Olaf Lies was born in Wilhelmshaven on May 8, 1967.

He has been Lower Saxony’s Minister for Economics, Transport, Building and Digitalization since November 2022.

Prior to that, Olaf Lies was Lower Saxony’s Minister for the Environment, Energy, Building and Climate Protection for five years.

Olaf Lies is married and has two daughters. To date, he lives with his family in Sande in the district of Friesland, where he also grew up.

After completing an apprenticeship as a radio electronics technician at the Wilhelmshaven Naval Arsenal, he did his basic military service with the Navy and attended a technical high school in Wilhelmshaven. He then studied electrical engineering at the University of Applied Sciences in Wilhelmshaven, graduating with a degree in engineering.

At the beginning of his professional career, Olaf Lies worked as a development engineer on projects in the field of hardware and software development at the Institute for Technical Scientific Innovation, among others.

Subsequently, he worked first as a research assistant and later as a lecturer at what is now the Jade University of Applied Sciences in Wilhelmshaven, specializing in electrical engineering, power engineering/regenerative energies and computer science.

At the same time, he was involved in a number of development projects, especially in the automotive industry, and developed and supervised various photovoltaic-powered drinking water projects in Africa, Cameroon.

In addition, since 1996 Olaf Lies was a member of the staff council and since 2003 chairman of the staff council of the entire University of Applied Sciences Oldenburg/Ostfriesland/Wilhelmshaven.

Political stations:

since 08.11.2022: Lower Saxony Minister for Economic Affairs, Transport, Building and Digitalization.

2017 – 2022: Lower Saxony Minister for the Environment, Energy, Construction and Climate Protection

2013 – 2017: Lower Saxony Minister for the Economy, Labor and Transport

Since 2012: Deputy state chairman of the SPD in Lower Saxony

2010 – 2012: State Chairman of the SPD in Lower Saxony

2010 – 02/2013: Deputy parliamentary group chairman of the SPD in the Lower Saxony state parliament

since 2008: Member of the Lower Saxony state parliament

since 2006: member of the district council of Friesland

2006 – 2011: deputy district administrator of the district of Friesland

2005 – 2011: Member of the SPD district executive Weser-Ems

2005 – 2013: SPD sub-district chairman Friesland

2003 – 2005: Deputy sub-district chairman Friesland

since 2002: Member of the municipal council Sande

2002 – 2008: Chairman of the SPD local association Sande

January 2002: Joined the SPD

Photo Credit: MW Henning Scheffens