Born in Kassel, Germany in 1952, Klaus Klipp began his professional career in a consulting group in 1984 after graduating in law. His professional focus quickly turned to regional and local government, when in the following year he accepted a post in the Regional Government of Hessen, Germany. While Head of Budget Unit within the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Klipp spent 6 months leading an institution-building mission in the East German region of Thuringia.

In 1992 he became Chef de Cabinet for the Deputy Mayor of Finance in the City of Frankfurt, and then Department Director within the Office for Internal Audit, during which he managed a project between European and North African cities on local taxation and finance. Mr. Klipp’s successes in these international cooperation projects led to the City appointing him Director of the Office for European Affairs – from 1998 until 2001 he developed and managed numerous cooperation initiatives between the City of Frankfurt and other cities and organisations across Europe.

Mr. Klipp was elected Secretary General of the Assembly of European Regions in 2001; he was re-elected to a second 5-year mandate in 2006.