Our board
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Gabriela Pantring, Chairwoman of the Managing Board
Gabriela Pantring is Chairwoman of the Managing Board of NRW.BANK and is responsible for Capital Markets, Corporate Development, Internal Audit and Legal.
After completing her training at Sparkasse Osnabrück, Gabriela Pantring began her career at the savings bank as loan officer, before joining Sparkassen- und Giroverband Schleswig-Holstein as an auditor in 1991.
From 1997, she worked for Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale, first in credit auditing in Düsseldorf and later in Group auditing in London. In 2000, she became Head of Group Audit in Düsseldorf.
In 2002, she joined the newly founded NRW.BANK, where she assumed responsibility for the Internal Audit unit. From 2006, she headed the Corporate Steering Division and, from 2010, the Special Promotion and Advisory Division. During this time, Gabriela Pantring obtained a Master of Business Administration degree and a Master of Science in Strategic Focus from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.
In 2013, Ms Pantring became a member of the Managing Board of ILB Investitionsbank des Landes Brandenburg, where she was responsible for Economy, Equity & Start-ups, Treasury and Bank Operations before returning to NRW.BANK as Chief Risk Officer in 2016. She was appointed Deputy Chairwoman of the promotional bank in 2023. She has been Chairwoman of the Managing Board of NRW.BANK since 2026.
Gabriela Pantring holds various mandates, including Vice President of the European Association of Public Banks (EAPB), member of the Management Board of the Association of German Public Sector Banks (Bundesverband Öffentlicher Banken Deutschlands e. V.) and member of the Advisory Board of the Regional Office of the Bundesbank in North-Rhine-Westphalia.
Claudia Hillenherms, Member of the Managing Board
Claudia Hillenherms is a member of the Managing Board of NRW.BANK. She is responsible for Finance, Organisation & Services, Information Technology and Digitalisation as well as Housing Promotion.
Born in Berlin, Claudia Hillenherms trained as a bank clerk at Deutsche Bank AG Berlin before studying business administration at the Technical University of Berlin. Her first professional position was as a project manager in the Business Administration Department at PwC Deutsche Revision AG. In 1999, she became Head of Business Valuation at EY / Arthur Andersen. During this time, she was appointed as a tax consultant and auditor.
In 2004, she joined Helaba. As Head of Department, she was responsible for the equity investments of Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen Girozentrale, before taking over as Head of Risk Controlling in 2017. A short stint in 2008/2009 took her to the Special Financial Market Stabilization Fund (SoFFin), where she managed the stabilisation measures in the German banking sector.
In 2020, she joined Wirtschafts- und Infrastrukturbank Hessen (WIBank) as a member of the management, where she was responsible for Finance and Accounting, Risk Management as well as IT and Organisation. Claudia Hillenherms has been a member of the Managing Board of NRW.BANK since 2022.
She is Vice Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board of Investitionsbank des Landes Brandenburg (ILB) as well as Chairwoman of the IT Committee for Promotional Banks in the Association of German Public Banks (VÖB). She is also a member of the Management Board of the Institut für Bank- und Finanzgeschichte e. V. (IBF – Institute for Banking and Financial History), the Association Council of Deutscher Verband für Wohnungswesen, Städtebau und Raumordnung e. V. (German Association for Housing, Urban and Spatial Development) and the University Council of the EBZ Business School.
Claudia Hillenherms is married.
Dr. Peter Stemper, Member of the Managing Board
Dr. Peter Stemper is a member of the Managing Board of NRW.BANK. As Chief Risk Officer, he is responsible for Compliance & Non-financial Risks, Risk Control, Credit Management and Business Support.
Dr. Stemper studied mathematics and computer science and obtained a doctorate from Gerhard Mercator University in Duisburg before spending several years in a senior position in risk management at WestLB AG from 1997.
In 2007, he joined its subsidiary, readybank ag, where he served as Head of Risk Control before taking over as CEO in 2012. From 2013, Dr. Stemper held various management positions at Portigon AG, initially as Head of Risk Services, before joining the Managing Board as CRO and CFO in 2014. In 2016, he was appointed Chairman of the Board. In this role, he was responsible, among other things, for the winding down of WestLB.
Born in Oberhausen, Dr. Stemper joined NRW.BANK in 2019, where he was responsible for Corporate Development. He became a member of the Managing Board in 2024.
Dr. Peter Stemper holds various mandates, including Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Portigon AG and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Stiftung Zukunft NRW. He is also a member of the Risk Management and Accounting Committee of the Association of German Public Sector Banks (Bundesverband Öffentlicher Banken Deutschlands e. V.).
Dr. Peter Stemper is married with three children.
Johanna Antonie Tjaden-Schulte, Member of the Managing Board
Johanna Antonie Tjaden-Schulte serves on the Managing Board of NRW.BANK. In her capacity as a board member with front-office responsibilities, she oversees Equity Finance, Grant-based Promotion, Promotion Programmes, Promotion Programme Advisory Services & Customer Service as well as Transformation and Innovation.
After training as a bank clerk, she held various positions in the corporate clients business at Commerzbank AG, first as Deputy Head of the Foreign Trade Department, and from 2004 as a specialist in structured financing solutions for SMEs. At the same time, she completed her banking studies at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management with distinction. In 2012, she became Head of Process Management for Corporate Client Financing.
Ms Tjaden-Schulte then joined the management team of Commerzbank AG, where she was responsible for renewable energy project finance from 2013 and for structured corporate finance from 2015. In 2017, she became Head of the sales organisation for integrated corporate clients consulting in North Rhine-Westphalia. In addition to this, she was responsible for major change and transformation projects. In her role as Head of SME Credit Risk Management & Collateral Management Corporates Germany, which she took over in 2021, she was also responsible for the automation and digitalisation strategy. Ms Tjaden-Schulte became a member of the NRW.BANK Managing Board in 2024.
In addition to her long-standing role as Managing Director, Ms Tjaden-Schulte is also active as a mentor and Advisory Board member and is a strong advocate in networks for the economy and the future of the banking sector.
Besides her role as Managing Board member, she is also a member of the Advisory Board of Gründerfonds Ruhr and member of the Fin.Connect.NRW steering committee.
Johanna Antonie Tjaden-Schulte is married with one child.