Friedrich Malitz

Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees from 1976 until 1991

Until 1973 Friedrich Malitz (1908–1991) was responsible for the finances of Henkel & Cie. GmbH. From 1973 until 1974 he was a member of the Administrative Council of Henkel GmbH and from 1975 until 1984 a member of the Shareholders’ Committee of Henkel KGaA.

After working for Bankhaus Schliep & Co. in Düsseldorf, the Chase Bank in Paris and the British Overseas Bank Ltd. in London, he trained as a banker. In 1932 Friedrich Malitz joined the family business Henkel and subsequently worked his way through several departments. When Henkel & Cie. became a joint stock corporation, Henkel GmbH, Friedrich Malitz continued as Managing Director until 1973.

When the Gerda Henkel Foundation was established Friedrich Malitz became Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees. He remained in this position until his death in 1991.

Dr Hermann Richter

Member of the Board of Trustees from 1976 until 1982

From 1975 until 1980 Hermann Richter (1903–1982) was Chairman of the Supervisory Board and until 1982 a member of the Shareholders’ Committee of Henkel KGaA. Prior to this he was Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Dresdner Bank AG for several years.

After studying in Berlin and working as a stock market journalist for “Buchwalds Börsenbriefen”, as well as posts at Deutsche Revisions- und Treuhand AG and Dresdner Bank in Berlin, in 1942 Hermann Richter was appointed Managing Director of Henkel & Cie. GmbH. Until 1982 he worked in various departments and was a member of executive and supervisory boards within the company.

Hermann Richter advised the Gerda Henkel Foundation from its establishment and remained a member of the Board of Trustees until his death in 1982.

Dr Wilfried Guth

Member of the Board of Trustees from 1982 until 1993

Wilfried Guth (1919–2009) was an Executive Board member at Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau from 1962 until 1968, after which he became Executive Board member of Deutsche Bank, where he was appointed Spokesman of the Board in 1976.

Wilfried Guth studied Economics at the universities in Bonn, Geneva, Heidelberg and at the London School of Economics, obtaining his doctorate from Heidelberg University in 1957. While still studying, he began working at Deutsche Bundesbank in 1953 and it was here that he was made Head of the Economics and Statistics Department in 1958. One year later he became Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund in Washington.

After the death of Hermann Richter, Wilfried Guth was appointed to the Gerda Henkel Foundation’s Board of Trustees, serving as a member for over ten years.

Anette Petersen-Brandhorst

Member of the Board of Trustees from 1987 until 1999 Chairwoman from 1998 until 1999

Anette Petersen-Brandhorst (1936–1999) studied Ethnology at the University of California in Berkeley. Together with her husband Udo Brandhorst she built up one of the most significant private collections of contemporary art in Germany.

In 1993 the collection was transferred to the Udo und Anette Brandhorst Stiftung and exhibited as the Brandhorst Collection at Museum Brandhorst, which opened in Munich in 2009.

In 1987 Anette Petersen-Brandhorst became a member of the Gerda Henkel Foundation’s Board of Trustees, becoming Chairwoman in 1998 after the death of her mother Lisa Maskell.

Dr Hans-Dietrich Winkhaus

Member of the Board of Trustees from 1989 until 2014 Deputy Chairman from 2006 until 2009 Honorary member from 2010 until 2014

Hans-Dietrich Winkhaus (born 1937) has been President of the Administrative Board of CARE Deutschland-Luxembourg since November 2013 . Before that he was President of the German Chemical Industry Association, Vice President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), and President of the German Economic Institute (IW); he is still the latter’s Honorary President today.

After completing his schooling and a banking apprenticeship, Hans-Dietrich Winkhaus studied Business Administration in Münster, Lausanne and Munich, graduating from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich). He subsequently worked as a research assistant at LMU Munich’s Institute for Finance and Banking, obtaining his doctorate there in 1967. That same year Hans-Dietrich Winkhaus began his professional career at Henkel AG & Co. KGaA in Düsseldorf. Until his retirement in 2000, Mr Winkhaus held various positions in Germany and abroad in the areas of finance, marketing and sales. From 1992 to 2000 he served as Chief Executive Officer and was a member of Henkel’s Shareholders’ Committee until 2008.

Hans-Dietrich Winkhaus sat on the supervisory boards of several listed German and American companies. He also performed duties at a welfare institution and two research associations.

In 1986 Hans-Dietrich Winkhaus was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Gerda Henkel Foundation, serving as its Deputy Chairman from 2006 until 2009, taking over from Franz Georg Maier. After retiring from his official position, he was appointed an honorary member for a further five years.

