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.
Bethel - Management Board
Board of Management
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.
Pastor Dr Bartolt Haase, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board
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
Dr Simon Stark
Dr Simon Stark has been working at the v. Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel since 2019. He comes from the Ruhr region, studied at the Ruhr University in Bochum, earned his doctorate and was head of the legal department of an international engineering group before moving to Bethel.
At Bethel, Dr Simon Stark initially worked as Chief Legal Counsel and Head of the Legal and Insurance Department. As a special representative, he was assigned to the Bethel Executive Board from summer 2023 and was responsible for human resources at the v. Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel. He will continue to manage this area as a member of the Executive Board and is also responsible for legal affairs. Dr Simon Stark is married and has two children.
Areas of specialisation: Human Resources, Legal Affairs
Pastor Andrea Wagner-Pinggéra
The Protestant theologian Pastor Andrea Wagner-Pinggéra has been on the Board of Directors of the v. Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel since December 2024. She was previously responsible for the Hoffnungstaler Stiftung Lobetal as Theological Director, as well as for the Evangelisches Krankenhaus Königin Elisabeth Herzberge and the Friedrich von Bodelschwingh-Klinik in Berlin.
Prior to her time at Bethel, she was, among other things, the representative of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria for the 2nd Ecumenical Church Congress in Munich and personal advisor to the Bishop of the Evangelical Church in Bavaria, Heinrich Bedford-Strohm. Pastor Andrea Wagner-Pinggéra is married.
Areas of specialisation: Bethel in the North, Sarepta and Nazareth foundations, hospice work, schools/universities, elderly care
The corporate structure of the v. Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel is shown in our organisation chart.