Ein Mann hält ein Papierflugzeug aus einer Weltkarte in die Höhe

International Corporate Board

LC

Als international agierende Universität ist es der Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien ein großes Anliegen, sich Impulse sowie Feedback von außen, insbesondere auch von Persönlichkeiten aus der Privatwirtschaft zu holen. Seit 2021 gibt es an der WU nun neben einem aus Entscheidungsträger*innen führender ausländischer Universitäten besetztem International Advisory Board auch ein International Corporate Board geben. Dabei bringen sechs weltweit erfolgreiche und erfahrene Manager*innen oder Unternehmer*innen aus unterschiedlichen Branchen eine internationale Sicht auf Strategie, Reputation und Aktivitäten der WU ein.

Die WU konnte für das International Corporate Board eine sehr diverse Gruppe an Personen gewinnen, allesamt erfahrene Führungskräfte oder Unternehmer*innen mit internationaler Erfahrung. Sie zeichnen sich durch ihre Leidenschaft für die Bildung brillanter Köpfe und ihr Interesse an der Weiterentwicklung von Hochschulen aus. Zu den Mitgliedern gehören

Christopher Schläffer - Executive Chairman of NYOUM

Schläffer

Christopher Schlaeffer is the Executive Chairman and Founder of NYOUM. He previously served as Chief Commercial and Digital Officer of VEON (NASDAQ: VEON) as well as Chief Product & Innovation Officer, Corporate Development Officer and Chief Strategy Officer of Deutsche Telekom (Xetra: DTE). He also served as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of T-Mobile Austria. Christopher is a Member of the Board at Amnesty International.

In 2008, together with Andy Rubin, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Peter Chou and Cole Brodman, Christopher launched the Android operating system in a subway station in New York. In 2007, he and Tim Cook closed Apple ́s first partnership on iPhone outside the US. Christopher started his career with Accenture.

Christopher has been recognised by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader and ranked one of the world’s Top50 Innovators To Watch. He takes an avid interest in promoting an open information society, human rights, equality, science and the arts and graduated from the Vienna University of Economics and Business in 1993.

Daniel Liao - Former Senior Advisor of Lam Asia Pacific Regions

Liao

Mr. Liao has been a senior executive at Lam Research Corporation, a semiconductor processing equipment company, since 1993 and went through various Executive Management positions at Lam such as GM, President and Chairman of Lam Asia Pacific Operations (Taiwan, China and Southeast Asia regions) where he has been a major contributor to the global product development, strategic planning, growth and success of Lam’s multi-billion dollar Asia Pacific business.  After 27 years served as Lam Regional Executive at APAC region, he has retired from Lam in Feb 2020; and has served as Senior Advisor of Lam Asia Pacific Regions from March 2020 to February 2022.

Prior to joining Lam, Mr. Liao held Engineering Management and technology leadership positions at Integrated Device Technology in Santa Clara, CA from 1988 to 1993 and Intel Corporation in Livermore and Santa Clara from 1984 to 1988.  Mr. Liao holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio USA.

Mr. Liao has also served as Board Director of Amkor Technology, Inc. in Phoenix, Arizona and Photronics Inc in Brookfield, Connecticut USA.

Erman Ilicak - Founder and President of Rönesans Holding

Ilicak

Born on October, 1967 in Malatya, Turkey, Dr. Erman ILICAK is the founder and the president of Renaissance Holding, a group of companies specializing in construction, energy, real estate development and investment. Renaissance operates in 3 continents and over 20 countries.

Renaissance Group, constructs heavy industry plants, infrastructure projects, manufacturing plants, chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing plants, automotive and machinery production factories, public buildings, healthcare complexes, and power plants as well as shopping malls, offices, hotels, residences and mixed-use structures.

Mr Ilicak graduated from TED Ankara College Private High School in 1985. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree as a Civil Engineer in 1990 from METU (Middle East Technical University) and a MBA degree from the Vienna University of Economics and Business in conjunction with University of Minnesota in 2002. He also holds a doctorate degree in business administration from the International School of Management in Paris in 2011.

Evelyn Palla - Board Member Deutsche Bahn AG

Palla

Evelyn Palla studied business administration from 1992 to 1997 at WU Vienna, with a guest semester at the University of Cologne with a focus on corporate management, controlling and accounting. After completing her studies, Palla worked at Siemens UK, Infineon Technologies and the Austrian Chamber of Commerce in Tokyo, as well as E.ON in Munich and Milan.

In 2011 Palla moved back to Vienna, where she began working for ÖBB-Personenverkehr AG, initially as Head of Controlling and then as Head of Purchasing. In December 2015, she was appointed one of three members of the board of directors of ÖBB-Personenverkehr AG and chairman of the supervisory board of Postbus AG and Postbus GmbH. There she was responsible for the areas of local and regional transport, law as well as controlling and purchasing.

Since February 2019, Palla was CFO of Deutsche Bahn Fernverkehr AG in Frankfurt, Germany. In 2022, Palla became Board Member of Deutsche Bahn AG, responsible for regional traffic. In August 2020 she joined also Arriva plc, London, as non-executive Director of the Board.

Susanne Wamsler - Non-Executive Director Clariant AG

Wamsler

Susanne Wamsler grew up near Munich, Germany and then studied at Princeton University in the USA, graduating with a degree in Political Economy. From 1984 to 1988 she held various positions with the Deutsche Bank AG in Munich and New York. In 1989 she received her MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France. Since then she has been a successful entrepreneur in different fields, including retail, real estate, telecommunications and wealth management. In 2015, she was elected to the Board of Directors of Clariant AG in Muttenz, Switzerland. She has held mandates and officer positions in different businesses as well as non-profit organizations throughout her life and now lives in Tyrol, Austria.

Hikmet Ersek - Supervisory Board Member of Erste Bank Holding

Hikmet Ersek

Hikmet Ersek began his global career in financial services in Europe when he joined Europay/MasterCard in Austria in 1986.
A decade later in 1996, he joined General Electric (GE) Capital as Business Development executive, he also represented the GE Corporation as the National Executive for Austria and Slovenia. During his GE career he became also a certificated 6-Sigma leader for process and efficiency improvements. Mr. Ersek joined Western Union in 1999 and until 2010 he was responsible for international expansion of Western Union in Europe, Africa, and Asia. In 2010, Ersek became CEO of the company (NYSE: WU). Founded more than 170 years ago, Western Union has become under Ersek’ s leadership one of the world’s most global companies, serving more than 150 million customers in 200 countries, with a diverse base of frontline associates in 500.000 agent locations, 12000 employees speaking more than 75 languages. After 21 years as a global Senior Executive and 11 years as CEO and Board Member, Ersek retired from Western Union in 2021.

Since 2015 he has been serving as the Austrian Honorary Consul in the USA, responsible for Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Nebraska.

Hikmet Ersek is currently Supervisory Board Member of Erste Bank Holding (EBS.VI). The EU-Bank is headquartered in Vienna, with over 300 billion Euros of total assets, has 16 million customers and 45.000 employees and operates in 7 counties.