Prof. Dr. Michael Hüther is one of Germany's most prominent economists and a widely respected voice in economic policy debate, known for his regular contributions to public discourse on macroeconomic policy, industrial competitiveness, and structural reform in Germany and Europe. Born in Düsseldorf in 1962, he studied Economics and History at the Justus Liebig University Giessen and the University of East Anglia, Norwich, before beginning his career as a research and teaching assistant at the Chair of Economics II (Public Finance) in Giessen. From 1991 to 1999, he served on the staff of the German Council of Economic Experts, becoming its Secretary General in 1995. He subsequently held the position of Chief Economist at DekaBank in Frankfurt am Main from 1999 to 2004.

Since 2004, Prof. Hüther has been Director and Member of the Presidium of the German Economic Institute (Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft, IW) in Cologne. He holds an honorary professorship in Economics at the European Business School in Oestrich-Winkel since 2001 and has served as Adjunct Professor at Stanford University since 2019, following an earlier appointment as Gerda Henkel Adjunct Professor there in 2016–2017. In recognition of his contributions, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by the Federal President. Prof. Hüther is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of TÜV Rheinland AG, Vice Chairman of the Board of Atlantik-Brücke, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne, among numerous other advisory and trustee roles.