New commercial manager on board

Photo: Max Delbrück Center/ Steffen Weigelt (2020)

Heike Wolke will take over the position of commercial director at Hereon on an interim basis from November 1, 2022. She is an engineer. And an experienced "Helmholtzian."

Ms. Wolke, born in 1952, studied process engineering at the Leuna-Merseburg Technical University and later also business administration at the Fernuniversität Hagen. She received her doctorate in 1984, when her research topic was process analysis. The engineer was a research associate at the Institute of Biotechnology in Leipzig in the Department of Bioprocess Engineering. As part of this job, she also worked for a year as a research-planning officer on the staff of the institute's management. That was her first contact with classic administrative work.

Heike Wolke knows the Helmholtz Association and its research centers very well. Among other things, she worked in various management positions at the Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung (UFZ) Leipzig from 1992 to 2007. After that, she was responsible for administration at the Alfred-Wegener-Institut (AWI) – Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung for seven years. Until her retirement in 2018, the Saxon-born mother of three kids worked for the Max-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medizin (MDC) in the Helmholtz Association as Administrative Director from 2014.

And then she returned from retirement, most recently working at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR).

Commenting on her new commitment at Hereon, she says: "For me, it is appealing to take on responsibility here until a permanent solution is found. Now I'm looking forward to the task and getting to know my Hereon colleagues quickly." Her tenure will automatically end with the appointment of a new commercial director.

Welcome to our center, Heike Wolke.