What I love about my profession …
“… many big and small things …

… the vast diversity of civil engineering, where so many different people come together to collaborate and build for the future of society.

… working abroad, getting familiar with other cultures and different forms of collaboration.

… dealing with soil and rock as an essential supporting element of the structure: to understand and characterize the essential properties, and to deal with these – each time in a different environment.

… the trustful and enjoyable cooperation in our WBI family – with highly qualified, humanly pleasant, enthusiastic and reliable colleagues.”

Dr.-Ing. Bettina Wittke-Schmitt joined WBI in 1997 and became member of the Board of Management in 2004. She is fluent in German, English and Spanish and has knowledge in French and Italian. Therefore, she is deeply involved in the international business as well as project acquisition at WBI.

She has contributed to the realization of

• more than 20 railway tunnels with a total length of ~190 km, including surface and underground stations as well as shafts,
• more than 15 road tunnels with a total length of ~44 km, including cuts in the portal area as well as ventilation and emergency shafts,
• more than 10 hydraulic tunnels with a total length of ~165 km,
• more than 15 dams and hydropower structures including caverns,
• more than 10 geotechnical structures.

Amongst many other projects, she has made important contributions to the roller compacted concrete dam El Zapotillo in Mexico, which was planned for a height of 130 m above foundation, as well as to the Kallidromo tunnel, a ~9 km railway tunnel in Greece.

Dr.-Ing. Bettina Wittke-Schmitt is a member of the Engineering Chamber, of the German Geotechnical Society and the International Society of Rock Mechanics (ISRM), as well as the German Society for Large Dams (DTK) and the corresponding International Professional Committee ICOLD. She is head of the publishing board of the “Taschenbuch für den Tunnelbau”, a yearly publication series on tunneling, and member of the Technical Board of the DTK. In parallel to working at WBI, Dr.-Ing. Bettina Wittke-Schmitt achieved her PhD in Rock Mechanics (Permeability of Salt Rock) as an external student of Aachen Technical University (RWTH).

Before joining WBI, Dr.-Ing. Bettina Wittke-Schmitt was member of the German Federal Administration for Waterways and Navigation and completed a secondary education in administration, management and law, which is required to enter into the Higher Civil Service in Germany. Before, she graduated with excellent results as Diplom-Ingenieur in Civil Engineering (hydraulic structures and sanitation) from the University of Hannover.