He began an apprenticeship after school, but in 1981 the family moved to West Berlin, after their request for departure was granted.

In West Berlin he completed vocational training as a wholesale and foreign trade merchant in 1984 and worked for two years at the Friedrich Krupp AG.

[1] In May 2005 Henkel also was elected Secretary General of the Berlin CDU, serving under the leadership of successive chairmen Ingo Schmitt and Joachim Zeller.

In the negotiations to form a Grand Coalition of the Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) and the SPD following the 2013 federal elections, Henkel was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on internal and legal affairs, led by Hans-Peter Friedrich and Thomas Oppermann.

Ahead of the vote, he regularly polled behind his Social Democrat counterpart, incumbent Mayor Michael Müller.