The American Council on Germany has launched a new series of online meetings titled [virtual] Transatlantic Town Halls: German-American Mayors Forum, held under the auspices of WunderbarTogether USA 2020, a comprehensive and collaborative initiative funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and implemented by the Goethe-Institut.
A Conversation between St. Louis and Stuttgart
with Mayor Lyda Krewson and Lord Mayor Fritz Kuhn
October 23, 11:30 am – 12:30 pm EDT
In 2020 St. Louis and Stuttgart are celebrating the 60th anniversary of their sister city relationship which was established to encourage people-to-people and government-to-government interaction. Since 1960, numerous exchanges have taken place between the two cities that have included: business and government leaders, medical professionals, high school and university students and faculty, choral groups, chamber musicians, ballet troupes, orchestras, and athletes.
Join the American Council on Germany for a conversation with Lyda Krewson, Mayor of St. Louis, and Fritz Kuhn, Lord Mayor of Stuttgart, about this successful sister city relationship, the local impact of COVID-19, and how they are addressing climate change.
In April 2017, Lyda Krewson won a historic election to become the first woman to serve as mayor of St. Louis. Prior to the election, Krewson served as 28th Ward Alderwoman. She is also a CPA and served as the CFO for an international design firm until her election as Mayor in 2017. As Mayor, Krewson has focused intently on public safety and also led the effort to pass a proposition supporting a half-cent sales tax to provide salary and benefit increases for police and firefighters, and a million each for summer jobs, recreation for kids, mental health, and demolition of vacant buildings. After graduating with an education degree from Truman State University, Krewson moved to St. Louis where she earned her accounting degree from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Later she worked for Deloitte for 7 years.
Fritz Kuhn was elected Lord Mayor of Stuttgart for an eight-year term in 2012. Prior to becoming Lord Mayor, Mr. Kuhn served as member of the German Bundestag with the Green Party from 2002 until 2012. He was one of the two federal chairpersons of Alliance ’90/The Greens in 2000 to 2002. Mr. Kuhn Kuhn was a member of the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg from 1984 to 1998 and again from 1992 to 2000. In the year in between, he worked as a Professor of Linguistic Communication in the years in between. Mr. Kuhn was one of the founding members of the Green Party in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1980. He studied German and philosophy at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and completed his Master’s in the field of linguistics at the University of Tübingen.
