Patricia Kahane (* 1953) is President of the Karl Kahane Foundation

Weblink: Karl Kahane Foundation

Max Kothbauer (* 1950 in Vienna) graduated from the University of Vienna with a degree in Economics in 1975.
From 1976 onwards, Kothbauer held various positions at the Österreichische Länderbank and in several federal ministries.
From 1986 to 1988, he was Head of Cabinet of Federal Chancellor Franz Vranitzky.
From 1989 to 1991, he was Deputy Director-General of Wiener Städtische Wechselseitige Versicherungsanstalt, and a member of its Board.
1991-1997: Creditanstalt-Bankverein, Deputy Director-General and Deputy Chairman of the Board.
1997-2000: Österreichische Postsparkasse AG, Director-General and Chairman of the Board
2000-2001: Austrian National Bank, General Councillor
2001-2004: Booz Allen Hamilton GmbH, Senior Advisor and member of the GSA Advisory Board
2001-2005: Asset Allocation Vermögensanlagen Consulting GmbH, shareholder
2003-2013: Chairman of the University Council of the University of Vienna
2006 – 2008: Austrian National Bank, General Councillor
From 2008 to 2019, Max Kothbauer was Vice-President of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank.

Since 2011, Max Kothbauer has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Zukunftsfonds der Republik Österreich (Future Fund of the Republic of Austria). Since 2006 he has been a member of the Supervisory Board of the bfi – Berufsförderungsinstitut. He is Vice-President of the Österreichisch-Liechtensteinische Gesellschaft and auditor of the European Forum Alpbach.

Ferdinand Lacina, born on December 31, 1942 in Vienna, began studying at the then Vienna University of World Trade after graduating from high school, graduating in 1965 with a degree in business administration. During his studies, he was involved in the Association of Austrian Socialist Students.
Lacina joined the Vienna Chamber of Labor in 1964 and worked there in the economics department, which he became head of in 1973. The following year, he was appointed to the Advisory Board for Economic and Social Issues. In 1978, the economist moved to Österreichische Industrieverwaltungs-AG (ÖIAG) and became head of the financial planning department. In 1980, Federal Chancellor Bruno Kreisky appointed him to the Federal Chancellery as Head of Cabinet.

In 1982, Ferdinand Lacina moved to the Federal Government as State Secretary in the Federal Chancellery, where he supported the head of government in economic matters and development cooperation issues. In September 1984, he was promoted to Federal Minister for Transport (from January 1985: for Public Economy and Transport). Following Franz Vranitzky’s move to the office of Federal Chancellor, Lacina took over the Federal Ministry of Finance in June, which he headed for almost nine years. He played an important role in Austria’s accession negotiations with the European Union. After the 1994 National Council elections, he was also briefly a member of the National Council.

After retiring from day-to-day politics in April 1995, Lacina was General Director of GiroCredit from 1996 to 1997. When the bank merged with Erste Bank, he acted as a consultant to the company, and from 2001 as a consultant to Bank Austria AG.

Margit Schmidt (*1941) started her career in 1965 as secretary in the cabinet of the then Foreign Minister Bruno Kreisky. When Kreisky took office as Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, she again worked alongside him at the party headquarters from 1967 and 1970.

From 1970 to 1983, Schmidt headed the office of Federal Chancellor Bruno Kreisky and remained his closest co-worker until his death in 1990.

After his death, she built up the Bruno Kreisky Forum in Armbrustergrasse in Vienna’s 19th district (Döbling), which she managed as its Secretary General from 1991 to 2004, until July 2024, she was a member of the Board of the Kreisky Forum.