Board of Directors

Josef Sayer took up office as Director General and Chair of the Board of Directors of MISEREOR, the German Catholic Bishops' Organisation for Development Cooperation, on 1 December 1997.

From 1981 to 1988 he lived and worked in Peru. As a priest of the Archdiocese of Cuzco he performed pastoral work among Quechua smallholders in Andean Peru. From 1987 to 1988 he worked in the slum parish of 'Señor de la Esperanza' in Canto Grande, Lima. During the time of the 'dirty war', together with the Peruvian Episcopal Commission for Social Action (CEAS) Josef Sayer developed strategies for the Church's engagement on social issues and human rights work.

From the winter semester of 1988 to 1998 Sayer was professor of pastoral theology at the Theological Faculty of the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. His research focused on the inculturation of the Christian faith in the Quechua culture, the relationship between the Church and society in Latin America, and community development. During this period too his research led him to spend five months a year in the Peruvian Andes and in Latin America. This included, for example, his attending the 4th General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate in Santo Domingo in 1992. He also took part in several human rights delegations to crisis regions in Latin America.

Josef Sayer studied philosophy and theology in Tübingen and Rome. He then went on to study social sciences and history in Constance.

Dr. Martin Bröckelmann-Simon (born 1957, married, three grown-up sons) has been a Member of the Board of Directors of MISEREOR since 1999. He is Deputy to the Director General and Head of MISEREOR’s International Cooperation Division.

He started working with MISEREOR in 1985, serving first as a desk officer for Brazil, Chile and Paraguay, then as Head of the Latin America Department from 1995 to 1999.

Before joining MISEREOR, he held positions in the Africa and Latin America Departments as well as in the field of humanitarian aid with Dienste in Übersee (‘Service Overseas’) and Brot für die Welt (‘Bread for the World’)/Diakonie. He gained his first personal experience of the living conditions of the people in the Global South when he went to Brazil as part of his studies of development sociology at Bielefeld University, which was later on followed by countless stays in and project-related visits to a wide variety of developing countries over many years.

As MISEREOR’s Managing Director in charge of international cooperation, Martin Bröckelmann-Simon, who holds a PhD in social sciences, is in charge of development cooperation with partners in Africa and the Middle East, in Asia, Oceania and Latin America. He is a member of the Committee of Katholische Zentralstelle für Entwicklungshilfe e.V. (Catholic Agency for Development Aid), of the German Catholic Justice and Peace Commission, of the Assembly of Delegates of the German Caritas Association and of the Central Committee of German Catholics. In addition, he serves as a standing representative in the General Assembly of Deutsche Welthungerhilfe, as a member of the Heads of Programme Forum, and deputy member of the Board of Directors of CIDSE.

Thomas Antkowiak, born in 1955, has been a Member of the Board of Directors of MISEREOR since February 2006. He is Head of MISEREOR’s Human Resources, Administration and Finance Division.

Thomas Antkowiak's portfolio at MISEREOR encompasses managing the Department of Human Resources, including the Association for Development Cooperation (AGEH) Contact Desk. At the same time, he is in charge of the other Departments included within the Division. These are the Finance and Accounting Department, Organisational Department, Central Documentation and Information Department, IT Services, Legal Affairs and Internal Auditing. He is also responsible for MISEREOR’s activities in the field of fair trade and the development volunteer service.

Representing MISEREOR vis-à-vis its 'subsidiaries', Thomas Antkowiak is chair of the GEPA shareholders' meeting, chair of the BEGECA administrative board, deputy chair of the MVG supervisory board, and a member of the administrative board of Raptim Deutschland GmbH. He performs these duties on an honorary basis.

Thomas Antkowiak is also deputy chair of AGEH, and a member of the boards of AGKOD and ZdK.

Mr Antkowiak's involvement in development cooperation began when he was diocesan chair of the Association of German Catholic Youth (BDKJ) in the Diocese of Hildesheim. There he helped develop the partnership with the Church in Bolivia.

After training as a forwarding agent he went on to study law in Göttingen, and served as a trainee lawyer at the regional high court in Brunswick. Having completed his second state law examination, he first of all worked in Stralsund, before being appointed Managing Director of the Jugendhaus Düsseldorf, the centre for Catholic youth work in Germany.

Mr Antkowiak is married with two daughters.