Fatma Akay-Türker (*1975) is a Turkologist and holds a PhD in Turkish history. She broke off her doctoral studies in Islamic theology in order to be able to fully support women’s issues in the Islamic community in Austria. After only 18 months, she resigned the office of women’s representative in June 2020, as she saw no way of implementing the urgent reforms in male-dominated Islamic theology. At the same time, she gave up her profession as an Islamic teacher. Since then she has been fighting for a gender-equitable interpretation of the Koran. Seyran Ateş (*1963) is a lawyer, women’s rights activist and initiator of the liberal Ibn-Rushd-Goethe-Mosque in Berlin, which strives for a contemporary and gender-equitable interpretation of the Koran. The mosque, where men and women are allowed to pray together, opened in 2017. She has received numerous international awards for her intercultural work, but also death threats, as she calls for an active stand against false values and outdated ideas. Her book “Selam, Frau Imamin” became a bestseller. Peter Baumgartner (*1969) is a management consultant, book author and business coach with a focus on leadership and digital transformation. He teaches at universities and business schools in Austria, Germany and Switzerland and inspires his audience with refreshingly innovative approaches. He is a thought leader, explains trends and is happy to pass on his factual knowledge and experience. He touches emotionally and moves people and organizations as “Falco of the speaker’s stage”, entertaining and charming directly. Rainer Bischof (*1947) is a philosopher, composer and music manager. After completing his studies, he worked for the City of Vienna, from 1984 on he was President of the Austrian Association of Composers, from 1986 Vice President of the Alban Berg Foundation and from 1988 Secretary General of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Between 1991 and 2015 he headed the International Gustav Mahler Society, for more than thirty years he worked as a lecturer at the Vienna University of Music, at the Vienna Conservatory and internationally as a guest lecturer at various universities. Johannes Böhm (*1989) is an expert for brand strategy and digital transformation at Tourismuszukunft.de. The further development of the tourism future ring model was designed by him in this context. Before that, the tourism geographer (B.Sc.) gained relevant experience on a detour into the cruise industry and as a speaker at numerous training courses and seminars. He is a brand enthusiast and passionate about artificial intelligence and excursions into the countryside. Peter Brabeck-Letmathe (*1944) was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Swiss food company Nestlé from 2005 to 2017. Born in Villach, he joined Nestlé Austria in 1968 after studying world trade in Vienna, and 30 years later he became CEO of the group, which today is one of the 100 companies with the highest turnover in the world with almost 300,000 employees and CHF 85 billion (2020). He has received numerous awards, including the Grand Decoration of Honor in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria. Kerstin Dohnal (*1977) is founder and managing director of the destination: development agency, which is dedicated to the healthy and sustainable development of travel destinations. The trained communication consultant, translator and tourism expert has developed the “Chocolate Road” (Bolivia and Ecuador), organizes workshops for responsible tourism and learning journeys in tourist development regions. Catharina Fischer (*1981) is a consultant and digitization expert at Tourismuszukunft.de. In the past 15 years she built up the social media marketing of the German National Tourist Board in foreign markets and implemented numerous campaigns for this. Since joining the Tourismuszukunft, she has focused on strategic issues and developed, among other things Digital and content marketing strategies for regions and countries. Cornelius Granig (*1970) is a management consultant and security expert who has been dealing with cyber security, compliance and the fight against corruption for many years. Before moving to the consulting industry, he was a board member at banks and insurance companies and managing director of international technology companies. He is the author of the specialist book “Darknet”, an accredited cyber security expert at Europol and head of a task force at Transparency International. He passes on his knowledge in lectures, specialist articles, radio and television. Ulrike Guérot (*1964) is head of the Department of European Politics and Democracy Research at the Danube University Krems and founder of the European Democracy Lab in Berlin. She previously worked in European think tanks and universities in Paris, Brussels, London, Washington and Berlin. In autumn 2019 she was awarded the Paul Watzlawick Ring of Honor and the Salzburg State Prize for Future Research. In 2020 her new book “Nichts wird so bleiben wie es war?” (Molden) was published. Theresa Haid (*) is managing director of the non-profit organization Vitalpin since 2018, which advocates the dialogue between the tourism industry, habitat and nature conservation interests in the Alpine countries. Before that, she held leading positions at Zillertal Tourismus GmbH for many years, from 2012 to 2017 as Marketing Manager and Key Account at “Österreich Werbung” in Brussels and Vienna. In 2007 she completed her tourism studies after a year abroad at the Dongbei University of Finance and Economics (Northeast China) with a Master’s Degree in International