Our management
The CHE Centre for Higher Education is headed by Frank Ziegele. He has been Executive Director of the non-profit organisation since 2008 and, together with Jörg Dräger, shaped the strategic development of CHE until 2021. Frank Ziegele is supported by Heike Hepermann and Ulrich Müller, who have been authorised signatories at CHE since 2023.
Heike Hepermann, a business administration graduate and systemic consultant, is responsible for controlling, finance and contracts. Ulrich Müller heads the Political Analyses department and is also a member of the Executive Board. Together they work to provide innovative impetus for the further development of the higher education system.
CHE’s extended management team also includes Sonja Berghoff (Head of National Rankings), Gero Federkeil (Head of International Projects) and Sigrun Nickel (Head of Higher Education Research).
Our advisory board
An advisory board of renowned experts supports the work of CHE and advises the management.
The Advisory Board consists of two representatives of the shareholders as well as national and international personalities with expertise in the fields of higher education and education policy, university management or corporate management. CHE’s shareholders are the Bertelsmann Stiftung and the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK).
The members of the advisory board are appointed by the shareholders’ meeting and each serve for two years. Their activities include advising the CHE management on strategic issues, helping to shape the direction of the CHE and ensuring that its work meets the current and future challenges in the higher education and training sector.
Through regular dialogue within the Advisory Board, the committee contributes impulses and suggestions to further strengthen the quality and relevance of CHE’s work.
Prof. Dr. Walter Rosenthal
President of the German Rectors’ Conference, Bonn (Photo: HRK Jürgen Scheere)
Dr. Nina Arnhold
International Consultant, The World Bank (Photo: LC medium)
Wilfried Uhr
Member of the Executive Board, Bertelsmann Foundation, Gütersloh (Photo: Bertelsmann Foundation)
Prof. Dr. Carsten Könneker
Executive Board HITS Foundation, Heidelberg
Iris Kimizoglu
President European Students’ Union (ESU) (Photo: ESU)
Prof. Dr. Anne Lequy
Rector of Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences (Photo: Dawin Meckel/Ostkreuz)
Prof. Dr. Susanne Menzel-Riedl
President of the University of Osnabrück, Vice President of the HRK, Bonn
Thomas May
Secretary General of the German Council of Science and Humanities, Cologne
Prof. Dr. Birgitta Wolff
President of Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Vice President of the HRK
Our partners
The CHE Centre for Higher Education was founded as a non-profit organisation in 1994 on the initiative of Reinhard Mohn, founder of the Bertelsmann Stiftung (left), and Professor Dr. Hans-Uwe Erichsen (right), President of the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) at that time. The Bertelsmann Stiftung and the Stiftung zur Förderung der HRK (Foundation for the Promotion of the HRK) remain our Partners to this day.