Thomas Westphal

{{Infobox officeholder | image = Thomas Westphal, Dortmund 2018.jpg | image_size = | caption = Thomas Westphal, 2018 | honorific_prefix = | name = Thomas Westphal | honorific_suffix = | office = Lord Mayor of Dortmund | term_start = 1 November 2020 | term_end = | predecessor = Ullrich Sierau | successor = | status = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1967|2|22|df=yes}} | birth_place = Lübeck, West Germany | death_date = | death_place = | party = Social Democratic Party of Germany | alma_mater = | occupation = Politician | signature = | footnotes = }} '''Thomas Westphal''' (born 22 February 1967 in Lübeck<ref name="expercon-Thomas_W">{{cite web|url=http://www.experconsult.de/de/fuer-kommunen/news/news/thomas-westphal-wird-neuer-geschaeftsfuehrer-der-wmr.htm|title=Thomas Westphal wird neuer Geschäftsführer der wmr|work=experconsult.de|accessdate=9 April 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170410053323/http://www.experconsult.de/de/fuer-kommunen/news/news/thomas-westphal-wird-neuer-geschaeftsfuehrer-der-wmr.htm |archivedate=10 April 2017}}</ref>) is a German economist, politician (SPD) and the lord mayor of Dortmund. Previously, he was managing director of City of Dortmund Economic Development Agency from 2014 to 2020. Before, he was managing director of business development metropoleruhr (''Wirtschaftsförderung metropoleruhr'', wmr), whose advisory board he still belongs to today.<ref name="metropol-Aufsicht">{{cite web|url=http://business.metropoleruhr.de/unternehmen/aufsichtsrat-beirat/|title=Aufsichtsrat & Beirat |work=business.metropoleruhr.de|date=23 March 2017|accessdate=9 April 2017}}</ref> From 1993 to 1995 he was Federal Chairman of the Jusos.<ref name="ruhrnach-989972" /> Westphal assumed as the lord mayor of Dortmund on 1 November 2020.<ref name="amtszeiten2020">{{cite web|url=https://www.ruhr24.de/dortmund/dortmund-ullrich-sierau-afd-fehlverhalten-sondersitzung-august-2020-coronavirus-13833298.html |title=AfD Dortmund zwingt OB Sierau in Sondersitzung und fordert dort seinen Rücktritt – und das kurz vor seinem Rücktritt|work=ruhr24.de|date=17 July 2020 |accessdate=27 September 2020}}</ref><ref name="digistad-000528">{{cite web|url=https://wahlen.digistadtdo.de/wahlergebnisse/Kommunalwahl2020/05913000/html5/Buergermeisterstichwahl_NRW_28_Gemeinde_Stadt_Dortmund.html|title=Oberbürgermeisterstichwahl – Kommunalwahlen / RVR-Wahl 2020 in der Stadt Dortmund – Gesamtergebnis|work=wahlen.digistadtdo.de|date=26 July 1997|accessdate=28 September 2020}}</ref>

== Professional career == Westphal grew up in Lübeck and studied economics at the Hochschule für Politik und Wirtschaft in Hamburg. He is a long-standing co-editor of ''Spw – Zeitschrift für sozialistische Politik und Wirtschaft'' (''Journal for Socialist Politics and Economy'').<ref name="spw-_Das_sin">{{cite web|url=http://www.spw.de/xd/public/content/index.html?sid=spwverlag|title=Das sind wir!|work=spw.de|date=17 February 2010|accessdate=9 April 2017}}</ref>

After Westphal was managing director of managing director of business development ''metropoleruhr'' (''wmr'') from 2010,<ref>{{cite web|author=PresseBox (c) 2002–2019 |url=https://www.pressebox.de/pressemitteilung/business-metropole-ruhr-gmbh-bmr/Thomas-Westphal-wird-neuer-Geschaeftsfuehrer-der-wmr/boxid/376787 |title=Thomas Westphal wird neuer Geschäftsführer der wmr, Business Metropole Ruhr GmbH (BMR), Pressemitteilung – PresseBox |date=28 September 2010 |accessdate=5 September 2019 |language=de-DE}}</ref> he took over the post of managing director of the Economic Development Agency of the City of Dortmund in 2013.<ref name="ruhrnach-989972">{{cite web|url=http://www.ruhrnachrichten.de/staedte/dortmund/44137-Dortmund~/Wirtschaftsfoerderung-Dortmund-Thomas-Westphal-wird-neuer-Geschaeftsfuehrer;art930,1989972|title=Thomas Westphal wird neuer Geschäftsführer|author= |work=ruhrnachrichten.de|date=|accessdate=9 April 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170410214441/https://www.ruhrnachrichten.de/staedte/dortmund/44137-Dortmund~/Wirtschaftsfoerderung-Dortmund-Thomas-Westphal-wird-neuer-Geschaeftsfuehrer;art930,1989972 |archivedate=10 April 2017}}</ref> He previously worked for ''Rhenus AG'', ''SCI Verkehr GmbH'', ''ISA Consult'' and most recently for ''Wincanton GmbH'' in Weinheim.

