The members of the Board of Trustees of the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) are appointed by the Federal Government and by the Government of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The board is composed of staff members of federal and state government departments with a particular interest in the DIE's activities and of representatives of public life. Its task is to supervise the Institute's work. 

The DIE's Board of Trustees is composed of the following members:

• Ambassador Alexander Baum
  EU Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation to Botswana, European External Action Service, Brussels
• Andreas Botsch
  Head of Department Internationale und europäische Gewerkschaftspolitik, DGB - German Trade Union Confederation, Bundesvorstand, Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Philipp Dann
  Public Law and Comparative Law, Humboldt-University Berlin
• Dr. Patricia Flor
  Federal Foreign Office
• Prof. Dr. Ulrike Grote
  Director, Institute for Environmental Economics and World Trade, University Hannover
• Joachim Heidebrecht
  Head of Department, KfW Development Bank, Frankfurt am Main
• Jürgen Hein
  Head of Department, State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf
• Martin Jäger (Chair)
  State Secretary, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
• Dr. Inge Kaul
  Adjunct Professor, Hertie School of Governance, Berlin
• Zeno Reichenbecher
  Head of Division VD1 - Entwicklungspolitik, Vereinte Nationen, UNCTADT, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Conrad Schetter
  Director, Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC)
• Joachim Steffens
  Ministerialrat, Referat VD 1 - Entwicklungspolitik, Vereinte Nationen, UNCTAD, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Bonn
• Prof. Dr. Udo Steffens
  President and CEO, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management gGmbH, Frankfurt
• Annette Storsberg
  State Secretary, Ministery for Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia