Wolfgang Schmidt

Wolfgang Schmidt is State Secretary in the German Federal Ministry of Finance. His portfolio includes political planning and strategy, fundamental issues of financial policy and economics, and international financial and monetary policy. Before his appointment in March 2018, he was State Councillor and Plenipotentiary of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg to the Federal Government, the European Union and for Foreign Affairs for seven years. During his mandate in Hamburg, he was a member of the European Committee of the Regions (2015 to 2018) and Chairman of the Conference of European Ministers (2014/15). Prior to this, he was, among other things, Director of the Representation of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Germany and Head of the Management and Planning Staff at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. He is a member of the Supervisory Board of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG), the Board of Trustees of the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), the Administrative Board of Deutsche Welle and the Board of Trustees of the Baden-Badener Unternehmergespräche (BBUG).