The former state minister will succeed long-time BDE President Peter Kurth on June 1, 2024.

 

The general meeting of the BDE Federal Association of the German Waste Management, Water and Environmental Service Industries elected the 46-year-old political scientist and former environment minister from Thuringia as the new BDE president at its recent general meeting in Berlin. Peter Kurth has headed the BDE since 2008 and took over the role of Managing President in 2009. His successor, who comes from Gera, will not take up her new post until June 1, 2024, due to Thuringia's waiting period regulations. She will thus be the first woman to hold this office and the first East German to head the federal association. Siegesmund has been a member of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen since 2002 and was first appointed Thuringia's minister for the environment, energy and nature conservation and deputy prime minister in Thuringia on Dec. 5, 2014. In December 2022, she announced that she would step down from her political posts on January 31, 2023, to pursue a new career. On the occasion of her election as BDE President, Siegesmund said, "I would like to thank the members of the BDE for their trust. I am very much looking forward to starting my work as president of the association. I will build on what has been tried and tested and initiate new things." She especially thanked Peter Kurth for his services and emphasized that he had developed the BDE into a raw materials association. As the new BDE president, she said, she wanted to work shoulder-to-shoulder with the federal and European levels to make the circular economy strong as the key climate and raw materials issue and looked forward to working with BDE member companies to build a sustainable economy.
 

Sources:

• umweltwirtschaft.com (May 26, 2023)
• packaging-journal.de (May 31, 2023)
• Photo: © BDE/Olaf Klein