During his work as managing director of the Economic Development Agency, Westphal initiated a new economic policy orientation for the City of Dortmund from the end of 2014.

Westphal describes start-ups of new companies as a "crucial driving force" for structural change in Dortmund.<ref>{{cite web|author=Michael Schnitzler |url=https://www.ruhrnachrichten.de/dortmund/zwei-brueder-werben-fuer-den-gruenderstandort-dortmund-und-die-gruendermesse-die-initiale-1334660.html|title=Zwei Brüder werben für den Gründerstandort Dortmund und die Gründermesse "Die Initiale"|accessdate=5 September 2019 |language=de}}</ref> By attracting new, knowledge-intensive start-ups and increasing the number of branches of local companies, Dortmund should become an important location for innovation. In concrete terms, this means the establishment of new research institutes and universities and the long-term commitment of founders to Dortmund. In this way, the entire city's demand for services such as gastronomy, hotels and retail is to be increased by tying skilled workers and trade tax revenues to Dortmund as a location.<ref name=":2">{{cite web|author= |url=https://dosys01.digistadtdo.de/dosys/gremrech.nsf/(embAttOrg)/F5CB6539D284323EC1257D81003B2BA0/$FILE/VorlageVG%2313824-14.doc.pdf?OpenElement |title=Drucksache Nr.: 13824-14 |accessdate=5 September 2019}}</ref>

== Politics == === Early years and federal chairman of the Jusos === Initially, Thomas Westphal was active in Lübeck and Schleswig-Holstein for the Jusos and in the SPD. He was part of a political movement who called themselves "Juso-Linke" (''Juso-left'') and were also known as "Stamokaps" (''Staatsmonopolistischer Kapitalismus'', state monopolistic capitalism).

Westphal was elected as the federal chairman of the Jusos at the Juso federal congress in 1993. At the Juso federal congress in Gera in May 1995 he was re-elected a one-vote majority over his opponent Stephan Grüger of the so-called ''Reformsozialisten'' (''reform socialists''). Because invalid votes for Westphal had been counted and delegates who had not been correctly elected had been reported from different regional associations (''Landesverbände''), the federal arbitration commission (''Bundesschiedskommission'') of the SPD declared the election of the chairperson invalid a few weeks later. At the following extraordinary federal congress of the Jusos with repeat elections in Bonn-Bad Godesberg, he renounced a new candidacy there and proposed Andrea Nahles as his successor.<ref name="berliner-063212">{{cite web|url=http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/andrea-nahles--neue-vorsitzende-der-jusos-17063212 |title=Andrea Nahles, neue Vorsitzende der Jusos |author=Henning Sußebach |work=berliner-zeitung.de |date=9 April 2017 |accessdate=9 April 2017}}</ref>

=== SPD vice chairman and Lord Mayor of Dortmund ===

Since April 2018, Westphal is vice chairman of the SPD sub-district of Dortmund. He ran as the SPD's candidate at the local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia in 2020 for the position of the Lord Mayor of Dortmund.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.spd-dortmund.de/aktuelles/news/detail/detail/News/unser-ob-kandidat-thomas-westphal/ |title=Unser OB-Kandidat: Thomas Westphal |accessdate=5 December 2019}}</ref> In the first ballot on 13 September, he received 35.87% of the vote<ref>{{cite web|url=https://wahlen.digistadtdo.de/wahlergebnisse/Kommunalwahl2020/05913000/html5/Buergermeisterwahl_NRW_23_Gemeinde_Stadt_Dortmund.html |title=Oberbürgermeisterwahl – Kommunalwahlen / RVR-Wahl 2020 in der Stadt Dortmund – Gesamtergebnis |accessdate=3 October 2020}}</ref> entered the runoff on 27 September, where he won over the CDU candidate Andreas Hollstein with 52.06%.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://wahlen.digistadtdo.de/wahlergebnisse/Kommunalwahl2020/05913000/html5/Buergermeisterstichwahl_NRW_28_Gemeinde_Stadt_Dortmund.html |title=Oberbürgermeisterstichwahl – Kommunalwahlen / RVR-Wahl 2020 in der Stadt Dortmund – Gesamtergebnis |accessdate=3 October 2020}}</ref> He took office on 1 November 2020. He succeeds Ullrich Sierau (SPD), who was no longer a candidate. In October 2025 he lost against CDU-politician Omar Kalouti.<ref>[https://www.zeit.de/news/2025-09/28/cdu-mann-kalouti-loest-spd-amtsinhaber-in-dortmund-ab Zeit.de: CDU-Mann Kalouti löst SPD-Amtsinhaber in Dortmund ab], October 2025</ref>

== Personal life == Westphal lives in Dortmund since 1996.<ref name="ruhrnach-989972" /> He is married and has two children.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lokalkompass.de/dortmund-city/c-ueberregionales/westphal-ist-neuer-wirtschaftsfoerderer_a293904 |title=Westphal ist neuer Wirtschaftsförderer |date=8 May 2013 |accessdate=5 September 2019 |language=de}}</ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Westphal, Thomas}} Category:1967 births Category:Living people Category:Politicians from Lübeck