Sönke Lauterbach has announced his resignation as chairman of the executive board and secretary-general of the German Equestrian Federation (FN) on Monday 15 July 2024.
Lauterbach has headed the federation full-time since 2009. His employment contract will end on 30 September 2025.
No Confidence
One week ago, the FN's budget deficit in 2023 and a report on the control mechanisms were the focus of an extraordinary assembly in Warendorf.
At this meeting Lauterbach did not survive the vote of confidence nor president Hans-Joachim Erbel and treasurer Gerhard Ziegler. Erbel and Ziegler resigned on the spot.
An independent auditing report stated that the federation had appropriate control mechanisms despite some potential for optimization and classified the 2024 budget as plausible overall.
While the assembly approved the 2024 budget, the president, treasurer and secretary-general were not relieved (i.e. meaning that they can no longer be held responsible for the state of affairs).
Resignation
"The trust in me has suffered massively and the criticism of the federation has become increasingly focused on me personally in recent weeks. I have the feeling that I have become an increasing burden to the FN. I no longer see myself in a position to lead the federation in the long term," explained the 50-year-old Lauterbach, who is a lawyer by education.
He continued, "I take responsibility for the mistakes made in the context of budget planning and monitoring for 2023/2024 and for the fact that our control mechanisms did not work well enough."
In November 2023 first Lauterbach received criticism when he announced his separation from his wife Nina and his current relationship with FN colleague, lawyer Constanze Winter.
Unconditional Trust
In the official FN press release on the resignation of Lauterbach FN Vice President Dr. Harald Hohmann stated that he deeply regrets the decision of his Secretary General.
"I had to digest this news first. From the point of view of the Presidium and from my point of view, Soenke Lauterbach is the right man in the right place. Soenke Lauterbach, together with his colleagues on the Board and the relevant committees of the FN, has drawn the right conclusions from the failures and mistakes of the past and proposed or already implemented measures that are necessary to deal with the current situation. He always enjoyed the unconditional trust of the voluntary and full-time management bodies. It is all the more bitter that he wants to leave us. Soenke Lauterbach's decision deserves our greatest respect."
Until his retirement, Soenke Lauterbach will continue to perform his duties in full.
"I will use all my strength for the tasks ahead in order to lead the association back into safe waters," said Lauterbach
Photo © Astrid Appels
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