Stephan Dorgerloh

Stephan Dorgerloh is Managing Director at Wider Sense. As a strategy expert and moderator with decades of experience, he guides foundations and companies through complex processes of strategic and organizational change. As a former Minister of Education and the Arts and Managing Director of the Protestant Academy Wittenberg, he is the first point of contact for our core topics of education and democracy, culture and politics.

How he came to Wider Sense? „Everything is linked with everything else,“ says Stephan Dorgerloh, quoting the German philosopher and scientist Alexander von Humboldt. After all, he was involved with his current areas of expertise from early stages in his professional career: After acting as director of studies for civic-youth education with a focus on democratization and transformation processes in Eastern Europe, Mr. Dorgerloh for many years led the conceptual development of the Protestant Academy in Luthertown Wittenberg as managing director. As a member of the church board, he was involved in the merger of two regional churches. In 2008, the theologian and ordained minister was commissioned by the National Council of the Protestant Church in Germany to conceptualize the international lutheran and cultural anniversary “Luther 2017” and to establish the Protestant Wittenberg Foundation.

In 2011, he was appointed Minister of Education and the Arts of Saxony-Anhalt, and elected President of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the States in the Federal Republic of Germany (KMK) in 2013. Some of his main conceptual and strategic impulses during this post include integrating the KMK into international networks as well as fostering structural cooperation with German foundations.

Since 2016, Stephan Dorgerloh has worked as an advisor to foundations such as the Robert Bosch Stiftung and Stiftung Mercator, advising federal states and cultural foundations on the transfer of educational innovation and strategy development. In 2018, he devised and founded the National Education Forum, which gathers education experts from Germany and around the world in Wittenberg once a year. Since 2020, he is a member of the German UNESCO Commission.

Stephan Dorgerloh is a passionate, knowledgeable and experienced presenter. His presentations often focus on education and policy innovation in the sector as well as on issues of democracy development. „His many years of management and leadership experience are a great asset for us and our clients’ strategy processes. Stephan structures complex initial situations in a fresh way and thus always generates interesting new perspectives,“ says his business partner Michael Seberich.

Stephan Dorgerloh publishes as a guest author in various newspapers, including the weekly DIE ZEIT, and has published several books.