Advisory Board

Members of the Tourism & Hospitality Industry Advisory Board of MODUL University Vienna

Karim Jalloul, Member of the Managing Board
JJW Hotel Group 

Karim Jalloul has held various positions within the Hospitality Industry, among them General Manager, Director of Operations, Founder and Managing Director in many companies such as Carlson Companies, Country Inns & Suites, Rezidor SAS, Marco Polo Hotels & Resorts, Lifestyle Living Hotels & Residences, JJW Hotels & Resorts. Karim Jalloul is a graduate of ICHM (1993) – The International Center for Hospitality Management. He has been a lecturer of Hotel Operations System and Hotel Management at the ICHM for 8 years. In 2007 he opened The Ring – Vienna’s Casual Luxury Hotel. He is currently involved in the development of the Palais Schwarzenberg as well as the Kneissl Sport and Spa Resort. He speaks a variety of European languages as well as Arabic.

Mr. Dieter Fenz
General Manager at Vienna Marriott Hotel

Dieter Fenz was born in Lower Austria and already at an early age showed an active interest in the tourism industry. In 1976, he began his career with the Hilton Group, working in the Hilton Stadtpark Hotel right here in Vienna. Thirteen years later - in 1989, he joined the Marriott Group where one of his first duties was to work as part of the opening team of the Vienna Marriott Hotel.
Since 2002, Mr. Fenz has led the Austrian Business Council for the Marriott Group under the credo “spirit to serve.” In this roll Mr. Fenz advocates for taking good care of the company’s associates in the hope that they will in turn treat the customers with the highest degree of service.
The council plays an integral role in planning CSR projects undertaken by the respective hotels as well as in organizing combined purchases by the hotels and establishing sales and marketing activities together.
He moved from Salzburg to Vienna in 2003 to head the Vienna Marriott Hotel. Since 2008, Mr. Fenz has served as the spokesperson of the GM’s Council Vienna on behalf of all the 5* hotels in the city. In recognition of his tireless efforts, Mr. Fenz earned the title of “Kommerzialrat” in June 2011 from the Viennese State Secretary, Mr. Ostermayer on behalf of the Viennese Federal Chancellor.

Mr. Norbert Kettner
Director of the Vienna Tourist Board

Norbert Kettner was born in 1967 and grew up in Jenbach, Tirol. He has been the Vienna Tourist Board’s Director of Tourism since September 1, 2007. He previously held high-level positions in private companies like the wirtschaft, kunst und kultur GmbH, which fosters creative businesses in Vienna, and in the public administration, where he served from 1993 to 2003 as a press relations officer for the then Executive City Councilor of Finance and Deputy, Mayor Sepp Rieder.
From 1997 to 2007, Kettner was a member of the board of directors of the Life Ball. He is now on the board of the Austro-Israeli Society and the supervisory board of Stadt Wien Marketing GmbH. He has been on the board of trustees for the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation since February 28, 2010.

Mag. Wolfgang Kleemann
CEO of the Austrian Hotel and Tourist Industry Bank 

Mag.Wolfgang Kleemann has been active in tourism since his youth, having explored all the various sectors of the industry. As one of the first to have combined the specializations “Banking” and “Tourism” as the focus of his economic studies, back then he had already established himself as a financial specialist in the tourism and leisure industry. For many years, Mag. Kleemann worked as an independent consultant, both domestically and internationally, assessing the creditworthiness of tourism projects. He specialized in projects in the leisure industry - specifically public baths, thermal spas, adventure facilities and renovations of hotels. Today, he is the CEO of the Austrian Hotel and Tourist Industry Bank, which provides access to funds and financing tools for the leisure industry.  

Diplom-Betriebswirt (FH) Michael Widmann
CEO PKF Hotelexperts Vienna

Michael Widmann is Managing Partner of PKF hotelexperts Vienna, part of Pannell Kerr Forster, one of the biggest auditing and consulting companies worldwide. He is a graduate of the University of Applied Sciences in Munich and Washington State University (Pullman/USA). Michael Widmann started his career in the hospitality industry as a Management trainee at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group in Singapore & Bangkok and later on was Assistant F&B Manager at Stouffer Hotels & Resorts in Seattle before becoming Consultant/Manager at PKF Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft in Munich and Managing Director of PKF hotelexperts in Munich. His focus of activities is feasibility studies for hotel projects, valuations of hotels/hotel groups, hotel project development and hotel management/operating contracts. Moreover, he is lecturing at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich and other universities in Austria, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. He is a German citizen and speaks a variety of European languages.

Dr. Peter Zimmer
Managing Director of FUTOUR Tourism Consultancy 

Peter Zimmer currently serves as CEO/managing director of FUTOUR Tourism Consultancy, Germany. Simultaneously he represents Green Globe Certification, the premier label for sustainable management and operations throughout the world, in his role as an Accredited Auditor. However, these are just a few of the many examples in his resume which reflect his expertise and years of experience in the tourism industry with a special focus on sustainable tourism. Mr. Zimmer’s professional timeline includes posts as Director of Tourism & Travel Services at ADAC Touring GmbH; Auditor of the German Tourism Association in Bonn; and Consultant for the German Technical Cooperation. Educated at the Munich University of Applied Studies as well as the State University of Bucharest where he earned a doctorate in economics, Mr. Zimmer has gone on to share his profound knowledge of tourism with students in lectures on a vast range of topics at universities both in Austria and Germany . He holds many honorary posts such as Chair of the Corporate Social Responsibility Council, Tourcert GbR, and received several awards for his contributions to the tourism industry.