As Administrative Director, Echinger is responsible for the household, including budget planning, and is also head of the institute's administration. This includes the areas of finance/controlling/procurement, third-party funds, human resources, legal department, building management and IT. Echinger's appointment by the LIfBi Board of Trustees was accompanied by a change in the institute's statutes, with the position of administrative director taking the place of the previous commercial director. "I am looking forward to my new field of activity at LIfBi with great anticipation," explains Stefan Echinger. His previous professional stations included the Max Planck Society and the Helmholtz Zentrum München, various non-university research institutions where he was able to gain extensive experience at management level in national and international science management. "After four years as Director for Institutes and Infrastructure at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, I am delighted to now return to my Bavarian home and to be able to accompany LIfBi in its further development. I am especially looking forward to the cooperation and exchange with my new colleagues in Bamberg," says the new Administrative Director of the Bamberg Leibniz Institute.

The search committee appointed by the institute emphasized the diverse qualifications with which Echinger convinced in the appointment process. In particular, his experience in strategic-administrative functions and his eye for a successful interaction between administration and science with regard to the further development of the institute were emphasized by the commission.

"With Stefan Echinger, we have gained a figure for LIfBi who has both the administration of the institute and the institute's development in mind. I am very much looking forward to working with him, and I welcome him cordially also on behalf of all LIfBi staff!", said Director Cordula Artelt.