Olaf Lies, Lower Saxony's Minister for Environment, Energy, Construction, and Climate Protection since November 2017, has replaced Stefan Wenzel as a member of the DBU Board of Trustees. Lies was previously State Chairman of the Lower Saxony SPD (Social Democratic Party) from 2010 to 2012 and subsequently held the office of Lower Saxony Minister of Economics, Labor, and Transport for five years. Born in Wilhelmshaven, he has been a member of the state legislature of Lower Saxony since 2008. The federal cabinet appointed the 50-year-old to the DBU Board of Trustees on 1 March. The Board of Trustees sets the DBU's funding guidelines, is also responsible for the finances of Europe's largest environmental foundation, and chooses the recipients of the DBU's German Environmental Award after pre-selection by an independent jury of experts.
