Prof. Dr. Christof Ehrhart becomes the new Chairman of the Board of the Günter-Thiele-Foundation
The Günter-Thiele-Foundation for Communication and Management announces that Prof. Dr. Bernd Schuppener (71) is stepping down as Chairman of the Board after many years of leading the Board.
Prof. Dr. Christof E. Ehrhart (57) will become the Foundation's new Chairman of the Board. He will take on this role alongside his responsibilities for global corporate communications and government relations at Robert Bosch GmbH.
Prof. Schuppener is a founding member of the foundation and has played a key role in its development. "It has been an extraordinary pleasure and honor to lead the Günter Thiele Foundation and to see how we have been able to support research and teaching in the field of communication management at Leipzig University and help it achieve national and international renown. I want to thank my fellow board members, the team, and Günter Thiele for his trust," said Prof. Schuppener.
The new Chairman of the Executive Board, Prof. Dr. Christof Ehrhart, has been a member of the Executive Board since 2019 and brings a wealth of experience with him. "It is a great honor for me to drive the further development of the foundation in the name of Günter Thiele. The foundation's initiatives contribute in a special way to the transfer of knowledge between research and practice. We will continue to strengthen this mission, so I look forward to working closely with the Foundation's dedicated team and the entire Board of Directors," said Prof. Ehrhart.
Dr. Günter F. Thiele (90), founder of the Günter Thiele Foundation, paid tribute to the contributions of both chairmen: "Both Prof. Schuppener and Prof. Ehrhart have played a key role in shaping the foundation along the way. Their commitment and leadership skills have contributed to the Günter Thiele Foundation becoming a major player and promoter of communication science in Leipzig. I want to thank my friend Bernd Schuppener for his outstanding work. I am very pleased that Christof Ehrhart, as a successful corporate communicator and equally renowned representative of science, will continue to drive this work forward in my will."
The Günter Thiele Foundation is committed to research and teaching in the field of communication management at the Institute of Communication and Media Studies at Leipzig University and to promoting young academics. This is achieved by supporting various projects: starting with the Günter Thiele Prize and the Günter Thiele Research Scholarship as well as the initiatives Academic Society for Corporate Management & Communication (www.akademische-gesellschaft.com), the Center for Research in Financial Communication (www.financialcommunication.org) and the Center for History & Corporate Communication (www.historycomms.de), with the pr-museum.de (https://pr-museum.de).
The Board of the Günter Thiele Foundation now consists of: Prof. Dr. Günter Bentele (Deputy Chairman) (Leipzig University), Stephanie Berger (Deutsches Stiftungszentrum), Prof. Dr. Christof E. Ehrhart (Chairman) (Leipzig University/Bosch), Dr. Phoebe Kebbel (FGS Global), Prof. Dr. Werner Süss (Leipzig University/NeXtWind) and Prof. Dr. Ansgar Zerfaß (Leipzig University).
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Prof. Dr. Christof E. Ehrhart is Executive Vice President Corporate Communications & Government Relations at the technology and services company Robert Bosch GmbH. Previously, he was Head of Global Corporate Communications at the mail and logistics company Deutsche Post DHL Group. He has been an Honorary Professor of International Corporate Communications at Leipzig University since 2013. He has also been a member of the Executive Board of the Academic Society since January 2023 and represents the interests of partner companies.
Prof. Dr. Bernd Schuppener was an honorary professor of communication management at the University of Leipzig from 2006 to 2022. He studied philosophy in Frankfurt am Main and journalism, psychology, and literature in Mainz. In 1980, he received his doctorate in Mainz and subsequently worked as a research assistant. In 1982, he joined the Second German Television (ZDF) as a consultant for strategic corporate planning for the then-director Dieter Stolte. From 1986, Schuppener worked as a senior editor for domestic policy at ZDF. In 1990, he moved to the PR agency ABC/EUROCOM in Frankfurt am Main as Managing Director. In 1995, he founded the HERING SCHUPPENER Group with offices in Frankfurt am Main, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, and Berlin.