Dr Hans-Günter Grünewald

Member of the Board of Trustees from 1993 until 1998 Second Deputy Chairman from 1996 until 1998 Deputy Chairman 1998

From 1989 until his retirement in 1995, Hans-Günter Grünewald (1933–1998) was a member of the Management of Henkel KGaA and from 1992 to 1995 a personally liable partner. In his management position he was responsible for the Finance/Logistics division.

After completing a banking apprenticeship, Hans-Günter Grünewald studied Business Administration, graduating with a PhD. In 1962 he joined what was then Henkel & Cie. GmbH in Düsseldorf. After working in the Foreign Department/Finances and in Corporate Planning, from 1977 to 1989 he was a member of the Henkel KGaA Board of Directors. In 1986 he was made a member of the Shareholders’ Committee of Henkel KGaA and supported the Henkel Group in an advisory capacity even after retiring in 1995.

Hans-Günter Grünewald was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Gerda Henkel Foundation from 1993 until 1998. In 1996 he became Second Deputy Chairman alongside Konrad Henkel and in 1998 was elected Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Prof Franz Georg Maier, Hon. FSA

Member of the Academic Advisory Council from 1976 until 1996 Chairman from 1992 until 1996

Member of the Board of Trustees from 1996 until 2010 Deputy Chairman from 1998 until 2005 Honorary member from 2006 until 2010

Franz Georg Maier (1926–2014) was Professor of Ancient History at the University of Zurich from 1972 until his retirement in 1994. After studying at the universities in Tübingen, Zurich and Rome he graduated with a PhD in 1951 and qualified as professor in 1957 in Tübingen. From 1963 until 1966 he was Professor of Ancient History in Frankfurt/Main and from 1966 until 1972 Professor of History at the University of Konstanz, of which he was a founding member.

From 1952 until 1955 Franz Georg Maier worked as a member of the British Kouklia Expedition in Cyprus; from 1966 he led the excavations in Old Paphos (Cyprus) on behalf of the German Archaeological Institute. From 1977 until 1978 he was President of the Commission for the Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece (ESAG) and in 1992–93 Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, USA. Moreover, he was a full member of the German Archaeological Institute and Honorary Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

Franz Georg Maier was a member of the Gerda Henkel Foundation’s Academic Advisory Council since its establishment and sat on its Board of Trustees as of 1996, becoming an honorary member in 2006.

Prof Meinhard Miegel

Member of the Board of Trustees from 1997 until 2014 Deputy Chairman from 2010 until 2014

Meinhard Miegel (born 1939) has been Chairman of the Board of Denkwerk Zukunft – Foundation for Cultural Renewal in Bonn since 2007. Prior to that he headed the Institut für Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft Bonn e.V. and the Zentrum für internationale Wirtschaftsbeziehungen at Leipzig University.

He studied Philosophy, Sociology and Law in Washington D.C., Frankfurt and Freiburg, graduating in 1961 with a Bachelor of Arts, in 1967 with a PhD and in 1969 passed the second state law examinations. From 1970 to 1973 Meinhard Miegel worked as an in-house lawyer and assistant to the central management of Henkel & Cie. GmbH. Subsequently he worked for the secretary general of the CDU, Prof. Kurt H. Biedenkopf. In 1975 he joined the management and became Head of the Politics Department at the CDU headquarters in Bonn. In 1992 he was appointed Extraordinary Professor at Leipzig University.

From 1995 to 1997 he chaired the Kommission für Zukunftsfragen der Freistaaten Bayern und Sachsen, between 1999 and 2003 he was a member of the presidential commissions for “Social law” and “Social sciences” of the Max Planck Society, and from 1997 to 2005 a member of the Advisory Board of the Berlin Social Science Center. From 1997 to 2006 Meinhard Miegel was scientific consultant to Deutsches Institut für Altersvorsorge GmbH in Cologne. From 2003 to 2007 he sat on the Supervisory Board of Wall AG, Berlin, was spokesman of BürgerKonvent e.V., and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock. He is a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and is a Supervisory Board member of Deutsche Industrie Service AG.

Meinhard Miegel has received the Cicero Award (1995), the Schader Award (2000), the Corine International Book Award (2002), the Hanns Martin Schleyer-Preis (2004), the Theodor Heuss Prize (2005), and the International Book Award (2010).

Meinhard Miegel was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Gerda Henkel Foundation in 1997 and served as its Deputy Chairman from 2010 until 2014.

Dr Michael Muth

Member of the Board of Trustees from 1998 until 2016

Michael Muth was Senior Partner, Gesellschafter  and Director of McKinsey & Company, Inc., New York. He was a member of the firm’s global management bodies and responsible for Insurance & Asset Management in Europe. Michael Muth was Senior Advisor to one of America’s leading investment banks. He sits on the Board of German and non-German firms specialising in the international financial sector. He is sole owner of the company BlueTrust, which focusses on investments in SMEs and start-ups.

