Dr. Barbara Held

Senior Expert

Senior Government Director ret.

Dr. Barbara Held

Expert for critical communication and digitalization

Barbara Held engages in telecommunication and eGovernment projects for friedrich30, especially in (mission-)critical communication and digitalization in the field of public safety.

Behind this are over twenty years of strategic involvement with IT and security subjects in the remit of the German Federal Ministry of the Interior and in the European Commission.

Held is also a freelance journalist and moderator for Behörden Spiegel.

Career

From 2012 until her retirement, she was head of department at the Federal Agency for Digital Radio of Security Authorities and Organizations. There she led the departments of principle (for law, press IT security, etc.), operations, and strategy and control.

Prior to her time at BDBOS, Barbara Held progressed through several positions at the Federal Ministry of the Interior in Berlin and in Brussels at the European Commission. Until 2012, Held steered police IT strategies in the Public Security Department. At the European level, she represented Germany as head of delegation in various Council working groups on Schengen and Prüm matters.

She also worked at the German government's IT coordination and advisory office, where her responsibilities included formulating and marketing the federal administration's open source and open standard strategies and various eGoverment projects.

Held also completed an academic career at the Free University of Berlin as a communications scientist with research interests in media use in the new German states, quality journalism and public relations.

Education

Barbara Held holds a master's degree in Hispanic Studies, Journalism and History from the University of Mainz. She has a doctorate in communication studies from the Free University of Berlin.

Private

In her freetime, Held is enthusiastic about IT, especially smart home applications, and furthermore about many water sports. She has preserved a lively interest in the culture and politics of Spain from her student days. She enjoys cooking for family and friends.