Bernd Neuendorf

Neuendorf was born in Düren and grew up in the municipality of Hürtgenwald. He studied modern history, political science and sociology in Bonn and Oxford after receiving his Abitur from the Gymnasium am Wirteltor Düren. He played youth football for FC Grenzwacht Hürtgen, where he is still a club member, as a left winger until suffering a serious knee injury. After a traineeship at Reuters from 1989 to 1990, he worked as an editor for the Associated Press in Frankfurt until 1991. Between 1992 and 1999, Neuendorf was a parliamentary correspondent for various daily newspapers in Bonn. He then moved to the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung in Halle (Saale). There he was deputy editor-in-chief from 2001 to 2003.

Neuendorf is married and has two children.

In 2003, Neuendorf became a spokesperson for the SPD party executive in Berlin. In 2004, he became the head of the press and public relations department for SPD North Rhine-Westphalia. From 2007 to October 2012, he was the state manager of the SPD in North Rhine-Westphalia. From October 2012 until the change of government in June 2017, he succeeded Klaus Schäfer as state secretary of the Ministry for Family, Children, Youth, Culture and Sport of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Since 1 October 2019, Neuendorf has served as a board member of the Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt Foundation in Hamburg.