Prof. Dr. Helmut Haussmann, born in 1943 in Tübingen, studied economics and social sciences in Tübingen, Hamburg, and Nuremberg. After he finished his diploma studies in 1968, he became the executive director of the company Berninger & Spilcke KG in Bad Urach. From 1971, he was Assistant Researcher at the Chair of Business Management at the FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg where he received his Ph.D. in 1975.
Helmut Haussmann’s political career started in 1975 when he became town councilor in Bad Urach and regional chairman of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) in Reutlingen. As a member of the German Bundestag (1976-2002) and secretary general of the FDP (1984-1988), Helmut Haussmann was appointed Minister of Economics of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1988 to 1991. From 1991 to 2002, he became a member of the Federal Committee on Foreign Affairs and a Speaker for European Affairs of the FDP in the German Bundestag. Currently, he is a representative of the Cabinet of Germany in the Board of the Asia-Europe-Foundation (ASEF), Singapore.
Since 1991, Helmut Haussmann is Vice President of the international IT- and consulting firm Capgemini in Berlin. He is a member of various national and international committees and advisory boards. Helmut Haussmann is honorary professor at the Chair of International Management at the FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg. His research focuses on the role of medium sized companies in the process of globalization. Moreover, he is a guest professor for International Business at the Eberhard-Karls-University Tübingen. Since 2021, he is on the board of trustees of the Bundeskanzler-Helmut-Kohl-Stiftung (Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl Foundation).
Since 1996, he is a a member of the board of trustees of the Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation and the Theodor-Heuss-Haus-Foundation. Helmut Haussmann is Commander of the French Legion of Honor and was honored with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Medal of Honor of the FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg. He is honorary chairman of the Reutlingen County Chapter of the FDP and since 2022 honorary citizen of the city of Bad Urach.