Verena Bentele is regarded as the most successful German disabled athlete of all time and is the president of Germany's largest social organisation, the VdK. In biathlon and cross-country skiing, Verena Bentele, who was blind from birth, has won a total of twelve gold medals at the Paralympics and four gold medals at world championships. After an outstanding career, Verena Bentele retired from active competitive sport at the end of 2011. Parallel to her sporting career, she completed a degree in literature at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and completed training as a systemic coach in 2011. Even before the end of her sporting career, she began to get involved at a high level in socio-political issues. From January 2014 to May 2018, she was the Federal Government Commissioner for Disabled People. Since May 2018, she has been President of VdK, Germany's largest social organisation. Verena Benteles has received numerous awards for her outstanding sporting achievements, including being voted World Disabled Sportswoman of the Year in 2011 and receiving the Laureus World Sports Award and the Bambi together with her fellow runner Thomas Friedrich. The business magazine CAPITAL included her in its list of the ‘Top 40 under 40’ in 2019 and 2020, and in 2022 she was named one of the ‘40 over 40 - Germany's Most Inspiring Women’ by FemaleOneZero. As a keynote speaker, Verena Bentele speaks on topics such as trust, motivation, team building and performance.