Change on the Board of the ZF Art Foundation: Lücke Succeeds Lenz

Matthias Lenz headed Corporate Communications at ZF Friedrichshafen AG from 1999 to 2015. In 2002, he was also appointed to the Chairman of the ZF Art Foundation, an independent non-profit foundation established by ZF in 1990 to promote art and culture in the Lake Constance region. The Chairman of the Foundation Board, Mayor Simon Blümcke, bid farewell to Lenz at the most recent board meeting with great appreciation: “Over the past 24 years, Matthias Lenz has successfully developed and shaped the foundation together with Executive Manager Regina Michel. I am pleased that Kai Lücke, the current Head of Corporate Communications, Marketing and External Relations at ZF, will take on this responsibility in the future and lead the foundation forward.”

Today, the foundation stands for three key funding areas: visual arts, music, and film. In its 36th year, it is financially sound. As an independent non-profit foundation, it finances its funding projects exclusively from the returns on its endowment and is legally committed to fulfilling its purpose of promoting art and culture in the Lake Constance region.

Regarding his new role, Kai Lücke states: “ZF has a strong commitment to Friedrichshafen, the Lake Constance region, and its citizens. This motivates me in my new role at the ZF Art Foundation, where this social commitment is exemplified.”

Matthias Lenz welcomed the Foundation Board’s decision on his successor: “With Kai Lücke, we have found the ideal successor. From my own experience, I know that both roles can be successfully combined, even though they are independent of one another. The foundation represents the ZF Group’s social commitment at its headquarters in a special way. The positive development of the foundation in recent years has shown that its founders – Dr. Klaus Bleyer, Max Mugler and Dr. Bernd Wiedmann – acted with great foresight in establishing sustainable, long-term support for the benefit of the region and its people.”

The year 2026 marks a period of personnel change for the ZF Art Foundation, as Executive Manager Regina Michel also retired at the end of April after 30 successful years. The position of Executive Manager will not be filled for the time being. In recent years, Chairman of the Foundation Matthias Lenz and long-serving Executive Manager Regina Michel, in coordination with the Foundation Board, have positioned the three funding programs – RE-SEARCH the ZF Fellowship for Artists (in cooperation with the Zeppelin Museum), the ZF Music Award (in cooperation with the Young Masters Pianist Festival), and the ZF Short Film Award (in cooperation with the Friedrichshafen Film Festival) – in such a way that the foundation’s work can continue on this established basis under the new Chairman of the Foundation Kai Lücke, together with long-standing staff member Talina Palmer, who is responsible for foundation operations, event management, and the coordination of funding projects.

Press contact
ZF ART FOUNDATION
Löwentaler Straße 20
88046 Friedrichshafen, Germany
T +49 7541 77-7114
xhafgfgvsghat@ms.pbz