“Ulrich Witte was one of the DBU’s very first employees,” said DBU General Secretary Alexander Bonde acknowledging the achievements of Dr. Ulrich Witte. Witte is retiring after 28 years at the DBU as the Head of Environmental Communication and Cultural Heritage Protection.
In summer 1991, he began as the Head of the Environmental Education unit, was named Deputy Head of the Environmental Communication and Cultural Heritage Protection Department in 1992, and was named head of the department in 2005. Witte also worked on the foundation level to develop the DBU’s international project funding. He has been responsible for coordination of the “International Relations and Cooperation” task area since 1997. According to Bonde, it was important to Witte that the DBU strengthen its focus on international project funding. For example, he worked on a number of projects in Poland to align them with the topic of climate protection and education.
Witte devoted particular attention to the protection of cultural assets against harmful environmental effects and helped to turn this funding topic into “something that truly set the DBU apart from other German foundations.”
Witte’s successor is Dr. Cornelia Soetbeer, who will remain the Team Leader of the VolkswagenStiftung in Hanover until 30 June 2020.
