Marcus Optendrenk
# Marcus Optendrenk

Marcus Optendrenk (born 1969) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as Minister of Finance of North Rhine-Westphalia since 29 June 2022. He was first elected to the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia in 2012.

## Early life and education

Optendrenk was born in 1969 in Lobberich, North Rhine-Westphalia. From 1988 until 1995 he studied law, history, and English at the universities of Trier and Maastricht. He obtained a doctorate in history.

## Early career

From 1999 until 2005, Optendrenk worked as a policy researcher for his party's group in the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia, working first on infrastructure and, from 2001, on fiscal matters. From 2005 to 2010, he served as the chief of staff to Helmut Linssen, who was then State Minister of Finance of North Rhine-Westphalia. After holding a posting at the state's ministry of finance for two years,

## Political career

A member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), Optendrenk held several leadership positions in the local party association and its youth wing, Young Union, in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He was elected a member of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia in the 2012 North Rhine-Westphalia state election.

In the negotiations to form a coalition government of the CDU and Green Party under Armin Laschet following the 2017 state elections, Optendrenk was part of his party’s delegation in the working group on economic affairs, infrastructure und financial policy. According to Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, he was considered for a positions in Laschet's cabinet but became deputy chairman of the CDU's parliamentary group instead.

### State Minister of Finance, 2022–present

On 29 June 2022, Optendrenk was appointed State Minister of Finance in the second government of Hendrik Wüst. In late 2022, Optendrenk's budget was found to be unconstitutional by the state's auditing authority for reappropriating more than four billion Euro of debt taken on for the purpose of Covid-19 relief.

## Other activities

### Corporate boards

* NRW.BANK, Ex-Officio member of the Supervisory Board (since 2022)

### Non-profit organizations

* Aktion Deutschland Hilft (Germany's Relief Coalition), Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022)
* Action Medeor, Member of the Advisory Board

## Personal life

Optendrenk is married and has one son.

