Michael Schumann is Chairman of the Board of the Federal Association for Economic Development and Foreign Trade (BWA).
Appointed to the BWA Senate in 2006, he has been a member of the BWA Board since 2013. He took over the chairmanship of the BWA in April 2018.
After studying philosophy, German and American studies at the University of Bonn and the State University of New York, Schumann worked for more than 15 years in the fields of political consulting, public affairs and public relations and held leading positions in various agencies, business and media associations.
Among others, he was advisor to the former German Prime Minister and Federal Minister Dr. Lothar de Maizière, board member of the German Journalists Association Berlin (DJV) and President of the Berlin Forum for Media, Politics and Economy (MPW) as well as President of the Lions Club Berlin-Brandenburg.
In 2010, Schumann went to China for several years, where he established contacts for German companies from Shanghai and advised political institutions, municipal decision-makers and large companies on their internationalisation and guided them to Germany. In the process, he worked closely with Prof. Roland Berger, with whom he launched the Sino-German Industrial Cooperation Fund, among other things.
Schumann, who is the father of three children and happily married to a Chinese woman in his second marriage, has been committed to German-Chinese friendship for many years. He has made significant contributions to the establishment of the German-Chinese Alliance for Industry 4.0, the German-Chinese Industry Cities Alliance and numerous other initiatives.
In autumn 2019, Schumann and the current Vice-President of the German Bundestag and former German Minister of the Interior, Dr Hans-Peter Friedrich, founded the “China-Brücke” in Berlin, which is intended as a public diplomacy forum for German-Chinese relations to strengthen China competence in Germany and the understanding of both peoples for each other.
