The 52-year-old lawyer Dr. Jörn Hohenhaus will succeed Dr. Christoph Strutz as senior vice president at Leibniz University Hannover. As head of the university administration, Dr. Christoph Strutz has managed the university’s activities since 2013. He will retire at the end of September 2026. The LUH Senate supported the hiring committee’s recommendation. The president of LUH, Prof. Dr. Volker Epping, had previously also expressed his agreement with the nomination. The Senate unanimously elected Jörn Hohenhaus on 17 February 2026 with no abstentions. A hearing with the candidate, who was the only individual put forward by the hiring committee, was held beforehand and was open to the university community. Following the election, the Foundation Council unanimously agreed to appoint Mr. Hohenhaus as Mr. Strutz’s successor as senior vice president effective 1 October 2026. The initial term will run for six years.
Jörn Hohenhaus holds a doctorate in law and is currently the chancellor at Hochschule Ruhr West in the Ruhrgebiet region. The native of Detmold studied law at the universities of Trier and Münster. Following positions as a research staff member and the completion of his practical legal training, Hohenhaus was initially self-employed as a licensed lawyer (primarily in labour and administrative law) before moving into academic management. From 2006 to 2008, he served as aide to the executive board and the management of the German Association of University Professors and Lecturers (DHV).
He subsequently transferred to the University of Cologne, where he held various management positions and oversaw overarching projects from 2008 to 2016. These included the management of the provost’s staff, the establishment of a new department for research management and the qualitative restructuring of the appointment management system following the granting of Excellence status to the university. Mr. Hohenhaus also headed the budget department there during the implementation of SAP and was responsible for planning and managing all of the university’s finances.
From 2017 to 2021, Jörn Hohenhaus served as the elected head of the administration at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, a renowned and highly international art college. From 2019, he also served as spokesperson for the heads of administration of the art and music colleges in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). In 2021, he took on the position of chancellor at Hochschule Ruhr West, a university of applied sciences founded in 2009 which focuses on STEM subjects and on economics and management. He is also a member of the executive board of the Digitale Hochschule NRW association and part of the steering committee for the competence centre for construction at NRW’s universities. In addition, Jörn Hohenhaus is active in the governance bodies of various institutions within the academic system and as a member of teaching staff in the field of academic management.
“I am very pleased that we have been able to recruit such an experienced university administrator as a member of the Presidential Board,” said Prof. Dr. Volker Epping, president of Leibniz University Hannover. “In addition to the skills necessary for his key responsibilities as head of the university administration, Jörn Hohenhaus also brings with him strategic experience, creative drive and essential qualities such as team skills and empathy. This makes him an outstanding fit for the Presidential Board team. Mr. Hohenhaus will also serve as a source of continuity and a bearer of knowledge within the university management, which will undergo significant staffing changes in the next few years.”
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Mlynek, chair of the LUH Foundation Council and the hiring committee, added: “Leibniz University Hannover faces big challenges and big opportunities in terms of its development over the coming years. Mr. Hohenhaus has already demonstrated elsewhere that he can lead the university administration with innovation, vision, strategic acumen and far-sighted planning, while also keeping the issues impacting the university as a whole clearly in mind. This is why I am certain that he will provide outstanding support in positioning and developing Leibniz University Hannover.”
Jörn Hohenhaus is also looking forward to taking on the responsibilities of senior vice president at Leibniz University Hannover: “I am very grateful for the trust placed in me by all the status groups at LUH. The university is pursuing an impressively self-confident and resolute path of strategic development. With its particular focus on the economic, societal and political benefits of its teaching and research, it is taking a future-oriented approach. I look forward to working with all the staff members in the university administration to make a professional contribution to the success of the university as a whole, and to further developing LUH’s strategy with the Presidential Board over the coming years.”
The senior vice president is part of the university management and is responsible for the areas of finance, internal audits, construction, human resources and legal affairs, university organisation and university IT.
Note to editors:
For further information, please contact Mechtild Freiin v. Münchhausen, spokesperson for Leibniz University Hannover and head of Communications and Marketing (tel. 0511 762-5342, email: kommunikation@uni-hannover.de).
