The appointment of the new Executive Board became necessary ahead of schedule after the long-standing Chairman of the Executive Board, former State Councillor Michael Sieber, submitted his resignation on 1 February 2025 for health reasons. The two other members of the Executive Board, Dr Lothar Müller and Barbara Lison, took this as an opportunity to also resign in order to clear the way for a new appointment.
Mayor and Senator for Culture Dr Andreas Bovenschulte thanked the departing board members: ‘Michael Sieber, Lothar Müller and Barbara Lison have steered the fortunes of the Rudolf Alexander Schr?der Foundation in a clever and prudent manner for over two decades and have thus convincingly shaped one of the most prestigious literary prizes in the German-speaking world. I am convinced that the new board will continue this valuable work for the foundation with great continuity, but perhaps also with new accents.’
Lucia Werder has been Director of Bremen City Library since 2023 and is involved in several national and international library committees.
The literary scholar and renowned literary critic Dr Wiebke Porombka, who has worked for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (F.A.Z.) and Die Zeit, among others, has been literary editor at Deutschlandradio since 2018. Porombka is a member of the jury for various German literary prizes, including the Bremen Literature Prize since 2012.

Karen Struve is a professor of French literature at the University of Bremen and has been a board member of the Bremer Literaturkontor for many years. She is also a jury member of the Bremen Bookstore Prize and an active member of the °globale literature festival team. She has also been involved in the ‘City of Literature’ network since 2024.
The Rudolf Alexander Schr?der Foundation is named after Bremen's honorary citizen, the poet, translator, architect and interior designer Rudolf Alexander Schr?der (1878-1962). It has awarded the highly endowed Bremen Literature Prize every year since 1962 and is also responsible for sponsoring the Literary Week in Bremen. The Bremen Literature Prize is supplemented by a sponsorship prize, which has been ?nanced by Deutschlandfunk Kultur since 2025.