Corporate Advisory Board

Dr. Hannes Ametsreiter
CEO mobilkom Austria and Telekom Austria Group

Hannes Ametsreiter was born in 1967 in Salzburg where he studied journalism and communication as well as sports sciences. After earning his PhD, he continued his academic career with a couple of modules of the general MBA studies at Peperdine University in the US. He started his professional career as International Brand Manager with Procter and Gamble. In 1996, he started his career in the telecommunications sector with mobilkom Austria in the area of product management, of which he became supervisor of two years later. In 2000, he was promoted to the divisional head of marketing, and parallel to that, the procuration was transferred to him.
Since January 2001, Dr. Ametsreiter has been heading the newly created business unit – Marketing and Sales – which was expanded to Customer Services in June 2002. Additionally, he was CMO of Mobiltel (a part of the mobilkom Austria group) from July 2005 until July 2006. Since July 2007, Dr. Ametsreiter has held a dual function – next to the position as head of Marketing and Sales with mobilkom, he has been responsible for the divisions Marketing, Customer Services and Sales for Telekom Austria AG. Dr. Ametsreiter was promoted as CEO of mobilkom Austria and Telekom Austria Group in April 2009.

Dr. Roland Falb
CEO Roland Berger Strategy Consultants

Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Roland Falb has been a member of the management board of the Roland Berger Viennese office and a managing partner in the internationally-active strategic consulting company Roland Berger Strategy Consultants since 1996. Dr. Falb concentrates in particular on companies in the consumer goods sector as well as trading companies, and he is responsible for divisions strategy, marketing and sales, and logistics. Regarding these area of expertise, he is – apart from Austria - in charge of the emerging markets in CEE, where Roland Berger Consultants also runs offices in some of these countries.
After graduating from TU Graz (Industrial Engineering- Mechanical Engineering), he worked as research associate and focused on work organization and logistics. Between 1988 and 1996, he worked for Steirerbrau AG where he initially held a leading sales position. Following that, he was responsible for investment/shareholding politics. During the last three years at Steirerbrau AG, he was Human Resources Manager.
Roland Berger Strategy Consultants is one of the leading strategic consulting companies worldwide. Founded 1967in Munich, Roland Berger is the only European company that has succeeded among all global strategic consultants. Roland Berger supports one-third of the top 1.000 global companies and more than 40% of the leading European companies as well as public institutions in all matters related to strategic corporate management/governance.

Martin-Hannes Giesswein
Country Manager at Nokia Austria

Martin-Hannes Giesswein is Nokia’s Country Manager for Austria. He has had a variety of responsibilities at the company, working first in Germany as head of the enterprise division, and later relocating to Vienna to direct the Alps-Southeast region in the fields of Internet services as well as retail and product marketing. Prior to that, he worked at AI informatics as the business unit manager for Central Europe, with a focus on IT and web-solutions for the telecommunication and utility industry.
Mr. Giesswein holds a degree in law, and began his career in the Chamber of Economy as legal adviser, lobbyist and ebusiness leader.
Throughout his career, he has dedicated himself to managing the impact of new media on traditional businesses and transforming organizations from the old economy to new business models. In these areas, he is organizing networks of experts to foster the cross-company understanding of the beneficial use of new technology and is lecturing on the business aspects of the web.

Wolfgang Horak
CEO Fujitsu Technology Solutions

Wolfgang Horak, born on August 23, 1955, in Vienna, began his career with Philips Data Systems. From 1976 to 1984 he held various leadership roles at Burroughs in Vienna and Frankfurt. Following that, he worked for Nixdorf Austria as Sales Director on the board of directors. After the Siemens-Nixdorf merger, Wolfgang Horak took over as head of the regional authority and electric utility divisions. In 1996, he joined Siemens AG Austria. There, he was responsible for the business with new network operators and, later, the “trans-sectoral large project” divisions. From 1999 to 2001, he was also a founder and managing director of the Siemens subsidiary bit media e-learning solution in Austria and Germany.
For three years, starting in 2000, Wolfgang Horak was responsible for CRM worldwide in the newly formed central department CIO (Corporate Information and Operations) at Siemens in Munich and Vienna. From October 2003 to 2005, Horak acted as Director of Customer Focus for Central and Eastern Europe in Vienna, an assignment that includes, among other things, responsibility for CRM and e-business. Wolfgang Horak joined Fujitsu Siemens Computers as Managing Director in Austria in October 2005. In December 2008, he was appointed as Senior Vice President of the Southeastern region of Europe. This function was extended by Fujitsu Services and its subsidiary companies in the Region South Eastern Europe after the transition to Fujitsu Technology Solutions on April 1st 2009.

