Profile of Dr. h. c. Wolfgang Clement
Dr. h. c. Wolfgang Clement was from 1998 to 2002 Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia and from 2002 to 2005 Federal Minister of Economics and Labor.
After graduating from high school, completing a newspaper traineeship, studying law and passing his first state examination in law as well as assisting at the Institute for Procedural Law at the University of Marburg, Clement became a political editor from 1968, later head of the political department and finally deputy chief editor of Westfälische Rundschau in Dortmund. From 1986 to 1989 he was chief editor of Hamburger Morgenpost.
From 1981 to 1986 Wolfgang Clement was spokesman of the federal executive board and from 1985 to 1986 also deputy federal whip of SPD. In 1989, the then North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Johannes Rau nominated him as Head of the State Chancellery, from 13 July 1990 he held this office as Minister for Special Tasks, after the state elections in 1995 he became a member of the Rau Cabinet as Minister for Economic Affairs, Technology and Transport.
On July 14, 1997 he was awarded an honorary doctorate (Dr.-Ing. e.h.) by the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the University of Hagen, and on November 12, 2004 he received an honorary doctorate (Dr. jur. h.c.) from the Faculty of Law at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum.
Wolfgang Clement is author and freelance columnist, member of various supervisory boards, boards of trustees and advisory boards of national and international companies and scientific institutions. He is a member of the Frankfurt Future Council as Deputy Chairman.