Leadership | Deutscher Verein NY

Jürgen Ostertag, President

Juergen R. Ostertag is a Stuttgart native who completed his German legal studies at the Eberhard-Karls-Universitaet Tuebingen in 1990. Following his 1. State Exam in Law, he studied law in Boston, MA, where he received in 1993 his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from New England Law. In 1995 he completed his German legal education by passing the 2. State Exam in Law in Stuttgart. After initially practicing law in Germany, Juergen moved in 1997 to the US. He has been practicing law in New York City since then. As a Partner in the Corporate Practice and as the Chair of the German Practice of Pryor Cashman LLP, he mainly represents clients from German-speaking areas in the US. Juergen also serves as Director of the DAAD-Alumni Association, as Director of the German American Community Project, Inc. and as Chairman of the German School of Connecticut, Inc..

Markus Hoecherl, Secretary

Mr. Hoecherl works as executive advisor in the areas of real estate and hospitality spanning investment and asset levels and focusing on strategy, acquisition, development and operations. He has held management positions at The Greenwich Group International, Starwood Hotels & Residences, KPF, and Lord Norman Foster.Selected achievements include being a member of a team to transform the W Hotel and Residences footprint into one of the most successful urban mixed-use Brands worldwide, the strategic integration of investor directives into the New Songdo City Masterplan to successfully launch phase 1 of the development and establishing built-to-suit measures to better position commercial real estate for investment returns. Mr. Hoecherl holds graduate degrees from New York University in Real Estate Finance and Investment, from Columbia University New York and from Escola Tecnica Superior de Barcelona (Spain) where he in urban economics and planning. He has an undergraduate degree from University of Kassel (Germany) in engineering.

Jürgen Riehm, Treasurer

Jürgen Riehm, FAIA, BDA, is a co-founder of 1100 Architect. He believes in architecture as the all-encompassing art form, capable of affecting and portraying all facets of life and nature through an honest and timeless expression. Juergen has guided the firm in a number of recognized projects, including the Riverside Health Center (New York), the Queens Central Library: Children’s Library Discovery Center, and the New York Public Library Battery Park branch. Juergen received a Diploma in Architecture from FH Rheinland-Pfalz in 1977 and his Post-Graduate Architecture Degree from the Städelschule Academy of Fine Arts in 1982, where he currently serves on the alumni foundation’s advisory board. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA), Member of the Chamber of Architects in the State of Hessen, and a member of the Bund Deutscher Architekten (BDA).

Ferdinand Jahnel, Board Member

Ferdinand G. Jahnel has been with Henry Schein, Inc., since 2008 as Vice President, Treasurer, responsible for all global Treasury and Risk Management related activities of the company. Presently, he serves on the Board of the Henry Schein Cares Foundation. Previous positions include Vice President, Assistant Treasurer, at CA Technologies (formerly: Computer Associates), International Treasurer at Steelcase, Inc., and various Corporate Finance positions at The MAN Group in Europe and in the U.S. In 2012 he was appointed a Board Director of the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP), and a member of its Finance Committee. Ferdinand has a Diploma in BA from the University of Augsburg, Germany, and his MBA cum laude from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Dr. Simone Brümmer, Board Member

Dr. Simone Brümmer moved to White Plains, NY in 2010 to work as the Head of the Lower School at German International School New York. She has been instrumental in opening the school to a diverse group of international families who are united by their love of German language and German culture. Prior to GIS, Dr. Brümmer worked as a member of the administration at various schools in Schleswig Holstein, Germany, a leading member of a German research team that studied “International Achievement Motivation”, and as a teacher at the German School Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas. She holds a PhD in Psychology and is an expert on early childhood and bilingual education. Dr. Bruemmer joined the Board of Directors of Deutscher Verein New York in June 2016.

Dr. Dieter Blennemann, Board Member

Dieter Blennemann graduated from the University of Bonn in 1961 with a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry. He continued his research on isotope separation as an Assistant Professor in Bonn and later at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, working for the Atomic Energy Commission. After an executive trainee program at Bayer in Leverkusen, Dr. Blennemann held several positions in industrial companies. He lived in Sevilla (Spain), Boston (USA), and Brussels (Belgium) where he was the European Manager for Air Products & Chemicals, an American company headquartered in Allentown, PA. In 1981, he joined Carl Zeiss, a German company worldwide leading in optical and precision-mechanical devices. Dr. Blennemann became responsible for all Zeiss business in North and South America as President and CEO. He retired in 2000 and enjoys being involved in several not-for-profit organizations. Dieter Blennemann is married to Gigi Blennemann and lives in Greenwich, CT. The Blennemanns love to visit their five children and ten grandchildren. They spend a good part of their time traveling all over the world or on their boat cruising the US coast line.