Petra Jenner
CEO Microsoft Austria

Petra Jenner (44) was appointed as General Manager for Microsoft Austria in February 2009. She heads 340 employees and is responsible for the Austrian division, which comprises 5.000 companies and 2 billion Euros worth of value creation. The CEO of Microsoft Austria lives according to the saying „ Treat others the way you want to be treated“.
Before working for Microsoft, the German-born graduate in Business Administration and Business Informatics was Regional Director for Germany, Austria and Switzerland for the Israeli-American security specialist Check Point Software Technologies based in Munich. In addition to that, she has been responsible for other Northern European countries since 2008.
Before that, she was the CEO for Pivotal GmbH in Munich. Since the beginning of the 90s, Jenner has gained management experience with companies like iMediation, Informix Software und Sybase. In her spare time, she enjoys travelling, dancing, skiing and yoga. She is married and has been living in Vienna since April 2009.

Dr. Sophie Karmasin
CEO Karmasin Motivforschung

MMag. Dr. Sophie Karmasin, was born in 1967 and has been living in Vienna. She is the CEO of Karmasin Motivforschung GmbH. Her psychology and business administration studies (graduation in 1992) and various positions in advertising agencies as well as with Henkel lead her to market research and her current heading function. Besides Dr. Karmasin is giving lectures and seminars nationally as well as internationally and publicizing different articles.
In 2006, she was involved in the foundation of the Innovationspraxis, a company specializing in innovation processes. Additionally she has founded a separate consulting company - Sophie Karmasin Market Intelligence Gmbh - together with Wolfgang Rosam and Dietmar Ecker.

Dr. Achim Kaspar
CEO Cisco Austria

Achim Kaspar is head of the Austrian operation for Cisco. He has been involved in the ICTC industry for over 13 years and has worked with leading public and private companies in Austria and with Austrian and EU institutions. He joined Cisco in April 2008 as General Manager for Austria after being CEO of a leading Austrian business telecommunications provider for many years. Prior to this he held other leading positions in the Austrian telecommunications industry and spent time in various management roles in the Austrian energy sector.
Dr. Kaspar is a well-known expert on market liberalization in the energy and telecommunications industry. He is also a board and expert group member of different public and private industry organizations.
Between 2003 and 2007, Dr. Kaspar served as president of VAT, the Austrian Association of Alternative Telecommunication Providers. He is author of several white papers and other publications in the ICTC sector and holds a PhD in business economics from the University of Graz (Austria). He is married with two sons and enjoys skiing.

Evelin Mayr
Director Human Resources and Member of the Country Management Team, Hewlett-Packard Austria

Evelin Mayr has been Human Resources Director and Member of the Country Management Team of Hewlett-Packard Austria since September 2007. In this position she is responsible for human resource strategies and concepts including their implementation within Austria.
Evelin Mayr brings know-how and extensive experience in both the field of human resources and the IT-environment. Her professional career started in the field of marketing communications with the IT solution provider NCR Austria and switched later into the area of human resources, where she was previously responsible as Compensation & Benefits Manager for Austria, Eastern Europe and Turkey. In 2000, she took over the management of human resources at S & T AG, where she was responsible for 23 countries. In the function of Director of Human Resources, Evelin Mayr was also a member of the general management team of S & T Austria GmbH.
Mayr completed an Executive MBA program at Danube University Krems and graduated with distinction. In 2008, she also graduated as Master of Advanced Studies in Public Relations. Her further qualifications include being an academically certified coach and organizational developer (MSc).

Barbara Novak
Vienna State Parliament and Chair of the Internet Center for Education

Barbara Novak was sworn in as a member of the Vienna City Council in April 2001 at the age of 24. As a spokeswoman for information and communication technology, she is responsible for projects concerning trend-setting infrastructure and content, like broadband networks, and ground-breaking IT-applications in Vienna.
Barbara Novak is also chairwoman of the ICE-Vienna association, carrier of www.wiener-bildungsserver.at and developer of the Vienna Education Network WBN. The dedicated politician was trained as manager for tourism and hotel business and in addition to her political function runs her own business as a consultant for PR and IT affairs.
One of her targets is media pedagogic education for all, in order to antagonise the Digital Divide. „Not until we succeed in splitting resources in information and communication technologies-policy equally between infrastructure, education and content can Vienna ascend among the world leaders in the ICT-sector and evolve into the most innovative broadband-city in Europe“, Barbara Novak sketches the cornerstones of Vienna’s ICT-policy.

