Group Executive Board

Erik Leyers (52)

has been a member of the Management Board since 2015 and is responsible for Data & IT. The doctor of economics began his professional career as a research assistant in Munich before joining McKinsey in 2001 as a consultant and project manager. He held an executive position at the Allianz Group from 2003 onwards, where he was responsible for business development, shared services and global non-IT and IT procurement. Erik Leyers also completed postgraduate studies at Harvard Business School.

Wolfgang Kindl (55)

has been responsible for the function Customers & Markets International since January 2020. Wolfgang Kindl has worked for the UNIQA Group since 1996, managing our Swiss subsidiary in Geneva from 2000 to 2004 and acting as Managing Director of UNIQA International from 2005. He was appointed to the Group Management Board in 2011 and was head of UNIQA International as Chairman of the Management Board. Wolfgang Kindl has a degree in social and economic sciences as well as postgraduate studies in environmental management. He also completed postgraduate studies at the IMD in Lausanne and at Harvard Business School.

René Knapp (39)

has been a member of the Management Board responsible for the department of Human Resources, Brand and Sustainability since January 2020. The mathematics graduate and recognised actuary began his career at UNIQA in 2007 and took over responsibility for the life insurance actuarial department in 2010. He became head of Group Actuarial in 2012, which was expanded as of 2015 to include Risk Management followed by Security Management. In addition to his activities for UNIQA, René Knapp is not only committed to the actuarial profession as a member of the Management Board of the Austrian Actuarial Society (AVÖ) and the Risk Management Committee of the Actuarial Association of Europe (AAE), but has also held numerous guest professorships at the University of Salzburg. He also completed executive programmes at Harvard Business School and the Sloan School of Management (MIT).

Klaus Pekarek (65)

has been responsible for the function Customers & Markets Bancassurance Austria since January 2020. He has been working for the UNIQA Group since 2009 when he took over the chairmanship of the Raiffeisen Insurance Austria. The doctor of law also completed a degree in business administration and is a certified banker. He began his career as a contract assistant for finance and commercial law at the University of Graz and the University of Klagenfurt. Klaus Pekarek took over the management of the legal and audit department of Raiffeisenlandesbank Carinthia in 1984, and was Chairman of its Management Board from 1988. He also completed further studies at Harvard Business School.

Andreas Brandstetter (52)

has been a member of the Management Board since 2002 and its Chairman since 2011. Before joining UNIQA, he was head of the EU office of the Austrian Raiffeisen Association in Brussels. He holds a doctorate in political science having studied in Vienna and the USA (University of California, San Diego) and completed an Executive MBA at California State University, Hayward/IMADEC. Andreas Brandstetter completed his postgraduate studies at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Harvard Business School. He was elected President of Insurance Europe in May 2018, the representative body of European insurance and reinsurance in Brussels.

Peter Eichler (60)

has worked as a member of the Management Board at various Group companies since 1999, and has been responsible for personal insurance and asset management for the entire Group since 2020. He is Chairman of the Health and Life Insurance segments at the Austrian Insurance Association (VVO). In addition to studying commercial sciences, Peter Eichler also studied law at the University of Vienna. He graduated from the University of St. Gallen and Harvard Business School executive programmes.

Kurt Svoboda (54)

has been responsible for finance and risk management on the Group Management Board since July 2011. He was also CEO of UNIQA Österreich Versicherungen AG from December 2017 until June 2020. He began his career at KPMG Austria GmbH in 1992, before joining the Group as Managing Director of UNIQA Finanz Service GmbH in 2003 after holding management positions at the Wiener Städtische Group (now VIG) and AXA Versicherung AG. Kurt Svoboda studied business administration, specialising in international taxation and insurance management, and completed an international management course (IMEA) at the University of St. Gallen, as well as postgraduate studies at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Harvard Business School.

Peter Humer (50)

has been responsible for the function Customers & Markets Austria since January 2020. With a doctorate in social and economic sciences, he started his professional career at UNIQA in 1996 in sales, followed by various national and international positions in the Group. He assumed the role of Provincial Director in Salzburg in 2009 and also became a member of the Management Board at Salzburger Landes-Versicherung AG. Peter Humer became a member of the Management Board for Sales at UNIQA Österreich Versicherungen AG in 2017. He completed further studies at Harvard Business School in 2019.

Wolf Christoph Gerlach (42)

has been responsible for the Operations department since 2020. A graduate in business administration, he began his career with the Allianz Group before joining UNIQA’s International Bancassurance in 2008 and subsequently headed the department of Group Strategy from 2010 until 2012. He then served as Chief Operations Officer of our Romanian subsidiary for four years, before joining the Management Board for Retail at UNIQA Hungary in 2016. Wolf Christoph Gerlach completed his postgraduate studies at Harvard Business School.