State Secretaries

Thomas Popp was born in Schweinfurt on 8 November 1961. The fully qualified lawyer began his career in the public service in 1992 as a lecturer at the Beamtenfachhochschule (college of public service) in Herrsching, continuing it at the Meissen University of Public Administration until 1997. Between 1998 and 2004, as project co-ordinator of the Free State of Saxony, Thomas Popp was responsible for developing the benchmark test between tax offices within the Tax Administration, served as head of various departments at the Freital Tax Office, and became manager of the Freiberg Tax Office in 2004.

2005 saw him move to the Saxon State Ministry of Finance as head of the Tax Administration’s Department of Organisation, Automation and Data Protection. Thomas Popp was appointed head of the Chemnitz Regional Finance Office in 2010, and head of the Saxon State Office for Taxes and Finance in 2011.

In early 2015, he moved to the Saxon State Chancellery (Representation of the Free State of Saxony to the Federation) as head of the Corporate department, a role which saw him chair the committee responsible for comprehensively assessing the Free State of Saxony’s tasks, staffing and material resources. Thomas Popp has led the Saxon State Chancellery, and managed the administrative department of State-wide Organisational Planning, HR Strategy and Modernisation since 10 April 2018.

On 1 August 2018, he was also appointed Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the Free State of Saxony, and on 20 December 2019 State Secretary and member of the Saxon State Government. This ensures the political focus areas of Digital Administration, Modernisation of Administration and HR Strategy have direct representation in the cabinet.

On 22 June 2021, the ministry agreed to the appointment of Mr Popp, Permanent Secretary, as the Saxon State Government’s Commissioner for Europe’s Capital of Culture 2025. He will be co-ordinating the state-level work to assist the City of Chemnitz in its role as Europe’s Capital of Culture for 2025, acting as its central point of contact.

On 23 June 2022, Thomas Popp was appointed honorary professor at the Hochschule Meissen (FH) and the higher training institution Fortbildungszentrum (HSF Meissen). He has been committed to the university for many years, arranging work-experience placements, supervising assignments and dissertations, and ensuring the availability of appropriate equipment. In the future, Mr Popp will be supporting the Hochschule Meissen’s educational offering in the form of lectures, seminars and discussion sessions, particularly on the topic of digital administration and administrative modernisation, and sharing his experiences with students. Mr Popp was a lecturer in tax and state financial management at this same university back in 1994.