Tourism and Service Management

Entrepreneur

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Karim Jalloul moved as a child with his family to Austria. He graduated from the International Center for Hospitality Management MODUL in Vienna in 1993. After working his way through hotel operations, Karim held various management and executive positions as well as founder & shareholder in the Hospitality Industry, such as an Advisor to the Management Board and Owner’s Representative for a privately-held luxury hotel group.  He worked for companies such as Country Inns & Suites by Radisson, Marco Polo Hotels & Resorts, Lifestyle Living Hotels & Residences, Lake’s Hotel (on Wörthersee) Austria and the Kneissl Ski brand. In addition to his management positions, he worked as a lecturer at the International Center for Hospitality MODUL in Vienna from 2000 to 2020. Furthermore, he is a member of the Executive Club of the College of Higher Education Vienna, Co-Chairman of the Industry Advisory Board of Modul University, Member of the Advisory Board of Green Tourism Group and an Ambassador for Teach for Austria. Karim holds the position of Vice-Chairman of the “Dr. Michael Häupl Förderungsfonds” since its founding in 2009, a fund which supports higher education for students in need. Karim lives in Austria. He is married and has two sons.

Director of the Vienna Tourist Board

Norbert Kettner was born in 1967 and grew up in Jenbach, Tyrol. 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 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.

Boutique Hotel Stadthalle

After graduating from the MODUL Tourism School, Michaela Reitterer lead her own travel agency KUONI Hippesroither. In 2002 she bought the Hotel 'Zur Stadthalle' from her parents and step by step turned it into 'Boutiquehotel Stadthalle Wien', the number one 'Stadthotel' in the world with zero energy balance.

In 2009 Reitterer was presented with the Environmental Prize of the city of Vienna as well as the Austrian State Prize for Tourism. She was further decorated in 2010 with the Austrian Climate Protection Prize. In the same year Reitterer was also named as the Hotelier of The Year. In 2011 she received the Star Award from the Wirtschaftskammer Österreich (WKO) in the category of sustainability and the 5th Austrian 'Blue Angel' in a row. 'Boutiquehotel Stadthalle Wien' twice received the European 'Blue Angel' and was named by HolidayCheck as the most beloved hotel in Austria 2013.

Reitterer has been chairperson of the ÖHV Vienna since 2006. Since January 22, 2013 Michaela Reitterer and Mag. Gregor Hoch have been Co-President of the Austrian Hotel Association.

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.

MRICS

Martina Maly-Gärtner, MRICS, joined the Managing Board of UBM Development AG as COO on 1 September 2021 and is responsible for the areas hotel, human resources and insurance. As part of her international career, she has been accountable for the hotel portfolio and strategy development of Arabella Hospitality with its head office in Germany as COO since 2018. Prior to that, she led the European-focused tourism consulting and hotel development company Michaeler & Partner in Vienna as Managing Director for 8 years. In addition, Maly-Gärtner has 10 years of operational hotel management experience in America, the Middle East and Europe with internationally recognised hotel chains.

Member of the executive board Flughafen Wien AG

Julian Jäger, born on October 24 1971, is married and has two children. After graduating from Vienna University, faculty of law, and finishing his traineeship at several courts of Justice in Vienna in 2001, he started working for Merkur Treuhand in the tax consultancy department. In 2002 he joined the legal department of Flughafen Wien AG. After two years in the legal department he became head of business development in the “Airline and Terminal Services” business division. In 2007 he was named Chief Commercial Officer and Executive Director at Malta Airport. From 2008 to 2011 he served as Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director at Malta Airport where he successfully restructured and implemented a new retail concept at the airport. Under his leadership Malta Airport won the Europe’s 2010 Best Airport Award in the “1-5 million passenger” category and the airports passenger numbers showed an increase of more than 12 percent. Since September 2011 he is a member of the executive board of Flughafen Wien AG. As Chief Operating Officer he is responsible for the operational business units “Handling Services”, “Operations”, “Center Management” “Technical Services” and “Information Systems”. Julian Jäger is also a member of the supervisory board of the Austrian Air Traffic Management company “Austro Control” and is additionally president of the “Arbeitsgemeinschaft Österreichischer Verkehrsflughäfen”.

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.

Owner and CEO of CO.TI Restaurants SAS

Michael Cortelletti is Owner and CEO of CO.TI Restaurants SAS in Verona, Italy. Michael holds a MSc in Political and Social Sciences from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan and a MSc in Tourism Economics from Bocconi University in Milan, as well as a MMH in Hospitality from Cornell University in Ithaca, NYC. Michael started his career as Project Manager Business Development for Nordsee and then held a number of positions at Dunkin' Donuts including International Business Manager, Director Europe, Director Europe & Middle East, Director Europe, Mexico and Central America, International Director Europe, Middle East, Africa & India. Since 2009, he has been the owner and CEO of CO.TI Restaurants in Verona, Italy.

CEO of the Austrian Hotel and Austrian Bank for Tourism Development

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.

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.