Archive notice: This article was originally published on July 16, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Both Marmor and Beyer came well above the two-thirds majority required by the NDR State Treaty in a secret ballot. Of the 53 votes cast, both received 51 yes votes; 2 votes were invalid.
Lutz Marmor, long-serving NDR Administrative Director and currently in the same function as well as Deputy Director General at WDR, succeeds Prof. Jobst Plog. Plog leaves in January 2008. Dr. Arno Beyer takes over his new task as early as September 1; at that time his predecessor Joachim Lampe leaves NDR. Beyer, Director of the NDR State Broadcasting House Lower Saxony, will hold the office of Deputy Director General in a dual function. According to the NDR State Treaty, the Director General and Deputy Director General are elected by the Broadcasting Council for a term of six years.
Helmuth Frahm, Chairman of the NDR Broadcasting Council: “The Broadcasting Council made its decision on the new Director General at the earliest possible time. This was preceded by a selection process that appeared difficult externally, but at the end of which stands an excellent result: Lutz Marmor is an experienced media manager. He enjoys an excellent reputation throughout ARD and far beyond. At his side in Dr. Arno Beyer is a journalistic professional who has demonstrated his outstanding qualifications in management positions at various points in NDR.”
Lutz Marmor: “I am pleased about the convincing votes of the Broadcasting Council and the Administrative Board, which represent a great vote of confidence. NDR is a journalistic company with an outstanding reputation: northern German and at the same time cosmopolitan, independent of economic as well as political interests and close to the people. I regard it as a major challenge to lead this company successfully into the future despite ever tighter financial framework conditions – a future that will be digital.”
Dr. Arno Beyer: “The appointment of a State Broadcasting House Director as Deputy Director General is a novelty. The bodies have thus sent a signal: Even in the age of globalization, NDR’s firm anchoring in the region will constitute the particular strength of the four-state broadcaster. Together with the Director General and the female and male directors at NDR, I will work to continue using this strength. At the same time, however, we will also continue to rely on high-performance central offerings and their synergy potential.”
Prof. Jobst Plog: “NDR’s supervisory bodies have shown strength: With great independence, they made a decision that withstands all professional criteria. NDR is in a good position in every respect, yet difficult tasks will also have to be mastered in future. I am certain that NDR’s future leadership team will continue the organization’s open, liberal tradition. Lutz Marmor and Arno Beyer will keep NDR on a clear course.”
Lutz Marmor (53) comes from Cologne. After studying business administration and academic activities, Marmor joined WDR’s main Finance Department in 1983. In 1986, he took over management of the Accounting Department there. In 1991, Marmor went to the newly founded Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg (today RBB) in Potsdam as Administrative and Operations Director. In 1995, he moved to NDR as Administrative Director, where he co-initiated and supported numerous important major projects. Here, in a dual function, he was Managing Director of the advertising subsidiary NDR Media GmbH. Within ARD too, Lutz Marmor repeatedly took on important functions for the community, including as Chairman of the Finance Commission in 2003/2004 and, since 2006, as Chairman of the GEZ Administrative Board. In 2006, Marmor moved to WDR as Administrative Director, where he also became Deputy Director General.
Arno Beyer (52) was born in Bottrop. He studied German studies, linguistics and philosophy in Bochum and Münster. On the side, he wrote as a freelancer for Ruhr-Nachrichten. He began at NDR after his doctorate in 1981 as a trainee. After positions as an editor at NDR 90.3 and in the then main Politics Department of NDR radio, he became Head of Programming at NDR 2 in 1989. In 1992, he moved to the NDR State Broadcasting House Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel and became Deputy Director there and Head of the radio division. In the same function, he went to Hanover in 1993. Beyer has been Director of the State Broadcasting House Lower Saxony since 1997.
