Consultant and Former Director General for Health Care and Long Term Care Insurance, Germany's Federal Ministry of Health

Franz Knieps was born in 1956 and studied Law and Political Science at Bonn and Freiburg Universities, specialising in Labour and Social Law, from 1975 to 1981. He also studied Political Science at Bonn from 1984 to 1986. He began his career in government in 1986 working at the Federal Association of Local Sickness Funds and moved to the Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs in 1987, working on the Health Care Modernisation Act of 1988.

In 1989 Franz became Head of the Policy Staff Unit at the Federal Association of Local Sickness Funds, in this post he was responsible for legislation, policy and operational strategy in the Social Insurance and Health fields. In 1998 Franz moved to be Policy Manager within the same unit, acting as a consultant for Social Policy and Health Care system development for the World Health Organisation, the EU and the German Government.

In February 2003, Franz was appointed as Director General for Public Health Care, Health Insurance and Long-Term Care Insurance at the Federal Ministry of Health. Franz remained in this position until the end of 2009. In January 2010, he became Managing Director of Wiese-Consult in Berlin. Franz also edits the magazine ‘Gesundheit and Sozialpolitik’ (Health and Social Policy) and contributes to numerous publications in the social law and health policy arena.