernbach and training as a bank clerk at Deutsche Bank, Dommermuth worked as a freelancer for a PC retailer from 1983 to 1988.

In 1988 he founded 1&1 Marketing GmbH, which became a partner of Deutsche Telekom in 1992 and sold their internet access. From 1996 onwards, Dommermuth focused his company on developing its own Internet applications. In 1998 he brought 1&1 to the Frankfurt stock exchange as the first Internet company and reorganised it in 2000 to form United Internet AG. Today, United Internet AG unites fifteen internet companies under its umbrella, including GMX and WEB.DE in addition to 1&1. As CEO, Dommermuth made United Internet AG a leading European internet specialist.

Ralph Dommermuth's social commitment is also exemplary. For example, the United Internet for UNICEF Foundation, which he founded in 2006, has already raised over 40 million euros in online donations for worldwide UNICEF projects thanks to innovative marketing. The Westerwelle Foundation, which he co-founded in 2013, strengthens democracy and sustainable development and promotes founders in Africa and throughout the world. As part of the Ralph and Judith Dommermuth Foundation, Dommermuth founded the network "Wir(tschaft) zusammen", or "We Together" for short, in 2016. The network now includes more than 200 companies that are committed to the participation and integration of refugees. In this sense, Ralph Dommermuth stands in an exemplary manner for the consolidation of the social market economy in the digital and global age.

State: 2018

* 19 April 1951 in Laucha an der Unstrut

With foresight to the world market leader

Gunter Heise was born on 19 April 1951 in Laucha an der Unstrut. After studying processing and process engineering at the Technical University of Dresden in the field of food technology, Gunter Heise joined the VEB (Volkseigener Betrieb) Rotkäppchen sparkling wine cellars as a graduate engineer in 1973, where he became technical manager in 1978.

In 1991, Heise became managing director of the Rotkäppchen sparkling wine cellars under the Treuhand. After a management buyout with four other employees and Harald Eckes-Chantré, Gunter Heise was managing partner and spokesman for the management from 1993 to 2013. Since 2013, Gunter Heise has been a shareholder and chairman of the advisory board of the Rotkäppchen-Mumm sparkling wine cellars.

Thanks to his entrepreneurial foresight and the successful takeover of Seagram Deutschland (2002, including Mumm, Jules Mumm, MM Extra), Geldermann Privatsektkellerei GmbH (2003), Eckes Spirituosen & Wein GmbH (2006) and Blanchet (2009), the tradition-rich sparkling wine house developed under his leadership from a crisis-ridden former Volkseigene Betrieb into the all-German market leader.

With his commitment, for example, to the restoration of the Eifert organ in St. Mary's Church in Laucha an der Unstrut and his support of regional associations, Heise is also an example of the responsible entrepreneur and the consolidation of the social market economy in reunified Germany.

State: 2019

* 2 December 1949 in Siegen | * 23 October 1981 | * 21 February 1984 in Kreuztal

Dipl.-Ing. ETH Axel E. Barten, born on 2 December 1949 in Siegen, took over the management of the traditional and owner-managed family business Achenbach Buschhütten in 1981 in the seventh generation. Under his leadership, he initiated groundbreaking technical developments and the establishment of international markets, which have contributed to the company's current status as a "hidden champion" and world market leader for foil rolling mills, rolling mill automation, single-roll oil filtration and exhaust air purification systems as well as foil slitting machines.

His son André E. Barten, born on 23 October 1981, has been managing the company in the eighth generation since 2012 and, together with his father and the works council chairman Daniel Wollny, born on 21 February 1984 in Kreuztal, is driving the digitalisation processes of the company forward. The management and staff of Achenbach Buschhütten take responsibility for the company, the region and future generations. In this way, they demonstrate in an exemplary way how social partnership in practice in the digital industrial age combines innovation, responsibility and sustainability.

State: 2021

* 2 December 1949 in Siegen | * 23 October 1981 | * 21 February 1984 in Kreuztal

Dipl.-Ing. ETH Axel E. Barten, born on 2 December 1949 in Siegen, took over the management of the traditional and owner-managed family business Achenbach Buschhütten in 1981 in the seventh generation. Under his leadership, he initiated groundbreaking technical developments and the establishment of international markets, which have contributed to the company's current status as a "hidden champion" and world market leader for foil rolling mills, rolling mill automation, single-roll oil filtration and exhaust air purification systems as well as foil slitting machines.

His son André E. Barten, born on 23 October 1981, has been managing the company in the eighth generation since 2012 and, together with his father and the works council chairman Daniel Wollny, born on 21 February 1984 in Kreuztal, is driving the digitalisation processes of the company forward. The management and staff of Achenbach Buschhütten take responsibility for the company, the region and future generations. In this way, they demonstrate in an exemplary way how social partnership in practice in the digital industrial age combines innovation, responsibility and sustainability.

State: 2021

* 2 December 1949 in Siegen | * 23 October 1981 | * 21 February 1984 in Kreuztal

Dipl.-Ing. ETH Axel E. Barten, born on 2 December 1949 in Siegen, took over the management of the traditional and owner-managed family business Achenbach Buschhütten in 1981 in the seventh generation. Under his leadership, he initiated groundbreaking technical developments and the establishment of international markets, which have contributed to the company's current status as a "hidden champion" and world market leader for foil rolling mills, rolling mill automation, single-roll oil filtration and exhaust air purification systems as well as foil slitting machines.

His son André E. Barten, born on 23 October 1981, has been managing the company in the eighth generation since 2012 and, together with his father and the works council chairman Daniel Wollny, born on 21 February 1984 in Kreuztal, is driving the digitalisation processes of the company forward. The management and staff of Achenbach Buschhütten take responsibility for the company, the region and future generations. In this way, they demonstrate in an exemplary way how social partnership in practice in the digital industrial age combines innovation, responsibility and sustainability.

State: 2021

* 04 July 1987 in Bietigheim-Bissingen

Passion in the fourth generation

Sarna Röser, born in 1987, is an entrepreneur, supervisory board member and, since 2018, federal chairwoman of DIE FAMILIENUNTERNEHMER e.V.'s YOUNG ENTERPRISES and, in this position, represents over 1,500 young family and owner-managed businesses in Germany. She has also been Deputy Chair of the Ludwig Erhard Foundation since 2020.

Furthermore, Sarna Röser is the designated successor of her father Jürgen Röser, who is Managing Partner of the family-owned company Zementrohr- und Betonwerke Karl Röser & Sohn GmbH in Mundelsheim, founded in 1923. She is a member of the Managing Board of Röser FAM GmbH & Co. KG, a company belonging to the family group, as well as co-partner of the investment company FAIR VC GmbH, which holds participations in start-up companies. Sarna Röser represents the fourth generation of the Röser group of companies.

Since 2009, Sarna Röser has also been involved in the Social Angels Foundation, which was honoured by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth as one of Germany's lighthouse projects. In July 2020, Sarna Röser was elected to the Supervisory Board of Fielmann AG. Furthermore, she sits on the advisory board of Deutsche Bank and is involved in the board of the Wertekommission - Initiative Werte Bewusste Führung e. V. and since 2021 in the advisory board of the Coding School 42 of the Dieter Schwarz Foundation.

State: 2022