Holger has served as Chief of Staff to the President since 2012. In this role, he is responsible for managing and supervising key committees of the university, including the Supervisory Board, Board of Trustees, Hertie School Leadership, Academic Senate, and Faculty. He is closely involved in the School’s strategic development plans as well as in all major projects of the President. In addition, he works on institutional partnerships and networking activities of the Hertie School and serves as the main liaison to the Berlin Senate and to the School’s major donor, the Hertie Foundation. His responsibilities also include the supervision and coordination of quality management and accreditation matters. The unit for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is situated within the Office of the President. Finally, Holger oversees the overall management of the Office of the President, including budget and personnel.
Before joining the Hertie School, he worked as Programme Manager for the Master in European Business at the international business school ESCP Europe (2007–2012). From 2002 to 2004, he coordinated the section “Methods in Political Science” within the project Politikwissenschaft Online (Political Science Online), funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
Holger holds a doctorate in social sciences from the University of Mannheim, where he wrote his PhD thesis on “Universitäre Lehrprojekte aus organisations- und handlungstheoretischer Perspektive – Fallstudie am Beispiel des Projektes PolitikON”. He received a scholarship from the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung to complete his doctorate. From 2012 to 2017, he pursued a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Higher Education and Research Management at the University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück. Holger also holds a Diploma in Political Science from the University of Bamberg (2001) and a Bachelor’s degree in Politics from the University of Hertfordshire (1999).
