Board of Management
Bethel is managed by a full-time Board of Management. According to the statutes, the board is headed by an ordained protestant theologian as chairman of the board. The members of the board specialise in the individual fields of work and core responsibilities. They are appointed by Bethel's Board of Governors. The Board of Governors is the highest decision-making body for Bethel.
Pastor Ulrich Pohl, Chairman of the Executive Board
The protestant theologian Ulrich Pohl has been Chairman of the Executive Board since February 2008. In addition to theology, he studied German and protestant religion for the teaching profession. He comes from the regional church of Lippe, where he first worked in the parish and later as superintendent and synod member. Ulrich Pohl had already been in charge of the central public relations department at Bethel since 2001. Ulrich Pohl is married and the couple have two daughters.
Core responsibilities:
Theology, ethics, pastoral services, public relations, Bethel's facilities in Berlin, Hoffnungstaler Stiftung Lobetal, corporate development, digital participation, property management, Lazarus Foundation.
Dr Rainer Norden, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board
Dr Rainer Norden, business graduate, worked for Bethel as managing director of the Evangelical Hospital Queen Elisabeth Herzberge in Berlin-Lichtenberg and of the charitable Association for Community Psychiatry and Assistance for Senior Citizens, as well as a member of the Board of the Hoffnungstaler Stiftung Lobetal, before joining the Board of the v. Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel in 2010. Born in Duisburg, he has worked at the v. Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel since 1996. Dr Rainer Norden is married. The couple have two sons.
Core responsibilities:
Workshops for people withe disabilities, Handcraft Enterprises, Business Administration, Finance, Information Technology, Medical Faculty, Evangelical Hospital Bethel and Mara Hospital.
Pastor Dr Johanna Will-Armstrong
Protestant theologian Dr Johanna Will-Armstrong has been a member of the Executive Board of the v. Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel since 2015. She was previously a member of the regional church council of the Protestant Church of Westphalia and was responsible for theological education and university issues, among other things. She began her work in the Protestant church as a parish priest in the Ruhr region and later worked as a personal advisor to two presidents of the Protestant Church of Westphalia. Born in the Palatinate, she also studied Catholic theology and is married.
Core responsibilities: Bethel division in the north, Sarepta and Nazareth communities, hospice work, schools/universities, Assistance for Senior Citizens.
Pastor Dr Bartolt Haase
Pastor Dr Bartolt Haase has been on the Executive Board of the v. Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel since January 2022. He was previously Theological Director and Spokesman of the Board of the Eben-Ezer Foundation, which became the fifth foundation to join the Bethel network in 2022. The theologian began his professional career with studies in Wuppertal, Göttingen, Groningen and Paderborn. This was followed by a doctorate at the University of Göttingen, where he also worked academically at the Chair of Reformed Theology. After his vicariate in the parish of St Johann in Lemgo and in the Eben-Ezer Foundation, Pastor Dr Bartolt Haase was ordained in the Regional Church Lippe in 2006. He then spent a year as a pastor at the Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem. Dr Bartolt Haase was Assistant to the Chairman of the Board of the v. Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel until he took up his post as Chairman of the Eben-Ezer Foundation in 2013. Bartolt Haase is married. The couple have four children.
Core responsibilities: division Bethel.regional, integration assistance, Assistance for Young People, Psychiatry, People with Acquired Brain Damage, parish convention
Udo Zippel
Udo Zippel has been Commercial Director of the Eben-Ezer Foundation since 2006, which has been part of the v. Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel network since January 2022. After studying law, Udo Zippel became a legal advisor at the Office of the Regional Church Lippe in 1989, where he served as head of department from 1996. In 2001, he moved to the board of the Diaconal Work Division of the Regional Church Lippe, where he worked until taking up his post at the Eben-Ezer Foundation. In an honorary capacity, the lawyer is a member of the Board of Directors of Diaconal Work Division Rhineland-Westphalia-Lippe, currently as Chairman. He has also been Treasurer of the German Donations Council since 2018. Udo Zippel is married and has a daughter.
Core responsibilities: Management of the Eben-Ezer Foundation, legal affairs