Michael Heister was born in Bonn in 1961. After his studies of economic sciences and business administration he did receive his doctor´s degree in the field of economics and social policy at the University of Cologne.
From 1992 to 2009 he did join the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Policy as a member of staff in the fields of basic policy issues of social policy strategies, advisory services, bilateral co-operation with Eastern European Countries and for human resource management. In February 2003 Michael Heister became Head of Department „EQUAL, XENOS and transnational political action”. He took over responsibility for those political actions of the Ministry which were funded by the European Social Fund (ESF).
Since December 2009 he is head of department „Initiatives for Vocational Education and Trainihg “ in the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), Bonn. His department covers topics like intercompany vocational training centres, sustainable development and AI in the field of VET. He is member of the Working Group 2 “Future of Work and Humane-Machine Interaction” of Germanys Platform for Artifical Intelligence”
Since 2010 Michael Heister is Honorary Professor at the University Bonn-Rhein-Sieg teaching human resource management.