Friedhelm Hengsbach

Nils Schmid (born in Trier) on July 11, 1973) is the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany in Baden-Württemberg.

Professional career and party politics

After his A-levels (average: 1.0) at Eduard Spranger School, Filderstadt, in 1993, Schmid studied the law at the University of Tübingen. He worked as a lawyer, and in 2006 he received his doctorate (summa cum laude) from Tübingen University. But then he gave up his professional career in favour of politics. <ref http://www.focus.de/politik/deutschland/wahlen-2011/baden-wuerttemberg/tid-21754/nils-schmid-der-anti-mappus_aid_611481.html /ref> Schmid joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1991 - and in 1993 he was already elected chairman of the Esslingen district of the Young Socialists of Germany, becoming deputy chairman of the Young Socialists of Baden-Württemberg in 1996. In 1997 Schmid was elected as a member of Baden-Württemberg's state parliament. There he gradually developed into his party's main speaker on financial affairs. He was elected deputy leader of the Social Democratic MPs in the Baden-Württemberg parliament, and, in 2009, he became the leader of his party in that state (after winning a poll among its members). After the Baden-Württemberg general elections of 2011 Schmid became Deputy Prime Minister of the state of Baden-Württemberg, as well as its Minister of Financial and Economic Affairs. <ref http://www.nils-schmid.de/index.php?mod=content&menu=701&page_id=15481 /ref>