| Christoph Meineke | |
|---|---|
| In office January 1, 2007 – December 31, 2014 |
|
| Preceded by | first directly elected mayor |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 13, 1979 Hanover, Germany |
| Nationality | Germany |
| Political party | Independent |
| Alma mater | Vienna University of Economics |
| Profession | Economist |
| Website | Bürgermeisterblog.de (German) |
Christoph Meineke (* March 13, 1979 in Hanover) is a German non-party politician and since January 2007 the first directly elected mayor of the municipality of Wennigsen (Deister).
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In September 2006, Meineke became the youngest full-time mayor elected in Germany, and he is currently the youngest full-time mayor of Lower Saxony.[1] Meineke is the first mayor in Northern Germany, who ran for and won a direct election for mayor as an independent candidate without the support of a political party or initiative of voters. His election made headlines on a national level and to this day is used as a reference non-party politics in Germany.[2][3]/[4]
Meineke is a member of the Innovators Club of the German Association of Cities and Municipalities, and has developed a particular expertise on leveraging technology (such as Web 2.0 capabilities) in local politics. He was also a member of the working committee of the highly renowned Reinhard-Mohn-Price (formerly known as the Carl-Bertelsmann-Price), judging world wide projects on democracy and participation.[5]
After graduating from the Matthias-Claudius-Gymnasium in Gehrden, Meineke studied economics at the Vienna University of Economics, the University of St. Gallen and the Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen. He is currently also working toward a doctorate degree in economics under Prof. Birger Priddat at Witten/Herdecke University.
Kommunalwahlkampf 2.0 (Municipal elections 2.0 experiences and tips), in: F.-R. Habbel/A.Huber (Hrsg.): Web 2.0 für Kommunen und Kommunalpolitik, Boizenburg: Verlag Werner Hülsbusch, 2008. (In German)