Florian Gerster

Florian Gerster, 2017

Florian Gerster (born May 7, 1949 in Worms ) is a German politician ( FDP , until 2020 SPD ). He was a member of the German Bundestag , a member of the state parliament and minister of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and chairman of the board of the Federal Employment Agency . Since 2004 he has worked as a lobbyist for the private sector.

Family, education and work

Gerster is the brother of the journalist and news presenter Petra Gerster . His second uncle is the CDU politician Johannes Gerster .

After graduating from the Rudi-Stephan-Gymnasium in Worms in 1968 and completing military service, Gerster studied psychology and business administration at the University of Mannheim . 2018 he was at the University of Duisburg-Essen Dr. rer. pole. PhD.

He has the rank of lieutenant colonel in the reserve of the Bundeswehr .

From 2002 to 2004 he was chairman of the board of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) in Nuremberg . Since then he has worked as a management consultant in Frankfurt am Main , until autumn 2007 as a partner in the personnel consultancy Ray and Berndtson. Until 2007, Gerster was Director Policy Fellows for the Research Institute for the Future of Work and for many years was a lecturer at the German University of Administrative Sciences in Speyer . From 2007 to 2012 Gerster was the founding president of the employers' association for new letter and delivery services (since 2011 the Federal Association of Letter Services ). From 2015 to 2018 he was chairman of the Federal Association of Parcel and Express Logistics (BIEK). He is a founding member of the support association for the employer-oriented initiative New Social Market Economy .

In 2003, Gerster initiated the City of Worms' Jazz Prize by providing the funds required for the endowment , which were sufficient to finance the prize until 2013.

Political career

At the age of 17 Gerster joined the SPD in 1966. His political career began in 1974 as a city councilor in Worms. In 1977 he joined the state parliament of Rhineland-Palatinate as the successor to Lucie Kölsch . In 1987 he was elected to the Bundestag , whereupon he resigned from his state parliament mandate. Gerster became a member of the " Seeheimer Kreis ". From 1991 to 1994 he was Minister for Federal and European Affairs of Rhineland-Palatinate ( Cabinet Scharping ), in October 1994 he joined the department of Labor, Social Affairs and Health ( Cabinet Beck I , Cabinet Beck II ). From 2001 he was also responsible for family policy ( Beck III cabinet ). After the state elections in Rhineland-Palatinate in 2001 , he was again a member of the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament from 2001 to 2002.

At the beginning of 2020 he joined the FDP , as the FDP federal chairman Christian Lindner announced at the Epiphany meeting of his party on January 6th. He stated that the SPD had moved away from the bourgeoisie and was no longer an optimistic party, so that he saw no point in remaining in it.

Chairman of the board of the Federal Labor Office

On March 27, 2002 Gerster succeeded Bernhard Jagoda (CDU) , who was dismissed because of the placement scandal, as head of the Federal Employment Agency , which was renamed the Federal Employment Agency in 2004 on his initiative . As chairman of the board, he was the first head of the BA who did not have civil servant status. In May 2002 he appointed his future successor Frank-Jürgen Weise (CDU) to the board of the BA.

In November 2003 it hit the headlines because of a PR contract worth 1.3 million euros with WMP Eurocom , which had not been advertised. In mid-January 2004, contracts with five consulting firms and a total volume of 38 million euros were announced. On January 20, 2004, allegations were made that Gerster had caused the agency's internal minutes to be falsified in order to cover up the affair. Although he was exonerated by an internal audit report on January 23, 2004, the following day the Federal Agency's administrative board withdrew his confidence with 20 to 1 votes; he was subsequently dismissed by the Federal Minister of Economics and Labor Wolfgang Clement (SPD).

Further memberships and offices

Gerster worked as chairman of the advisory board in Germany for the American real estate investor Fortress Investment Group , which tried to acquire social housing in Germany as a private equity fund , and was a member of the supervisory board of the housing company GAGFAH .

He is honorary chairman of the initiative Gesundheitswirtschaft Rhein-Main e. V. as well as on the board of the graduate network of the University of Mannheim, AbsolventUM e. V.

Since the beginning of 2010 he has been deputy chairman of the Network of German Health Regions e. V. Gerster has been a social policy advisor to R + V Versicherung AG since January 2019 and has been chairman of the advisory board of compertis Consulting Company for operational pension management mbH, a company of R + V Versicherung, since May 2019.

Publications

with Dietrich Stobbe : The left center today. Dietz, Bonn 1989, ISBN 3-8012-0147-3 .
with Armin A. Steinkamm (Hrsg.): Army 2000: Conscription and reservist conception (= military service and society . Vol. 1). Nomos, Baden-Baden 1990, ISBN 3-7890-2112-1 .
Between pacifism and defense. The security policy of the SPD. Nomos, Baden-Baden 1994, ISBN 3-7890-3659-5 .
Company with limited liability. Winners and losers in the welfare state. Nomos, Baden-Baden 1997, ISBN 3-7890-5134-9 .
(Ed.): Work must be worthwhile (= series of publications "Social Dialogue". Vol. 3). Nomos, Baden-Baden 2001, ISBN 3-7890-7505-1 .
Work is for everyone. New ways to full employment. Propylaea, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-549-07180-9 .
The motivation for politics: A qualitative analysis of the motivations for politics as a profession. Dissertation. 2018