Having grown up in Wittmund, Ihnen graduated from Mariengymnasium Jever and studied law from 1974 onwards at the
University of Göttingen. She completed her legal clerkship after the first state examination. After the second state examination she worked as a lawyer in Wittmund from 1983 to 1985. In autumn 1985 Ihnen took up a position at the
Deutsche Bundesbank. In 1988 she moved to the State Ministry for Federal and European Affairs of Lower Saxony. At the end of 1989 she moved to Brussels on a professional basis as a national expert at the
European Commission. At the end of 1991 she was entrusted with the establishment and management of the Office of the State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern at the European Union in Brussels. In 1997 she was elected First County Councillor in the district of Uelzen. Further activities in the Lower Saxony state administration followed. In January 2012, minister
Stefan Birkner appointed her State Secretary in Lower Saxony's State Ministry for Environment, Climate Protection and Energy. With the change of government following the
2013 elections she was put into temporary retirement. == Political career ==