People from Politics and Society

Sarah Kumpf

Journalist

Sarah Kumpf works as a freelance ­journalist, moderator, media trainer and coach. After training at Radio Bremen, she spent a year as an ARD radio correspondent in Washington (USA). On completing her Masters in Media and Communication Sciences, she moved from Dortmund to the Hanseatic City in 2007. “Bremen made my arrival easy,” she says. Her former professor describes her as rather strict. But in the end she learned a lot during her studies. “An experience I wouldn’t want to have missed.”

 

Carsten Sieling

Mayor of Bremen

Dr. Carsten Sieling has been the Mayor of Bremen since July 2015. Previously, the now 59-year-old, held other political offices. He was a member of the Bremen Parliament and represented Bremen in the German Bundestag. Sieling is an alumnus of the University of ­Bremen. The SPD politician studied economics here from 1982 to 1988 and in 1999, after ­various other career stages, he wrote his dissertation on regional structural policy. Carsten Sieling is married and has three children. He likes to cycle to work. 

Anne-Kathrin Laufmann

CSR Director of Werder Bremen

Anne-Kathrin Laufmann organizes activities in the area of social commitment for the sports club SV Werder Bremen. As CSR director (Corporate Social Responsibility), she and her team have taken this task to a new level. Her s­tudies at the University of Bremen had a ­considerable influence on her career start. She learned about an internship at the Green-Whites from the practice office of the Faculty of Cultural Studies and applied. “Without hearing about the internship, I would not be where I am now,” says the Werder representative. She is a member of the alumni association of the University of Bremen.

 

Eva Quante-Brandt

Senator for Science, Health and Consumer Protection

Since 2015, Professor Eva Quante-Brandt has held the office of Senator for Science, Health and Consumer Protection in Bremen. From 1991 to 2011, she worked as a researcher at the University of Bremen, towards the end as a professor leading the Academy of Labor and Politics (today: zap). Lifelong learning is one of her central themes. She has authored a book about it called “Schlüssel zur Freiheit” [Key to Freedom]. Since 2011, the 58-year-old SPD politician has held various public offices. She is married and has two adult daughters. 

 

Patrick Wendisch

Bremen Businessman

Dr. Patrick Wendisch is a partner in the insurance company Lampe & Schwartze and closely connected with the University of Bremen: As a former President of the Chamber of Commerce, he was partly responsible for the Hanseatic city being crowned “City of Science” in 2005. Together with the mayor Henning Scherf, former University President Professor Wilfried Müller and Professor Gerold Wefer, he went by train to Bonn to help convince the jury. As a boy, Wendisch used to play in the fields which later became the site of the University.