Lutz Görgens, Germany's consul general for the Southeast U.S., has been elected dean of the Georgia consular corps.

He succeeds Reda Mansour, Israel's consul general in Atlanta since 2006, who will be stationed in his home country for the next two to three years.

Dr. Görgens, whose election as dean was announced by Chris Young, Georgia's chief of protocol and director of international affairs, has been stationed in Atlanta since July 2007. He has served previously in Turkey, Mexico, Tunisia and Algeria. He holds a Ph.D. in German literature and history from the University of Tübingen near Stuttgart.

As dean, he will organize monthly meetings of the consular corps that typically feature political and business leaders, such as Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Home Depot Inc. cofounder Bernard Marcus, Dr. Görgens told GlobalAtlanta.

"The role of the consular corps here in Atlanta is to enhance the global connections of the city, the state of Georgia," he said. "But it goes beyond the city and the state. We have 22 career consul generals. Twelve of these have a constituency of six states or more."

The consular corps sometimes takes out-of-town trips. This year, for example, the corps visited Fort Stewart in Hinesville and the ports of Savannah and Brunswick, said Dr. Görgens.

"We try to reach out and not be limited to the city of Atlanta," he added. 

The new Israeli consul general in Atlanta will be Opher Aviran, who is scheduled to arrive next week. Mr. Aviran has previously been posted in Australia, Burma and the Netherlands.

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