Education
Vienna University of Economics and Business.
Vienna University of Economics and Business.
In September 2006, Meineke became the youngest full-time mayor elected in Germany. His election made headlines on a national level and to this day is used as a reference non-party politics in Germany. After graduating from the Matthias-Claudius-Gymnasium in Gehrden, Meineke studied economics at the Vienna University of Economics, the University of Saint Gallen and the Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen.
He is currently also working toward a doctorate degree in economics under Professor
Birger Priddat at Witten/Herdecke University. In 2012, he completed the Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program at Harvard University"s Kennedy School of Government.
Meineke is the first mayor in Northern Germany, who ran for and won a direct election for mayor as an independent candidate without the support of a political party or initiative of voters.
Meineke is a member of the presidium of the League of Cities of Lower Saxony ("Niedersächsischer Städtetag") and of the Innovators Club of the German Association of Cities and Municipalities, and has developed a particular expertise on leveraging technology (such as Web 20 capabilities) in local politics. He was also a member of the working committee of the highly renowned Reinhard-Mohn-Price (formerly known as the Carl-Bertelsmann-Price), judging world wide projects on democracy and participation.