Christoph Meineke
Christoph Meineke is a German non-party politician and since January 2007 the first directly elected strong mayor of the municipality of Wennigsen (Deister).
Career
In September 2006, Meineke became the youngest full-time mayor elected in Germany.Meineke is the first mayor in Northern Germany, who ran for and won a direct election for mayor as an independent candidate without the support of a political party or initiative of voters. His election made headlines on a national level and to this day is used as a reference non-party politics in Germany.
Meineke is a member of the presidium of the League of Cities of Lower Saxony and of the Innovators Club of the German Association of Cities and Municipalities, and has developed a particular expertise on leveraging technology in local politics. He was also a member of the working committee of the highly renowned Reinhard-Mohn-Price, judging worldwide projects on democracy and participation. He established citizen participation programs in his city and received awards like the first German "Award for Digital Participation" in 2012 or got nominated for the German sustainability award in the category 'Governance and Administration'.