°®åú´«Ã½

Speakers): Dr. Philipp Rösler

Please join the Center for Global Business and the Economy for the next speaker in our Global Speaker Series. Philipp Rösler, German Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, will be presenting on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 from 12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. in Cemex Auditorium. 

Dr. Philipp Rösler became Germany's Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister of Economics and Technology in 2011. He is also the leader (chairman) of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and as such heads the smaller partner in Germany’s ruling coalition between Chancellor Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and the FDP. The 40-year-old is the second youngest member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet and shot to fame when he first joined the top ranks of government as Federal Minister of Health in 2009.

Born in Vietnam, Philipp Rösler grew up in the German state of Lower Saxony. After training to become a combat medic in the German Bundeswehr (German Federal Defense Force), Rösler studied medicine at Hanover Medical School and completed his medical education at the German Army Hospital in Hamburg where he received his doctorate in cardio-thoracic-vascular surgery in 2002.

Rösler joined the FDP youth organization, the Young Liberals, after finishing high school in 1992. He started his political career in his native State of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) where, from 2003-2009, he was member of the State Legislature as well as chairman of the parliamentary group of the Free Democrats. In February 2008, Rösler was appointed Minister for Economics, Labor and Transport as well as Lieutenant Governor of Lower Saxony. In October 2009, he was called into Chancellor Merkel’s Federal Government as Federal Minister of Health. Only two years later, in May 2011, he moved on to his current position.