The economist was Angela Merkel’s man for the economy.
(Photo: imago/allefarben-foto)
Berlin Lars-Hendrik Röller, former economic and financial policy adviser to Chancellor Angela Merkel, is returning to ESMT Berlin as Professor of Economics. The 63-year-old’s decision to go to the international business university was welcomed by the university’s president, Jörg Rocholl: “As the second president of ESMT, Lars-Hendrik Röller set the course for the growth of the university and laid the foundation for our research-oriented faculty,” said Rocholl the Handelsblatt. The university will benefit from his newfound political expertise, both in the classroom and in research.
Röller was President of ESMT from September 2006 until he moved to the Chancellery in July 2011. In his research and teaching, he will now concentrate on the connections between the economy, companies and society, with a focus on geopolitical risks. The timing of the change could not have been better given the current Ukraine conflict.
Röller was one of the Chancellor’s closest associates. He was her “Sherpa” who prepared the international G7 and G20 summits for her. Just a few months ago, she sent him to Washington at the head of a delegation to negotiate with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan about the Nord Steam 2 natural gas pipeline.
Above all, however, Röller was Merkel’s man for business. When a CEO approached the chancellor with his problems, she often referred him to Röller. He accompanied the Chancellor on many trips abroad.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
It also happened that he tested the robustness of a door in the German chancellor machine. He won that fight too.
>> Also read: Merkel must find a compromise – the G20 bazaar
Röller is an economist through and through. Before moving to the Chancellery, he was President of the Verein für Socialpolitik, the oldest and most renowned German economist network. During his time in the Chancellery, Röller never let the connection to ESMT and the scientific work be broken. He sat on the podium at various events at the university.
Stations in Stanford, New York and Barcelona
Röller can look back on a flawless career as an economist. He was a visiting professor at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, New York University and Stanford University, among others. In addition to his economic expertise, Röller had a quality that Merkel valued above all in her environment: discretion.
Only very rarely did he leak a few internals to a small circle. In one case, this was due to a long night session of the Federal Cabinet at Meseberg Castle. The Röller, who was otherwise in such good condition, seemed a little tired the next day. That was the only time the journalists had an easy time with him at a meeting.
ESMT students can look forward to many practical anecdotes. No professor in Germany has worked in the control center of political power for so long. Last but not least, Röller has excellent contacts.
He worked closely with today’s French President Emmanuel Macron when he was still an economic adviser to the government in Paris. The passionate tennis player, who played against the future world-class player Yannick Noah in his youth, should now have more time for his passion.
More: Jörg Kukies becomes Olaf Scholz’s super advisor