Katja Suding (born 30 December 1975, in Vechta) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) was a member of the German Bundestag from 2017 to 2021. She served as chairwoman of her party's parliamentary group in the Hamburgische Bürgerschaft from 2010 until 2017.
Early life and education Suding grew up in Vechta. During highschool, she spent a year in Logan, Utah in 1993.
Suding studied political science and romance studies at the University of Münster and graduated in 2003 as Magistra Artium. Already during her studies, she moved to Hamburg in 1999.Andreas Dey (28 May 2015), Katja Suding: "Für mich war das immer nur ein Land" Hamburger Abendblatt. After six years as freelance PR consultant, Suding moved to the Hamburg office of international consulting firm Edelman in 2011, where she advised Diageo.Katja Suding arbeitet jetzt für Edelmann Hamburger Abendblatt, 13 January 2011.
Political career Career in state politics 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 the 2009 German federal election she stood unsuccessfully in Hamburg-Altona. In December 2010, she was nominated as the leading candidate of the FDP to the 2011 Hamburg state election. The party had failed to gain any seats in the 2004 and 2008 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 1974Hamburger FDP setzt Suding auf Platz eins Norddeutscher Rundfunk, 19 November 2016. and giving them nine of the 121 seats.Hamburger Abendblatt, 21 February 2011. Suding herself was elected to the constituency of Blankenese. 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 in Rostock, Suding was for the first time elected as a member of the federal executive board of the party under the leadership of chairman Philipp Rösler.Results at www.fdp.de . In 2015, she was elected the party's deputy chairperson (alongside Wolfgang Kubicki and Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann), this time under the leadership of chairman Christian Lindner.
Suding was a FDP delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2012 and 2017. In 2016, she announced that she would leave state politics and instead run for a parliamentary seat in the 2017 national elections.Hamburgs FDP-Chefin Katja Suding: Darum will ich nach Berlin Bild, 18 July 2016.
Member of the German Bundestag, 2017–2021 Suding was a member of the German Bundestag from September 2017. She served as one of six deputy chairpersons of the FDP parliamentary group under the leadership of its chairman Christian Lindner, where she oversaw the group's activities on education policy.FDP komplettiert Fraktionsspitze Handelsblatt, 20 October 2017. She also served as deputy chairwoman of the German-Italian Parliamentary Friendship Group.
In the (unsuccessful) negotiations to form a coalition government with the Christian Democrats – both the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) – and the Green Party following the elections, she was part of the FDP delegation.
In September 2020, Suding announced that she would not stand in the 2021 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.Rückzug Hamburger: FDP-Chefin Katja Suding scheidet aus Politik aus Der Spiegel, 5 September 2020.
Life after politics Since 2022, Suding has been a senior advisor to Rud Pedersen Public Affairs.Suding ist Senior Advisor bei Rud Pedersen Politik & Kommunikations, 21 March 2022.
Other activities Alexander Otto Sportstiftung, Member of the Advisory BoardAdvisory Board Alexander Otto Sportstiftung. Übersee Club, Member of the Board of TrusteesBoard of Trustees Übersee Club.
Personal life Suding has been married and is the mother of two sons.www.katjasuding.de . The family lived in Groß Flottbek. In 2012, Suding separated from her husband Christian. Since 2015, she has been in a relationship with former professional tennis player Udo Riglewski.Katja Suding liebt Ex-Tennisprofi Udo Riglewski Stern, 7 January 2016.
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External links
Personal website Facebook site