Shaping the future together
The HTWK Leipzig Foundation supports the development of teaching and research at the university by raising and channelling funds. The focus is on internationalisation, attracting young talent and continuing professional development. The Foundation pursues directly and exclusively charitable aims. The establishment of the Foundation laid the foundations for further endowments. An increase in the Foundation’s capital contributes significantly to the development of sustainable funding for the university in accordance with its statutes.
- Karsten Petrusch (Chairman, Head of Sales at Siemens AG)
- Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jean-Alexander Müller (Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board, Rector of HTWK Leipzig)
- Marion Schilling-Kirstein (Treasurer, Managing Director of AGIL GmbH Leipzig)
- Gerald Taraba (CEO of Actemium Germany)
- Dr. Ing. Joachim Wicke (Chairman, Siemens AG)
- Sigrid Nagl (Deputy Chairwoman, Chief Human Resources Officer, EnviaM)
- Karsten Rogall (Spokesperson for the Management Board of Leipziger Versorgungs- und Verkehrsegesellschaft)
- Hendrik Siemionek (Head of Human Resources, Kranbau Köthen)
Establishment of the HTWK Foundation
The HTWK Foundation was established in 2012 as a charitable foundation under civil law with the specific aim of promoting the development of teaching and research at HTWK Leipzig, as well as international networking, the recruitment of young talent and continuing professional development. Since its foundation, the focus of the Foundation’s work has been on increasing its endowment capital from an initial €100,000, which forms the basis for the sustainable promotion of these objectives.
Right from the outset, the Foundation’s Board of Trustees had a broad membership; at that time, it included not only the Rector, Professor Renate Lieckfeldt, but also Mr Carl-Ernst Giesting, Chairman and Managing Director of ENVIAM Mitteldeutsche Gasversorgung GmbH. Winfried Pinninghoff, Honorary Professor of ‘Coaching and Fundraising in Engineering Education’ and management consultant, worked alongside Professor Markus Krabbes, Vice-Rector for Research, as a key founding trustee of the Foundation and rendered outstanding services both in preparing the founding deed and in raising the Foundation’s capital.
On the first Executive Board, the three key engineering disciplines – electrical engineering, civil engineering and mechanical engineering – were represented by Dr.-Ing. Joachim Wicke, Head of the Eastern Germany Industrial Region at Siemens AG, as Chairman of the Executive Board, Kurt Kanis, Managing Director of DaFa Bau GmbH, as Deputy Chair, and Hendrik Siemionek, HR Officer at Kranbau Köthen GmbH, as Executive Director. From the very beginning, the intention was to include numerous external members on the Foundation’s committees who possessed a relevant perspective on the university, in order to forge contacts and foster dialogue.
On 26 November 2012, the university marked the foundation’s establishment with a formal ceremony. The long-standing President of Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences delivered the keynote address entitled ‘What can university foundations achieve?’ Professor Mielenhausen himself played a part in the establishment of several university foundations; furthermore, under his leadership, Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences was transformed in 2003 into one of Lower Saxony’s first foundation universities.
