The Rector’s Council is the main executive body at WU, leading the institution and representing it in its external relations. It is composed of the Rector and four Vice-Rectors. Its responsibilities are defined primarily in § 22 of the Universities Act 2002, including the following (this is an exemplary list, and the various responsibilities are not ranked by importance):

• Preparing WU’s Organizational Structure Plan and Strategic Plan

• Preparing and negotiating a draft for WU’s Performance Agreement with the government

• Appointing the heads of organizational units

• Concluding target agreements with the heads of organizational units

• Budget allocation; preparing an annual performance report, financial statement, and intellectual capital report

The distribution of responsibilities among the members of the Rector’s Council is based on the Rules of Procedure of the Rector’s Council. The members of the Rector's Council for the term from 2023 to 2027:

• Rector Univ.Prof. Dr. Rupert Sausgruber

• Vice-Rector for Financial Affairs and Campus Management Univ.Prof. Dr. Harald Badinger

• Vice-Rector for Research and Third Mission Univ.Prof. DDr. Bernadette Kamleitner

• Vice-Rector for Academic Programs and Student Affairs Univ.Prof. Dr. Margarethe Rammerstorfer

• Vice-Rector for Personal and Digital Infrastructure Univ.Prof. Dr. Martin Winner

In October 2023, Rupert Sausgruber took office as Rector of WU, where he has been Professor of Public Economics since 2013. From 2018 until being elected as Rector, Rupert Sausgruber chaired WU’s Department of Economics. He was a member of the Senate from 2018 to 2022, and he served as a member and deputy chair of the Senate’s Academic Programs Committee in 2018 and 2019.

Rupert Sausgruber studied economics at the University of Innsbruck and at the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) in Vienna and has been a visiting scholar at various institutions abroad (including the Max Planck Institute for Economic Research in Jena and the universities of Copenhagen, Michigan, Bremen, Adelaide, Amsterdam, and Arizona). He has published numerous papers in renowned international journals, including the Journal of the European Economic Association, the Journal of Public Economics, and the European Economic Review.

Responsibilities

Contact

Martin Hlinomaz (+43 1 31336 5360) is the secretary assigned to the Rector.

For press inquiries, please contact Cornelia Moll (Press Relations Officer, +43 1 31336 4977).

For general subject-matter-related inquiries to the Rector’s Office, please contact Roland Humer (Deputy Secretary General, +43 1 31336 5499).

Harald Badinger has been a full professor of international economics at WU’s Department of Economics since 2010. He took office as WU Vice-Rector for Financial Affairs and Campus Management in October 2023, following a previous term of office as Vice-Rector for Financial Affairs that started in 2015. From 2012 to 2015, he was deputy chair of the Department of Economics.

Prof. Badinger obtained his PhD in social and economic sciences from WU in 2001. From 1999 to 2007, he worked at WU’s Research Institute for European Affairs, and in 2007, he earned his venia legendi in economics. Following a research stay at the LMU Munich Center for Economic Studies, as part of an Erwin Schrödinger Fellowship, he worked at the Economic Studies Division of the OeNB (Oesterreichische Nationalbank).

Responsibilities

Contact

Daniela Paradiso (+43 1 31336 5502) is the secretary assigned to the Vice-Rector for Financial Affairs and Campus Management.

Sophie Steidl (+43 1 31336 4137) acts as the primary assistant to the Vice-Rector for Financial Affairs and Campus Management.

Bernadette Kamleitner has been a full professor of marketing and consumer research at WU since 2012, and she took office as Vice-Rector for Research and Third Mission in October 2023.

She studied commercial sciences at WU and psychology at the University of Vienna, earning a PhD in both disciplines. Starting in 2007, she taught and researched at Queen Mary University of London, where she also served as director of the postgraduate program in marketing and a member of the research committee. Prof. Kamleitner has published successfully in world leading journals of her field such as Journal of Marketing, and Journal of Marketing Research and has been serving on various editorial boards (e.g. Journal of Public Policy and Marketing). She has had research stays in Australia (QUT), the UK (Cass), and the US (Virginia Tech, Yale). She has received numerous awards and has worked closely with industry partners and institutions. Among other functions, she is a member of the ethics board of the Austrian Advertising Council and was president of the knowledge transfer association WWG Forum Marketing.

Responsibilities

Contact

Vice-Rector Kamleitner´s personal secretary is Angela Werner (+43 1 31336 5359)

Paul Cech (+43 1 31336 6134)acts as Assistants to the Vice-Rector.

Margarethe Rammerstorfer has been a full professor of finance and impact investments at WU since 2016, and she has been WU Vice-Rector for Academic Programs and Student Affairs since October 2019. Before that, she also served as academic director of the WU Master’s Program in Finance and Accounting.

She received her doctoral degree in economics with a focus on regulation and financing in 2006. After a short period of work in the private sector, she obtained her venia docendi in business administration in 2013 and, at the same time, took up a position as associate professor at Modul University Vienna. There, she oversaw the establishment of the Department of International Management and directed the newly launched Bachelor’s Program in International Management, which she continued developing further until her return to WU.

Responsibilities

Contact

Daniela Paradiso (+43 1 31336 5502) is the secretary assigned to the Vice-Rector for Academic Programs and Student Affairs.
Stefanie Errath (+43 1 31336 4418) and Stephanie Weber (+43 1 31336 6626) acts as the primary assistant to the Vice-Rector for Academic Programs and Student Affairs.

Martin Winner has been a full professor of business law at WU since 2009, and he took office as Vice-Rector for Human Resources and Digital Infrastructure in October 2023.

Martin Winner holds a master’s degree in commercial sciences (completed in 1993) and a master’s and PhD degree in law (completed in 1995 and 2001, respectively), and he obtained his venia docendi in 2007. He is a member of several European scientific advisory boards and committees, including the European Commission’s Informal Expert Group on Company Law and Corporate Governance (ICLEG) and the German Federal Ministry of Finance’s Working Group for Financial Market Legislation. From 2009 to 2021, he held a part-time position as chair of the Austrian Takeover Commission, the regulatory authority supervising public takeover bids for listed companies.

From 2013 to 2020, Martin Winner served as deputy chair of WU’s Academic Staff Council, and from 2012 to 2015, he chaired the Department of Private Law. He has also repeatedly served as a member of the WU Senate.

Responsibilities

Angela Werner (+43 1 31336 5359) is the secretary assigned to the Vice-Rector for Human Resources and Digital Infrastructure.
Linda Gahleitner (+43 1 31336 5854) acts as the primary assistant to the Vice-Rector for Human Resources and Digital Infrastructure.