Born and raised in Bremen, Maike Frese studied architecture in Bremen and urban planning in Oldenburg. She began her professional career as a regional planner in Lower Saxony before moving to Bremen’s Department of Economic Affairs in 1994. There, she held various leadership positions, including head of the Port Infrastructure Division and head of cross-departmental tasks. Since August 2019, she has headed the Central Administration Department and, as administrative director, has been responsible not only for traditional areas such as human resources, budgeting, and organization, but also for national and European structural funding and fundamental economic policy issues. In addition to her duties within the department, Maike Frese spent a total of about nine years as a liaison officer for the departments of Economy, Labor, and Ports, as well as Finance, at the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen’s representative office to the EU in Brussels.