Katja Suding | |
|---|---|
 Suding in 2015 | |
| Leader of theFree Democratic Party inHamburg | |
| In office 8 November 2014 – 25 April 2021 | |
| Deputy | Claas Voigt |
| Preceded by | Sylvia Canel |
| Succeeded by | Michael Kruse |
| Deputy Leader of theFree Democratic Party | |
| In office 15 May 2015 – 14 May 2021 | |
| Leader | Christian Lindner |
| Preceded by | Uwe Barth |
| Succeeded by | Johannes Vogel |
| Leader of theFree Democratic Party in theHamburg Parliament | |
| In office 7 March 2011 – 24 September 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Burkhardt Müller-Sönksen |
| Succeeded by | Michael Kruse and Anna von Treuenfels-Frowein.[1] |
| Member of theBundestag forHamburg | |
| In office 24 September 2017 – 2021 | |
| Constituency | Free Democratic Party List |
| Member of theHamburg Parliament forBlankenese | |
| Assumed office 7 March 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Angelika Kempfert |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1975-12-30)30 December 1975 (age 50) |
| Party |  German:Free Democratic Party  EU:Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | University of Münster |
| Occupation | Politician |
Katja Suding (born 30 December 1975, inVechta) is a German politician of theFree Democratic Party (FDP) was a member of the GermanBundestag from2017 to 2021. She served as chairwoman of her party's parliamentary group in theHamburgische Bürgerschaft from 2010 until 2017.
Suding grew up inVechta. During highschool, she spent a year inLogan, Utah in 1993.
Suding studiedpolitical science andromance studies at theUniversity of Münster and graduated in 2003 asMagistra Artium. Already during her studies, she moved to Hamburg in 1999.[2] After six years as freelance PR consultant, Suding moved to the Hamburg office of international consulting firmEdelman in 2011, where she advisedDiageo.[3]
Suding has been a member of the FDP since 2006. Since 2008, she has been a member of the Hamburg state executive board of the party. At the2009 German federal election she stood unsuccessfully inHamburg-Altona. In December 2010, she was nominated as the leading candidate of the FDP to the2011 Hamburg state election. The party had failed to gain any seats in the2004 and2008 elections, and the polls in 2010 predicted between three and four percent. Under Suding's leadership, the FDP managed a comeback to the Bürgerschaft with 6.7% of the votes, making it the best result since 1974[4] and giving them nine of the 121 seats.[5] Suding herself was elected to the constituency ofBlankenese. After the state elections, her party's parliamentary group elected her as its chairwoman. In addition, she served as a member of the Budget Committee and the Audit Committee.
At the national party convention of the FDP in April 2011 inRostock, Suding was for the first time elected as a member of the federal executive board of the party under the leadership of chairmanPhilipp Rösler.[6] In 2015, she was elected the party's deputy chairperson (alongsideWolfgang Kubicki andMarie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann), this time under the leadership of chairmanChristian Lindner.
Suding was a FDP delegate to theFederal Convention for the purpose of electing thePresident of Germany in 2012 and2017. In 2016, she announced that she would leave state politics and instead run for a parliamentary seat in the2017 national elections.[7]
Suding was a member of the GermanBundestag from September 2017. She served as one of six deputy chairpersons of the FDP parliamentary group under the leadership of its chairmanChristian Lindner, where she oversaw the group's activities on education policy.[8] She also served as deputy chairwoman of the German-Italian Parliamentary Friendship Group.[citation needed]
In the (unsuccessful) negotiations to form acoalition government with the Christian Democrats – both theChristian Democratic Union (CDU) and theChristian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) – and theGreen Party following the elections, she was part of the FDP delegation.[citation needed]
In September 2020, Suding announced that she would not stand in the2021 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.[9]
Since 2022, Suding has been a senior advisor to Rud Pedersen Public Affairs.[10]
Suding has been married and is the mother of two sons.[13] The family lived inGroß Flottbek. In 2012, Suding separated from her husband Christian. Since 2015, she has been in a relationship with former professionaltennis playerUdo Riglewski.[14]
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