He is a member of the Foundation Board of the Udo und Anette Brandhorst Stiftung. Michael Muth is a lawyer; he obtained his doctorate from the University of Freiburg and an MBA from INSEAD/Fontainebleau. He has published numerous articles in the international business press, especially on questions relating to corporate strategy and the capital market.

Michael Muth was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Gerda Henkel Foundation in 1998 and remained a member until 2014.

Prof Hans-Joachim Gehrke

Member of the Board of Trustees from 2006 until 2020
Deputy Chairman from 2014 until 2020

Member of the Academic Advisory Council from 1997 until 2005
Chairman from 2001 until 2005

Hans-Joachim Gehrke (born 1945) has been past President of the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin since March 2011, and since April 2011 has been Professor emeritus of Albert Ludwig University in Freiburg, as well as Director of Outreach at University College Freiburg. He is an Honorary Professor of Ancient History and Classical Philology at the Freie Universität Berlin and Honorary Professor of Ancient History at the Humboldt University in Berlin.

Previously, Hans-Joachim Gehrke was tenured Professor of Ancient History at Freiburg University between 1987 and 2008. He completed his studies in History, Classical Philology, Philosophy and Pedagogy in 1973 with a doctorate at the University of Göttingen, where he subsequently worked as a research assistant until becoming a junior professor in 1982. From 1982 to 1984 Hans-Joachim Gehrke held a professorship in Würzburg, and from 1984 to 1987 he was a tenured professor at the Freie Universität Berlin. In the years 1991 to 1993 he worked as a guest professor at the Humboldt University of Berlin and at the Universities of Zurich and Perugia. In 1999, he was a visiting scholar at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C., and during the 2012-3 academic year he was Guest Professor of Ancient Cultural History at the University of Munich. Between 1999 and 2005, Gehrke was a member of the senate and the main committee of the German Research Foundation. In 2017, the University of Cologne awarded him an honorary doctorate.
Hans-Joachim Gehrke is a corresponding member of the Academy of Public Sciences in Erfurt and the Archeological Institute of America, a member of the central management board of the German Archaeological Institute, a full member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Academia Europaea. He is chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Protestant Institute for Interdisciplinary Research (FEST), of the “EUniCult. Network of European Universities” project committee, as well as sub-project manager in the research group “Historical life-worlds in popular knowledge cultures of the present day” (University of Freiburg and DAI Berlin) and an associated member of the “Fictional and factual narration” postgraduate programme at the University of Freiburg.
The main focus of his academic work lies in the historical regional and cultural studies of the central and eastern Mediterranean region, social conflicts and social integration, intercultural relationships and migration, as well as perceptions of history and collective identities.

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Lehner

Member of the Board of Trustees from 2010 until 2021
Deputy Chairman in 2021

Ulrich Lehner (born 1946) was a member of the Board of Partners at Henkel AG & Co. KGaA from 2008-2021. The career path of this industrial engineer, mechanical engineer and certified tax consultant/auditor is closely linked to the Henkel Group. Between 1981 and 1983 and from 1986 Ulrich Lehner worked in various important roles in the company, and from 1995 was appointed to the Executive Board of Henkel KGaA, taking charge of the Finance/Logistics division. Between 2000 and 2008 he was at the helm of the Henkel Group.

Ulrich Lehner is a member of various supervisory boards. He was appointed chairman of the Supervisory Board at Deutsche Telekom in 2008, taking on the same role at ThyssenKrupp AG in 2013. He is Honorary Professor at the University of Münster.

Andreas Schmitz

Member of the Board of Trustees from 2016 until 2023

Andreas Schmitz (born 1960) has been President of the Advisory Board of the German-Chinese Business Association since December 2014. In addition, he is also President of Börse Düsseldorf, President of the IHK Düsseldorf, and a member of the Supervisory Board of the KfW Development Bank and the Advisory Board of German Bundesbank, Düsseldorf Headquarters, as well as the advisory boards of various companies. He was Chairman of the Supervisory Board of HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt AG from 2015 to 2020. Between 2009 and 2013, Andreas Schmitz was President of the Association of German Banks and is still a member of the Association’s Steering Committee and Supervisory Board. 

He completed his studies in Business and Law at the University of Bonn and was admitted to the bar. He began his career at HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt as assistant to the personally liable partner. He then worked in the corporate accounts section and later established the bank’s investment banking activities.
In 2002, Andreas Schmitz became an individually liable partner of the bank with responsibility for the corporate customers business and the business areas of Investment Banking and Debt Capital Markets. In 2004 he was appointed spokesperson for the individually liable partners. With the change in the legal structure in July 2006, Andreas Schmitz was appointed spokesperson for the executive board. After heading up the Global Banking division for seven years, since 2013 he has been responsible for the Private Banking division and, prior to that, the Commercial Banking division.

He is married and has three children.