10 years BRAND [LIFE] AWARD

HAROLD BURSTEIN – Stroh Austria

www.stroh.at/

Founded 185 years ago in Carinthia, the spirits manufacturer STROH is today the leading high-spirits brand from Austria, which is sold in around 40 countries around the world. STROH is also the oldest existing spirits producer in Austria. In August 2008, a management buy-out was carried out by the long-standing Managing Director Harold Burstein. The new sole owner Burstein bought the company with the successful spirits brands STROH, Mautner, Bouchet and Charly’s as well as the entire production plant of STROH in Klagenfurt from the former British owners Stock Spirits Group Ltd. Since then, STROH has again been 100 percent Austrian-owned. Stroh Austria has 35 employees and a turnover of 11.8 million

www.figlmueller.at/

The Figlmüller is famous for the best Wiener schnitzel. Founded in 1905 as a wine tavern, taken over by Hans Peter Figlmüller at the beginning of the 1960s, the family business expanded with a wine tavern to Grinzing. Today, the family business comprises seven restaurants, including the two Figlmüller Schnitzel parlors, the Figls beer house, the Lifestyle Café Joma, the Nobel Gasthaus Lugeck and two DailyRoast takeaways at Vienna International Airport. With 280 employees and a turnover of around 20 to 30 million euros, the holding is already a large company. Figlmüller received in 2007, as one of the leading culinary ambassadors, the Golden Medal for Services to the City of Vienna.

ULLI EHRLICH – Sportalm

www.sportalm.at/

In 1980, Wilhelm Ehrlich acquired the entire company as Managing Director and is still the company’s CEO today. Daughter Ulli Ehrlich has been supporting her father as a designer since the beginning of the 1990s. For twelve years, she was chief designer for the costumes section. Since 1998, she has been responsible for the entire collection. Under Ulli Ehrlich’s creative leadership, the Sportalm range is being consistently expanded: In 1998, the sports couture line “Actlive” was created in collaboration with the French designer couple Marithé + François Girbaud. In 2004, the line “e.motion” – elegant and sporty women’s clothing is added. Sportalm has 1,400 dealers in 21 countries, more than 800 employees at its headquarters in Kitzbühel and its own plant in Bulgaria, and more than 60 million euros in annual sales.

PETER FRIESE – Schwarzes Kameel

www.kameel.at/

In 1618 Johann Baptist Cameel opened a Gewürzkrämerei in Bognergasse 5 under the still existing name. Whether as a purveyor or later as a wine tavern, his charm has not lost the “black camel”. Today, the success story of the family Friese continues. Two generations of the family maintain dependable continuity and irresistible diversity. If it had gone after his father, Peter Friese should have taken another profession. Nevertheless, Peter Friese has never regretted that he has become a restaurateur. On the contrary – because he is the host of a locality, which can be called not only because of the Art Nouveau interior as an icon of domestic gastronomy. In 2018 he was voted restaurateur of the year.

In 1987, Walter Heindl, confectioner, and Andreas Heindl, pastry chef, took over the family business. Under their leadership, the product range was expanded to more than 180 different products, sales were multiplied in just a few years, and the store network was further expanded. In 2006, Walter Heindl Ges.mbH took over the well-known and popular waffle specialist Pischinger. The Heindl Group currently operates 29 confectionery shops throughout Austria, making it not only one of the largest confectionery retailers in the entire federal territory, but also a globally exporting company. The entire Heindl Group has a turnover of around 25 million euros.

MICHAELA REITTERER – Boutique Hotel Stadthalle

www.hotelstadthalle.at/

In 2002, Michaela Reitterer bought the hotel “Zur Stadthalle” from her parents and converted it into the “boutique hotel Stadthalle Wien”, the first zero-energy city hotel in the world. In 2009, Reitterer was awarded the Environmental Prize of the City of Vienna and the Austrian State Prize for Tourism. In addition, she was voted Hotelière of the Year and in 2011 received the WKO’s Star Award in the Sustainability category and the fifth Austrian Ecolabel in a row. The boutique hotel Stadthalle twice receives the European Ecolabel and the HolidayCheck Award 2013 as the most popular hotel in Austria. Since 22nd January 2013 Michaela Reitterer is President of the Austrian Hotel Association.

HELMUT MARKO – Red Bull Racing

www.redbullracing.redbull.com/

Helmut Marko is a former Austrian racing driver. After completing his law studies, Marko’s racing career took off. He won the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1971, setting a distance record that was broken only 39 years later. In 1984, Marko founded his own racing team, RSM-Marko. In addition to his commitment as a team manager Marko was also active as a manager for various drivers and has been heading the Red Bull junior program since 1999, from which Sebastian Vettel, among others, made the leap into Formula One. Since 2005, he has been responsible for the youth program as Red Bull Motorsport Director.In 2014 he was named honorary citizen of the city of Graz.

HARALD SCHMIED – Homeless World Cup 

https://homelessworldcup.org/

Harald Schmied developed together with Mel Young the idea for an international football tournament with homeless teams. This is how the Homeless World Cup was born, which was held for the first time in 2003 in Graz. The great success of Graz 2003 made it possible to organize a repeat of the event in Gothenburg in 2004. Thanks to the great interest of participating nations, as well as the public and the media, and above all the positive effects on the lives of the players, the tournament takes place annually. Every year more than 500 participants from more than 50 countries participate in the Homeless Cup. In 2016, the Homeless World Cup Foundation generated social benefits worldwide through various programs from national partners totaling $ 364 million. The tournament in Glasgow created $ 13 million in social capital.

In March 2017, Harald Schmied received the Golden Merit Award of the Republic of Austria.

NORBERT ZIMMERMANN – Berndorf

www.berndorf.at/

In 1988, Zimmermann acquired a majority stake in a Lower Austrian company as part of a management buyout, which subsequently traded as Berndorf AG.Norbert Zimmermann converted the group of companies into an international technology conglomerate until his departure from operational responsibility as CEO in 2008. Berndorf companies develop and produce in the automotive industry, electrical industry, wood industry and chemical and food industry.According to company information, these companies generated more than EUR 660 million in sales in 2017. Including further minority shareholdings of Berndorf AG, the annual turnover increases by nearly 600 million euros to twenty times compared to 1988. The affiliated companies of the Berndorf Group currently employ 3. 100 employees in more than 20 countries. Today, Norbert Zimmermann is the principal shareholder and chairman of the supervisory board.

DIETER STREHL – Ferdinand Piatnik & Sons

www.piatnik.com/

Dieter Strehl comes in the fifth generation from the entrepreneurial family Piatnik. In 1983, the commercial scientist joined the company. In 1995, he took over as managing director of the Vienna parent company and transformed it into a modern games publisher with 150 employees and an export quota of 85 percent. Since 2015 he is also president of Piatnik of America. With sales subsidiaries in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and the USA today, Piatnik is an international game publisher and a leading provider of games in Europe. The company is always on the lookout for new ideas and only those concepts are developed that are in keeping with Piatnik: games that connect generations. Every year about 20 new games are launched.