David Gill

Who is David Gill?

David Gill is a German civil servant and politician, currently serving as Secretary of State and head of the Bundespräsidialamt, the administration of the President of Germany. He was appointed on 19 March 2012 by President Joachim Gauck. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.

He grew up in East Germany, where he initially studied theology, the only subject he was allowed to study. After the German reunification, he worked for the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records and became a close aide of Joachim Gauck, serving as his press secretary. In 1991, he was one of six individuals, one of them also being Gauck, who were awarded the Theodor Heuss medal by the Theodor Heuss Foundation, on behalf of the peaceful protesters of 1989 in then-East Germany.

In 1992, he left the Federal Commissioner's office to study law, and earned an LL.M. at the University of Pennsylvania in 1998. In 2000, he passed the second state examination, qualifying as a lawyer. He then worked as an adviser to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. From 2004, he worked for the Evangelical Church in Germany.