Werner Brinkmann (born 10 December 1946) was a German executive who served as the executive director and sole member of the board of

Stiftung Warentest Stiftung Warentest is a German consumer organisation and foundation involved in investigating and comparing goods and services in an unbiased way. It was founded on 4 December 1964 by the Federal Republic of Germany as an independent foundat ...

till 2011, the German foundation and consumer organisation, which was established in 1964.

Early life and education

Werner Brinkmann was born and grew up in Hamm ( North Rhine-Westfalia), Germany. After passing his school leaving exams (

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

) in 1966, he then studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

at the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially ), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1 ...

and

University of Münster The University of Münster (, until 2023 , WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of study in 15 departments, it is Germany's ...

. He passed his first state law exam in 1970, and the second state law exam in 1975. In the same year he also completed his doctoral degree at the University of Münster with a dissertation titled ''The consumer organisations in the Federal Republic of Germany and their activity in technical standardisation'', thus becoming a Doctor of Laws.

Professional career

From 1975 to 1979 he was Head of the Administration and Legal Department at Stiftung Warentest in Berlin. Following this he worked at

Deutschlandfunk Deutschlandfunk (DLF, ''Broadcast Germany'') is a public-broadcasting radio station in Germany, concentrating on news and current affairs. It is one of the four national radio channels produced by Deutschlandradio. History Broadcasting in t ...

, the radio broadcasting station, till 1992, where he also became the Senior Head of Human Resources, Legal Affairs and Licenses. In 1981, he was appointed member of Stiftung Warentest's Advisory Council, and then between 1992 and the end of 1994 he was a member of the Foundation's Board. When the Executive Director

Roland Hüttenrauch Roland Johannes Hüttenrauch (26 January 1928 – 12 January 2006) was in charge of Stiftung Warentest, the German consumer organisation in Berlin from 1967 to 1994. Roland Hüttenrauch was born in Oberlungwitz, Germany. After finishing school in ...

retired in 1995, Werner Brinkmann succeeded him in this position. His appointment was extended for a further five years in 2006. In December 2009,

Ilse Aigner Ilse Aigner (born 7 December 1964) is a German politician and member of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU). Aigner was born in Feldkirchen-Westerham, Bavaria, and entered Angela Merkel's grand coalition cabinet as Federal Minister o ...

, the Federal Minister of Consumer Protection, agreed to increase the Foundation's capital by 50 million euros by 2012 as a result of his initiative Werner Brinkmann is due to retire at the end of 2011. Hubertus Primus, the current Editor-in-chief, is the successor since 1 January 2012.

Other biographical details

He is member of the

board Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, a ...

of International Consumer Research & Testing, member of the

Management Board Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administr ...

of Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband (vzbv) and member of the Steering Committee of Deutsche Kommission Elektrotechnik Elektronik Informationstechnik im DIN und VDE (DKE). Werner Brinkmann has been a member of the Presidial Board of the

Deutsches Institut für Normung ' (DIN; in English language, English, the German Institute for Standardisation) is a Germany, German non-profit organization and acting as national organization for standardization. DIN is the German International Organization for Standardizat ...

(DIN) since 1995. In 2000, he was awarded the ''Environmental Prize'' by the German Association of Environmental Management (B.A.U.M.). In December 2011 he was awarded the Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

.''Stiftung Warentest ist eine Erfolgsgeschichte für die Verbraucher''
, Pressemitteilung des BMELV, 9. Dezember 2011 He is not an active member of any political party. He lives together with his wife and son in

Berlin-Zehlendorf Zehlendorf () is a locality within the borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf in Berlin. Before Berlin's 2001 administrative reform Zehlendorf was a borough in its own right, consisting of the locality of Zehlendorf as well as Wannsee, Nikolassee and Da ...

Selected publications

* Werner Brinkmann, Peter Sieber: ''Gebrauchstauglichkeit, Gebrauchswert und Qualität'', in: ''Handbuch Qualitätsmanagement'', Masing, published by Tilo Pfeifer and Robert Schmitt, fifth, completely revised edition, Hanser-Verlag, Munich (2007), pp. 777 to 786, * ''Rechtliche Aspekte der Bedeutung von technischen Normen für den Verbraucherschutz'', Deutsches Institut für Normung e.V. Beuth, Berlin / Cologne 1984, * ''Die Verbraucherorganisation in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und ihre Tätigkeit bei der überbetrieblichen technischen Normung'', Heymann, Cologne / Berlin / Bonn / Munich 1976,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brinkmann, Werner Living people Consumer rights activists Jurists from North Rhine-Westphalia German chief executives Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 1946 births People from Hamm