Roland Leucker, Managing Director of STUVA, Turned 60
In April 2025, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Roland Leucker turned 60 and has thus dedicated almost exactly a third of his life to STUVA. When he was offered the position of Deputy Managing Director in 2006 by Professors Günter Girnau, Alfred Haack (former Managing Directors of STUVA) and Martin Ziegler (Chairman of the STUVA Executive Board), he initially wanted to politely decline, as the civil engineer with a doctorate and practical experience in his prime had a number of other attractive alternatives.
Roland Leucker studied at RWTH Aachen University, where he graduated at the age of 24. His studies were immediately followed by five years of research and teaching as a research assistant at the Institute of Hydraulic Engineering at RWTH, where he successfully completed his dissertation in 1995. In the same year, he took up a position at HOCHTIEF AG in Essen, where he first made a name for himself as project manager for various smaller civil engineering projects. His reliability and his own willingness not only to tackle complicated problems, but also to regularly solve them successfully with full commitment, did not go unnoticed by his employer. At the age of 34, Roland Leucker was entrusted with the technical coordination of the major “Weser Tunnel” project. He then took on responsibility for this project as project manager. His reliability ultimately led to him being appointed technical coordinator for the entire northern section of the north-south urban rail line in Cologne in 2004.
Successful STUVA Conferences and Numerous Research Contracts
This promising career in the construction company could have continued just as successfully if the STUVA based in Cologne had not become aware of him and his skills. STUVA made him an attractive offer, but it was not easy for Roland Leucker to accept, as the change meant saying goodbye to “real” engineering work on the construction site. On the other hand, the future management of a respected research and development organization was on offer. After intensive reflection and a comprehensive, logical and open analysis weighing all the individual aspects, the choice was made at the end of the deliberations: Roland Leucker opted for STUVA and launched himself into his new role with great success for the following twenty years – from 2008 as the sole Managing Director of the non-profit STUVA and from 2014 also as Managing Director of the commercial subsidiary STUVAtec GmbH.
Since taking office, he has not only brought STUVA‘s successful trademark, the biennial STUVA Conference with its trade exhibition, to new heights and significance for the entire industry. He has also succeeded in carefully shaping the upcoming generational change in the workforce and has positioned the team well for the coming decades with the addition of several young specialists. Together with his division heads, he has won a large number of national and international research contracts for STUVA – often against tough competition – including major EU research projects. In addition, he continues to lead STUVA research and employees to new research topics and assignments: For him, digitalization, sustainability, automation and artificial intelligence are not topics that bypass tunnel construction, but ones that need to be addressed. This constantly creates new and exciting tasks and keeps STUVA at the cutting edge.
Associations, Committees and Working Groups: Commitment at National and International Level
It is therefore no wonder that his forward-looking, reliable and cooperative manner is highly valued at national and international level for good reason. For example, as honorary Managing Director of the German Committee for Underground Construction (DAUB), he is the national contact for the ITA (International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association) and is involved in Working Groups 6 “Maintenance and Repair of Underground Structures” and 21 “Life Cycle Asset Management”. At ITA-COSUF, the Committee on Operational Safety of Underground Facilities, he is a member of the Steering Board and was previously its chairman for many years. At national level, he is a member of the DIN 18533 “Structural waterproofing” standards committee and a member of the BASt working group 2.6 “Tunnel Construction”.
Almost “in passing”, he also played a key role in shaping the urgently needed modern new construction of the company headquarters in Cologne for the growing STUVA between 2017 and 2018, earning the respect and recognition of the commissioned architects and construction companies of all trades with his detailed technical knowledge and his characteristic perseverance. Thanks to his strict supervision, the construction was completed within the budget set by the Executive Board. This is a notable achievement nowadays and by no means something that can be taken for granted.
Honorary Professorship at the Ruhr University Bochum
The fact that he manages to write countless specialist articles and give lectures all over the world despite all these time-consuming and demanding activities is down to his personality and his balanced lifestyle in a stable private environment. And for all his modernity, Roland Leucker is nevertheless “old school” in his work and actions: he lives and loves his profession and finds fulfillment in it. This attitude enables him to master even major challenges with remarkable clarity and perseverance. He has a rare inner strength that is all the more evident in situations where the number of tasks would have overwhelmed others. How else can you explain the fact that he has also regularly taught as a lecturer in the field of “Facility Management of Underground Transportation Systems” at Ruhr University Bochum “in his spare time” since 2012? A commitment that quite rightly earned him the title of honorary professor in 2019.
The entire STUVA family would like to congratulate their boss Prof. Dr.-Ing. Roland Leucker on his 60th birthday. We wish him good health and the preservation of his admirable creative power for the coming years and look forward to continuing our intensive collaboration in the coming years.
Ad multos annos, dear Mr. Leucker!