Business Management. Schlomo Hofmeister (*1975) is the community rabbi of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Vienna, chief rabbi of the Styrian capital Graz and regional rabbi of the re-established regional rabbinate of Styria. Born in Munich, he studied social sciences, history and politics in Munich, Vancouver, London and Jerusalem and specialized in Jewish law. In 2005 he was the first rabbi in 69 years to be born and raised in Germany. Evelyne Huber-Reitan (*1966) is a work ability and communication consultant and trainer, and a bullying and burnout consultant. She worked as a journalist in integrative health for 25 years, until she researched the background of burnout in management with her master’s thesis “Burnout among executives – why employees also suffer”, published in 2014 as a book. This gave a new direction to her work. Huber-Reitan is a Certified Applied Sustainability & CSR Professional, is committed to a modern, future-oriented world of work, to sustainable and healthy nutrition and to a “good life for everyone”. Sarita Jenamani (*1972) is a writer, poet and translator from India, also Secretary General of the Austrian PEN. She studied economics and business administration at the Utkal University and at the Wiener Neustadt University of Applied Sciences, writes in her native language Oriya, in the Indian national language Hindi and in English. She was a scholarship holder of the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Artists Village Schöppingen as well as the Inzing Cultural Association near Innsbruck. She received a working grant from the Federal Chancellery of Austria for her translations of poems by the writer Rose Ausländer into Hindi. Saba Kidane (*1978) is an Eritrean journalist, poet and political activist who had to leave her homeland for political reasons and now lives in France. She joined the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front at the age of 13 and returned to school after two years in 1995. She later worked as a single mother for youth broadcasters and magazines. She writes in her mother tongue Tingrinya mainly on topics of daily life, violence and the effects of war on women and children. A collection of poems has been published in German. “If the Darkness Becomes Bright.” edition pen Volume 175, Löcker Verlag, Vienna 2020. Isabella Klien (*1960) sees herself as a bridge builder between immaterial and material values. “Lead ethically. Flourish all around” is the slogan of her holistic consulting company, a pioneering enterprise in the economy for the common good (ECG). The doctor of economics and author works as an organizational developer, trainer and coach and supports companies and communities in the development of ECG balance sheets. Her experience is that many business people want to act fairer and more ethically, but they lack the right tools. This is exactly where the purpose and value orientation of the ECG comes in. Franka Lechner (*1944) is a painter, textile artist and poet. After studying at the Academy of Fine Arts with Sergius Pauser in Vienna, she began exhibiting in 1969, later with weaving (tapestries). She has been publishing her lyrical works since the 1980s. She spent her early childhood in South America, 1972/1973 studying in Boston/USA, and has been a member of the Künstlerhaus Vienna since 1976. She received several recognition prizes and created, among other things Tapestries for the Essl Collection. Herbert Lüthy (*1943) rose after studying mathematics, physics and law to the position of director of Basler Versicherungen. In 1988 he moved to Swiss Re, where he was managing director of life and health reinsurance until 2002. After his retirement, he took over the management of the Swiss private insurance supervisory authority, which he fundamentally realigned. For many years, Lüthy was also professor of insurance and financial theory at the University of Basel and member of the board of AXA Winterthur Insurance. Josef Marketz (*1955) was ordained Bishop of Carinthia on February 1, 2020 in Klagenfurt. After studying theology in Salzburg and Ljubljana, he worked as a deacon in Ecuador, in 1982 he was ordained a priest in Klagenfurt, and in 1992 he received his doctorate in the field of pastoral theology in Vienna. This was followed by positions as head of the Slovenian department in the pastoral office and as a pastor in Carinthia as well as study visits to Rome and Jerusalem. From 2009 – 2014 he was director of the Episcopal Pastoral Office of the Gurk Diocese and Bishop Vicar for Pastoral Care, Mission and Evangelization, from 2014 – 2018 Bishop Vicar for Caritas and Caritas Director Carinthia. Wolfgang Müller-Funk (*1952) is an essayist, literary and cultural scientist. He teaches at the Universities of Vienna and Klagenfurt as well as at other universities. Most recently published are the collections of essays “Complex Austria”, “Beyond Resignation and Nostalgia” and “Theories of the Stranger”. Franz Nahrada (*1954) is a futurologist, networker, activist and author. In the 1990s, the studied sociologist, former hypermedia consultant and hotel manager invented the much-noticed major event “Global Village” with over 50,000 visitors in the Vienna City Hall. As the scientific director of the association “GIVE Forschungsgesellschaft – Labor für Globale Dörfer”, he deals with digitization and how it can best be used for a livable rural area and the fulfillment of sustainability goals. The answers to this are provided by the DorfUni.at network, with which he organizes educational events across Austria. Helmuth A. Niederle (*1949) is the President of the Austrian PEN club since 2011 and initiator of numerous effective public campaigns such as “Time to Say: No!”