Christian Rupp
Austrian Federal Chancellery

Mr. Christian Rupp was appointed as the Federal Executive Secretary for the eGovernment initiative of the Austrian Federal Government in spring 2003. Beginning in fall 2005, he has been the spokesperson of the Federal Platform “Digital Austria” in the Austrian Federal Chancellery, which coordinates the ICT and eGovernment activities between local and national governments and municipalities, as well as industries. Since 2006, the Federal Republic of Austria has been ranked number one by the European Commission for eGovernment Services in Europe. Many applications of “Digital Austria” have been recognized with the eEurope Award and the UN Public Service Award, in addition to other international honours. Collaborating with many countries in the CEE, SEE, and the Arab League, “Digital Austria” has built up a know-how and technology transfer program in the ICT and eGovernment sector.
In his function in the Federal Chancellery, he is also member of the advisory board for the Information Society, which coordinates the EU Digital Agenda activities in Austria. For nearly ten years prior to his activities in the Federal Chancellery, he was the eBusiness representative of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber. Beyond that, he was Vice-Director of communications and marketing, Director and founder of the eCenter (development of training and advisory tools), and adviser for international technology and know-how transfer in the Chamber Organisation.
In the last fifteen years, Mr. Rupp has been involved in various committees of the European Commission; the i2010 high level group and the eEurope steering committee among them. He was also the organizer of the “eInclusion EU Ministerial Conference & Expo 2008”. At the moment, he is on the Board of Directors for the United Nations World Summit Award in eContent and Creativity (UN-WSIS, UN-GAID, UNIDO, UNESCO), and is Vice Chair of the International Council for Information Technology in Government Administration (ICA), as well as on the hearing committee for the qualification “CMC – Certified Management Consulting” (International Council of Management Consulting Institutes).

Dr. Georg Serentschy
CEO RTR

Dr. Georg Serentschy was appointed CEO of RTR-GmbH, the Austrian Broadcasting and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, Telecommunications Division, in 2002 and reappointed in 2007 and 2010. In addition to its regulatory tasks, RTR serves as a public think-tank for telecommunication and electronic media topics. Besides his national agenda, Mr. Serentschy is actively involved in the coordination of telecommunication issues with the European Commission and 27 national European agencies. In 2010 he has become a member of the board of the European regulatory body BEREC. In December 2010 he was appointed as Vice Chair of BEREC for 2011 as well as Chair of BEREC for 2012. Before these assignments, Mr. Serentschy was Managing Director of Arthur D. Little's operations in Austria and Central Eastern Europe. His main fields of activity in top-management consulting were marketing issues, strategy development and finance for fixed and mobile operators as well as Internet service providers. His professional experience of more than 30 years lead him to various industries, such as satellite communications, research in the energy sector and software development. Before starting his industrial career, Mr. Serentschy worked as a nuclear physicist in basic research. He graduated from the University of Vienna, Austria, and holds a PhD degree in nuclear physics and mathematics.

DI Leo Steiner
GM IBM Austria

DI Leo Steiner was born in Graz in1954. In 1978 he graduated from the Technical University in Graz with a degree in Civil Engineering. In the same year, he started his professional career as Systems Engineer for the Public Sector Division of IBM Austria.
Since 1980, he has held various management positions within the Sales, Engineering and Services divisions of IBM. Ever since he started with IBM, he has remained with the company. In 1997 he was appointed Director of Industry Sales in some emerging markets, and in 1999 he became Director of Networking Hardware Sales, EMEA. In 2000, Mr. Steiner was appointed Vice President Web Server Sales, EMEA and four years later he became Vice President for e-business on demand, Europe. In 2005 he was promoted to Vice President Business Development STG, Northeast Europe, and during the following year, he became Vice President Technology Collaboration Services STG, Northeast Europe. Since January 2007, he has been Country General Manager for IBM Austria. Mr. Steiner is married and has one daughter.

SC Dr. Arthur Winter
BMF

SC Dr. Arthur Winter was born in 1944 and studied law and political science before he started his professional career in 1970 in the office of the federal chancellor (Bundeskanzleramt) within the department of IT-coordination.
In 1986 he transferred to the Ministry of Finance where he headed the principle department in the IT-section. Since 1992, Dr. Winter has headed the IT-section in the Ministry of Finance where he is, among other duties, responsible for the implementation of the ADV-accounting and the setup of IT-Controlling instruments as well as the setup of a corporate network not only in the financial administration but also in the entire public sector. In addition to that, he has been involved in the outsourcing of the federal data processing center and the promotion of various e-government solutions (e.g. HELP.gv.at, FINANZ online). He also implemented the tool SAP/R3 in the accounting system of the Austrian Federal Administration.