Jenoptik CEO Dr. Michael Mertin has succeeded Dr. h.c. Hermann-Josef Lamberti as vice president of the Economic Council to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Jenoptik announced recently. The Economic Council to the CDU is a German association that offers its more than 12,000 members a platform for involvement in economic and social politics, guided by the principles of Ludwig Erhard’s social market economy. The association, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, discusses how to overcome the European debt crisis, the energy revolution, demographic changes and reform policies with growth perspectives. Mertin, Jenoptik’s CEO since 2007, has been a member of the executive committee of the Economic Council to the CDU since 2008 and a deputy chair of the regional organization of Thuringia since June 2010. With his election, Mertin said he will “continue to focus on maintaining Germany’s ability to compete internationally, based on the principles of the social economy. This requires economic responsibility, entrepreneurial courage and future orientation, less government involvement, a tax reform and a stable currency as well as investments in the infrastructure of our country. This is the only way to secure the foundation for future common prosperity in Germany.” Mertin also is a chair of Spectaris, the German high-tech industry association; a member in the university council at Ilmenau University of Technology; the president of Photonics21; and a board chair at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering (IOF). For more information, visit: www.jenoptik.com