. After studying anthropology, art history, ethnology and sociology he was researcher and since 1994 deputy head of the Austrian Society for Literature and representative of the Writers in Prison Committee Austria. For several years he was editor of the series “scriptor mundi”, which was published in the “edition Kappa” (Munich), since 2006 he is editor of the series “edition milo in Publisher Lehner ” (Vienna) and is now responsible for the edition pen in Löcker Verlag. Stefan Nungesser (*1976) is a professor and program manager for hotel management at the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences in the field of economics and management. Previously, he was a senior consultant at the TREUGAST Solutions Group in Munich. In addition to advising small and medium-sized hotels, he also prepared expert reports for hotel projects in Germany and abroad. He was also a lecturer at the Munich University of Applied Sciences and is still a trainer in further education courses, with focus on strategic and operational hotel and catering management. Elisabeth Oberzaucher (*1974) is a behavioral biologist and became known to a wider public through her appearance on the Austrian TV as “Science Buster”. Born in Carinthia in Hermagor, she has been researching and teaching at the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Vienna since 2001. In 2015 she became head of the Urban Human association. She is primarily concerned with human behavior from an evolutionary biological perspective, and focusses on the interaction with the environment and questions of communication, attractiveness and choice of partner. Alexander Peer (*1971) is a writer and journalist. After studying German philology, philosophy and journalism, he published reports, reviews and essays in literary magazines, daily newspapers and magazines. He received several scholarships abroad, was a city writer in Schwaz and ÖZV winner. Most recently he published literary non-fiction (Leo Perutz), novels (Until death avoids us), the poetry book “The Sound of Dumb Relations” and the anthology “Writing Nomads discover Europe”. Lorena Pircher (*1994) is a research assistant at the Austrian PEN Club. She comes from Taufers in South Tyrol and has lived in Vienna since 2013. After studying English and Romance studies as well as comparative literature, she is currently doing guided tours at the Vienna State Opera on the subject of the history of the house, architecture and art history and additionally working for the Austrian PEN Club. Her first volume of poetry “Irrende Welten” was published by the Provinuz Verlag Brixen, a second volume of poetry is in preparation. Barbara Prainsack (*1975) has been Professor of Comparative Policy Analysis, Head of Institute at the University of Vienna since 2017 and Chairwoman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Theodor-Körner-Fund since 2020. Before that, she researched and taught in London for ten years. Her research deals with current issues of health and technology policy, and in particular with practices and institutions of solidarity. Her non-fiction books on the “Solidarity Principle” in medicine and bioethics as well as “On the Value of Human” and the unconditional basic income received high media attention. Michael J. Reinprecht (*1953) was head of the Information Office of the European Parliament in Vienna. The trained historian and graduate of the Vienna diplomatic academy began his diplomatic career in Cairo. Later he accompanied the EU accession negotiations as press spokesman for the Austrian EU representation in Brussels in the early 1990ies. He was also a European Union Fellow at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and Head of the Middle East Department of the European Parliament in Brussels. Reinprecht writes regularly for NU, the Jewish magazine for politics and culture. In November 2020 his debut novel “Ludwig” was published in the edition pen series by Verlag Löcker, Vienna. Elisabeth Schrattenholzer (*1950) is a linguist, author and trainer for breathing, voice and communication techniques. She qualified as a professor in 2004 in the subject “Speech Formation” at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, where she regularly gives readings, seminars and lectures on language, literature and communication. In her books she deals primarily with the “damage to thought caused by the language of patriarchy”. Her best-known book is entitled “And Jesus was a woman”. Mariella Schurz (*1974) is Secretary General of the B&C Private Foundation and Managing Director of B&C Industrieholding, which holds shares in industrial companies such as AMAG, Lenzing and Semperit and supports several initiatives for applied research and education. The trained lawyer previously worked as a lawyer for over ten years. As part of her part-time MBA course, she scientifically dealt with the principles and requirements for quotas for women. Roland Sint (*1974) has been managing director of the Wörthersee tourism region since 2012, where he is responsible for brand positioning in the region and implementation of the Carinthian Tourism Act. The native East Tyrolean from Sillian studied sports management in Innsbruck and then worked for the sports manufacturer adidas, where he e.g. supervised outsourcing projects in Eastern Europe. After working as managing director of the golf course Velden Köstenberg and Veldener Tourismus Company, he took over the Wörthersee Tourismus GmbH, for which he pursues modern and