Franz Knieps leads since July 2013 as the Chairman the Umbrella Association of Company Health Insurance Funds in Germany (BKK Dachverband e.V.).
Franz Knieps was currently partner of the privately owned public affairs consultancy WMP HealthCare. He has over two decades of experience in the fields of statutory health insurance, drug policy, as well as pricing and reimbursement. At WMP HealthCare and at Wiese Consult before, he advises leading actors in the German health care system.
Before joining the private sector, Franz Knieps was Director-General for the Health Care Insurance, Long Term Care in the Federal Ministry of Health until December 2009. Prior to the government, he held the position of a political director at the AOK Bundesverband and worked as a consultant for the World Health Organization and the European Union, as well as almost all Eastern European countries. Franz Knieps has contributed to all reform projects of the German health care system since 1989.
Franz Knieps studied law, political science and new German literature in Bonn and Freiburg, Germany. He worked at the Institute for Employment Law and Social Security Law at the University of Bonn.