State Legistlative Leaders Foundation

TLA/SLLF Europe Staff

ALFONS SCHÖPS, Director of the Transatlantic Leadership Academy and European Representative of SLLF
Alfons Schöps was born on January 3rd, 1966, in Berlin, Germany. After graduating from high school in Berlin, Mr. Schöps began his studies at the Free University of Berlin where he studied Political Science and Law. From January 1991 until December 1992, Mr. Schöps served as Chief Assistant to a member of the German Federal Parliament (Deutscher Bundestag). In January 1993, Mr. Schöps began the first of six years as Deputy Executive Director of Initiative Berlin-USA e.V. At that time, he also assumed the Executive Directorship of the Partnership of Parliaments, a position which he holds to this day. Between December 1995 and March 1999, Mr. Schöps served as Program Director to the Checkpoint Charlie Foundation in Berlin. In 1999, the SLLF announced the creation of SLLF/Europe, a new branch dedicated to bringing key European, American, and Canadian parliamentary leaders together to examine public policy issues of mutual interest.  Alfons Schöps was made Director of European Operations. The European office of SLLF is based in Berlin, Germany.

From 2001 until 2004, he served as Chairman of the Board of the Steuben-Schurz-Association Berlin/Brandenburg, and became elected to the Board of Trustees of the Initiative Berlin-USA e.V. and served at the Board of Trustees of the Initiative Berlin-USA e.V. until 2006. He was awarded Honorary Membership of the Berlin Historical Association.

Mr. Schöps is a member of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), the German Officers’ Mess Association, the German-Ukrainian-Forum e.V., the German Atlantic Association, and KOLPING International. He is member of the board of the Foundation of the Saint-Hedwigs-Cathedral in Berlin.

Mr. Schöps is married to his wife Christiane Schöps.

Mr. Schöps may be contacted at SLLF[at]berlinoffice.org.

JANNECK HERRE, Bureau Chief and Executive Assistant to the Director
Janneck Herre was born March 19, 1973 in Berlin, Germany. He studied Modern History, Political Science and American Studies in Berlin as well as in Williamsburg, Virginia. He is currently a graduate student in these fields at Humboldt University in Berlin.

Before joining the staff of the State Legislative Leaders Foundation, he worked as a Program Manager for the Partnership of Parliaments, the Initiative Berlin-USA, and the Checkpoint Charlie Foundation. In 1995, he took part in the famous “Wrapping of the Reichstag,” in which the German parliamentary building was wrapped in aluminum fabric by the artist Christo. Mr. Herre teaches English on the side.

In addition to the Partnership of Parliaments, Mr. Herre belongs to the Berlin Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, the NAACP, and the German Organization for the United Nations. Since 2001 he has served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Initative Berlin-USA. In 2003 he was elected, and in 2005 re-elected as Vice-President for the German-Hungarian Association.
Mr. Herre can be contacted at SLLF[at]berlinoffice.org.