Stephan Steinlein

Stephan Steinlein grew up in a protestant family, close to the political opposition in the GDR. In 1990, after the first democratic elections in the GDR, Steinlein became the last GDR ambassador to Paris for a very short time. He then joined the Foreign Service of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1999 he started to work with Frank-Walter Steinmeier, then head of the Federal Chancellery under Gerhard Schröder. In 2005, he became Chief of Staff at the Federal Foreign Office and in 2014 State Secretary in the Merkel III Government. Since 2017, he has been head of the Federal President's Administration - making him the highest-ranking state secretary in Germany.