Thomas Westphal (born 22 February 1967 in

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

) is a German economist, politician ( SPD) and the lord mayor of

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

. Previously, he was managing director of City of Dortmund

Economic Development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

Agency from 2014 to 2020. Before, he was managing director of business development metropoleruhr (''Wirtschaftsförderung metropoleruhr'', wmr), whose advisory board he still belongs to today. From 1993 to 1995 he was Federal Chairman of the Jusos. Westphal assumed as the lord mayor of Dortmund on 1 November 2020.

Professional career

Westphal grew up in Lübeck and studied economics at the Hochschule für Politik und Wirtschaft in Hamburg. He is a long-standing co-editor of ''Spw – Zeitschrift für sozialistische Politik und Wirtschaft'' (''Journal for Socialist Politics and Economy''). After Westphal was managing director of managing director of business development ''metropoleruhr'' (''wmr'') from 2010, he took over the post of managing director of the Economic Development Agency of the City of

in 2013. He previously worked for ''Rhenus AG'', ''SCI Verkehr GmbH'', ''ISA Consult'' and most recently for ''Wincanton GmbH'' in

Weinheim Weinheim (; ) is a town with about 43,000 inhabitants in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region, approximately north of Heidelberg and northeast of Mannheim. Weinheim is known as the "Zwei-Burgen-Sta ...

. During his work as managing director of the Economic Development Agency, Westphal initiated a new economic policy orientation for the City of Dortmund from the end of 2014. Westphal describes start-ups of new companies as a "crucial driving force" for structural change in Dortmund. By attracting new, knowledge-intensive start-ups and increasing the number of branches of local companies, Dortmund should become an important location for innovation. In concrete terms, this means the establishment of new research institutes and universities and the long-term commitment of founders to Dortmund. In this way, the entire city's demand for services such as gastronomy, hotels and retail is to be increased by tying skilled workers and trade tax revenues to Dortmund as a location.

Politics

Early years and federal chairman of the Jusos

Initially, Thomas Westphal was active in

and

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

for the Jusos and in the SPD. He was part of a political movement who called themselves "Juso-Linke" (''Juso-left'') and were also known as "Stamokaps" (''Staatsmonopolistischer Kapitalismus'', state monopolistic capitalism). Westphal was elected as the federal chairman of the Jusos at the Juso federal congress in 1993. At the Juso federal congress in

Gera Gera () is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the ''Thüringer Städtekette'', an almost straight string of ...

in May 1995 he was re-elected a one-vote majority over his opponent Stephan Grüger of the so-called ''Reformsozialisten'' (''reform socialists''). Because invalid votes for Westphal had been counted and delegates who had not been correctly elected had been reported from different regional associations (''Landesverbände''), the federal arbitration commission (''Bundesschiedskommission'') of the SPD declared the election of the chairperson invalid a few weeks later. At the following extraordinary federal congress of the Jusos with repeat elections in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

- Bad Godesberg, he renounced a new candidacy there and proposed Andrea Nahles as his successor.

SPD vice chairman and Lord Mayor of Dortmund

Since April 2018, Westphal is vice chairman of the SPD sub-district of Dortmund. He ran as the SPD's candidate at the local elections in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

in 2020 for the position of the Lord Mayor of

. In the first ballot on 13 September, he received 35.87% of the vote entered the runoff on 27 September, where he won over the CDU candidate Andreas Hollstein with 52.06%. He took office on 1 November 2020. He succeeds Ullrich Sierau (SPD), who was no longer a candidate.

Personal life

Westphal lives in

since 1996. He is married and has two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Westphal, Thomas 1967 births Living people Politicians from Lübeck