German Cultural Center Unveils New Leadership Structure

Atlanta’s German cultural center has unveiled a new leadership structure elevating two longtime educators to shared roles at the helm, albeit with different areas of focus.

Goethe-Zentrum Atlanta’s Angelika Otte has been running the organization on an interim basis since the departure of Oliver Gorf seven months ago.  

Ms. Otte will now move to co-executive director leading the language programs and exams and certifications, while Olga Nobleton will join the organization as co-executive director of development and community engagement. 

Ms. Nobleton is a speaker not only of German but also of Ukrainian, Russian and English. She started her career as an intern with the German-American Chamber of Commerce of the Southern United States here in Atlanta and has spent nearly 20 years in education, her longest stint spanning 10 years at Atlanta International School ending in 2023. She also previously spent two years teaching at the German School of Atlanta and brings extensive volunteer and community engagement experience.

“I love connecting with local businesses, engaging with people, and using my multilingual skills as an icebreaker to start meaningful conversations,” she said in a release sent via email to the Goethe-Zentrum’s supporters. The note played up Ms. Nobleton’s skills a communicator, both in-person and through written media. See her LinkedIn profile

Ms. Otte, meanwhile, grew up in a multilingual family in Europe, studying German history and Eastern European studies at the University of Munich. She has lived in Atlanta for more than 20 years, leading a translation and localization business for 14 years, even as she taught German in local high schools before joining the Goethe-Zentrum Atlanta in 2021.

“Language is so much more than vocabulary and grammar. Different languages bring new perspectives, connections, and establish a sense of a richer community,” Ms. Otte said in the release.  See her background here

The Goethe-Zentrum is based at the Franco-German Cultural Center at Peachree Center in downtown Atlanta. The joint cultural center, supported with European Union funds and operated in tandem with the co-located Alliance Française d’Atlanta, is one-of-a-kind in North America and is part of a network of nine such Kultur-Ensemble centers worldwide.

Learn more about the Goethe-Zentrum here.