active lifestyle approaches. Iris Straßer (*1967) is the initiator and director of the corporate network “show responsibility”, which currently connects 80 well-known partners for the promotion of sustainability in economy and society. The business economist is an expert in sustainability and CSR, moderator, lecturer and FH-lecturer and has many years of experience in the development and implementation of regional and cross-border mentoring projects, especially in the start-up area. Iris is the director of the Economic Forum of Managers Carinthia and Consultant of the Economic Initiative Sustainability Styria. Hannes Swoboda (*1946) was leader of the Austrian Social Democrats in the European Parliament from 1996 to 2014 and President of the European S & D group from 2012-2014. He has served on numerous committees and delegations and was rapporteur with regional focus on South East Europe, Central Asia and Russia. In this role he delivered substantial contributions against political extremism and promoting minorities. His studies and his experience as a member of the Chamber of Labour, the Vienna parliament and as an acting representative of the City Counsil helped to get a firm grasp on social and political issues. Günther Tengel (*1956) is managing director of Amrop Jenewein and chairman of Amrop CEE, one of the world’s leading executive search consultancies. He specializes in executive search and leadership as well as strategic advice in the field of corporate governance, advice for investors and company formation, company sales and mergers. His expertise lies primarily in the financial services, consumer goods & trade and manufacturing industries. Max Thinius (*1969) is a futurologist, author and lecturer with a focus on business and society in Berlin. The trained actor primarily focuses on the opportunities that come with digital transformation and cultural change in everyday life. Max is a moderator, bestselling author, commentator and guest on the German government’s scientific advisory board. He advises people and companies as well as regions and organizations (associations) on how to actively shape their own future. Ingrid Thurner (*1954) is a cultural and social anthropologist specializing in the perception of others, mobility and anthropology in Islam. After studying ethnology, she curated numerous exhibitions for various museums with a focus on Africa and the Middle East and worked as a cultural mediator for various tour operators in product management. She published her experiences and perceptions in feature pages and essays, most recently on “Being different and doing different. About diversity, discrimination and stupidity”, edition pen at Löcker Verlag. Helmut Tichy (*1958) is head of the international law office in the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2010, professor at the University of Graz and lecturer at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna. He studied in Vienna and Cambridge (England) and has been in the diplomatic service since 1983. He worked at the Austrian embassies in Belgrade (1984), Geneva (1985-1988) and Brussels (1993-2000) and published numerous articles on questions of international legal practice, including in the journal for public law (ZÖR). Roger de Weck (*1953) is an author, podcaster and visiting professor at the College of Europe. He was general director of Swiss radio and television (SRG), president of the traditional Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and editor-in-chief of “Die Zeit” in Hamburg. He sits on the board of the International Charlemagne Prize in Aachen and on the scientific advisory board of the journal “Critique Internationale” (Sciences Po Paris). De Weck received a honorary doctorate from the Universities of Freiburg and Lucerne. In 2020 his latest book “The Power of Democracy – An answer to authoritarian reactionaries” was published by Suhrkamp. Valentin Wedl (*1970) has been Head of the EU and International Affairs department of the Vienna Chamber of Labor since 2010 and Vice President of the Austrian Society for European Policy since 2019. Previously he was i.a. active in the Federal Chancellery and the Ministry of Justice and edited the magazine “Juridikum”. Wedl regularly publishes articles in various media on European topics such as the fight against unemployment, regulation of the financial industry, redistribution of the balance of assets and power as well as the restructuring towards a fairer economic and monetary union. Marion Wisinger (*1965) is a historian, political scientist and freelance writer based in Vienna. For many years she was the scientific director of the Austrian Society for Political Education and was active in adult education. In her work she dealt with the handling of the Austrian judiciary with Nazi perpetrators in the 1960s and 1970s, with violence and abuse in the homes of Caritas Upper Austria after 1945 and the history of women’s emancipation. As a language and communication trainer, she provides the basics and arguments against regular slogans. Jochen Wollmert (*1964) is a multiple German table tennis champion and multiple winner of the Paralympic Games. He plans to compete for the 8th time at the Paralympics in Tokyo in 2021. Because of his success, he was inducted into the ITTF Hall of Fame in 2010 as the first German table tennis master. His fair behavior during the Paralympics 2012 was honored with the Fair Play Prize, and he was awarded the athlete with a heart at the German Sports Press Ball. In 2013 he received the Baron de Coubertin Award, the world’s highest honor for fair behavior in sports.
