Rainer Kern

Rainer Kern studied chemistry in Karlsruhe and Heidelberg before changing to the culture and city development fields. He holds his university degree in chemistry and political science. He is the Festival Director and Artistic Director of the biggest german Jazz Festival, “Enjoy Jazz - International Festival for Jazz and More”, which he also founded in 1999 in Heidelberg. As the Representative of the Executive Mayor of Mannheim and his Special Advisor Global and UN Affairs he is responsible for the setup and strategic development of the new worldwide network/platform “Global Parliament of Mayors” (GPM) which was launched in September 2016 in The Hague, Netherlands and co-founded by the city of Mannheim. Rainer Kern is part of the team who represents the city of Mannheim at United Nations events such as HABITAT III, World Urban Forum and High Level Political Forum (HLPF) at UN Head Quarter in New York. As the representative of the executive mayor of Mannheim he was responsible for the UNESCO City of Music application of the city and is now - after the designation in December 2014 - director of this project. He is a Member of the OECD Expert Group on SDG Investments in Cities.