Dirk-Ulrich Mende (born 1957) is a German SPD politician and Lord Mayor (Oberbürgermeister) of the town of Celle in North Germany.
Mende was born on 26 December 1957 in Münster. He studied law in Marburg and Göttingen and passed his state legal exams in 1987. Thereafter he was employed as the president of the regional council in Kassel, at the former Federal Office for the Recognition of Refugees (now the Federal Ministry of Migration (Bundesamt für Migration), at the Hesse State Welfare Agency (Landeswohlfahrtsverband Hessen) in Kassel, at the Schleswig-Holstein State Insurance Institution (Landesversicherungsanstalt Schleswig-Holstein) and at the Lower Saxon Ministry for Social Welfare, Women, Families and Health (Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Soziales, Frauen, Familie und Gesundheit). From 1999 to 2003 Mende was the leader of the SPD party in the Lower Saxon Landtag. From 2003 to 2008 Mende was the divisional head (Referatsleiter) of the Lower Saxon Ministry for Home Affairs, Sport and Integration. There he worked for five years in the area of administrative modernisation and then in the field of integration. Since 22 February 2009 Mende has been the Lord Mayor (Oberbürgermeister) of the town of Celle in Lower Saxony, having won at the first vote with a clear and "surprising" majority of 50.8 %.[1] He has been elected for a term of office lasting to 2017.[2]
Since 1975 Mende has been a member of the SPD and since 1972 an honorary member of the Worker's Welfare Association (Arbeiterwohlfahrt).
Mende is married with three children.