The former members of the Managing Board, Mario Catasta and Franz Portisch, will move to the Supervisory Board of Erste Group’s core shareholder.
At its meeting on 6 December 2021, the Supervisory Board of ERSTE Foundation appointed Wolfgang Schopf as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Martin Wohlmuth as Chief Operating Officer (COO). Franz Portisch, Secretary General of the Austrian Savings Banks Association, will move from his position as a non-executive member of ERSTE Foundation’s Managing Board to its Supervisory Board. Mario Catasta, the former Deputy CEO, is also leaving the Managing Board of ERSTE Foundation to become a member of its Supervisory Board.
Andreas Treichl, Supervisory Board Chairman, on the change: “I have known Wolfgang Schopf for many years. He is an excellent manager with brains and heart in equal measure and will now bring his expertise to ERSTE Foundation.” Most recently, Wolfgang Schopf held the position of CFO on the Management Board of Česká Sporitelna. Before that, he was Head of Group Performance Management at Erste Group, where he had worked since 1980. He began his career in the accounting department of Girozentrale. After the merger with Erste Bank, he became Deputy Head of Accounting and in 2004 Head of Controlling. In that role, Wolfgang Schopf developed and implemented Group Performance Management, which he headed until his move to ČS in 2013.
The new COO of ERSTE Foundation comes from within the organisation itself. As Executive Director and Head of Finance and Organisation, Martin Wohlmuth has been responsible for managing ERSTE Foundation’s role as main shareholder of Erste Group since 2016. Mr. Wohlmuth will now continue this work, which also includes the tasks of ERSTE Foundation as coordinator of the syndicate of core shareholders, in his function as COO on the Managing Board of ERSTE Foundation.
Andreas Treichl welcomed Martin Wohlmuth to the Managing Board: “I am very happy that Martin, after so many years of dedicated service for Erste Group and ERSTE Foundation, is now joining the Foundation’s Managing Board.” After graduating from the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration and gaining work experience in the banking field, Martin Wohlmuth joined Erste Bank in 1991 and took over the New Issues and Funding department in 1993. From 1999 to 2002, he headed the Managing Board Secretariat, and the Group Strategy department from 2002 on. Since 2016, Martin Wohlmuth serves as Secretary General and Head of Finance and Organisation at ERSTE Foundation.
Mr. Treichl sees the Managing Board of ERSTE Foundation, which now has three instead of two executive members, strengthened for future challenges. “We want to continue to secure the future of Erste Group as a shareholder, just as we want to set the course for a strong, healthy and free Europe through our work in civil society. With Boris Marte (CEO), Wolfgang Schopf (CFO), Martin Wohlmuth (COO) and Eva Höltl, we are ideally positioned for this.”
The Chairman of the Supervisory Board also thanked the outgoing members of the Managing Board, who will both move to the Foundation’s Supervisory Board. “From the very beginning, Franz Portisch has been part of the development of ERSTE Foundation in various functions. As a member of the Supervisory Board, he will also place special emphasis on the important connection with the savings banks and savings bank foundations in Austria, of which ERSTE Foundation is the largest institution. My sincere thanks go to Mario Catasta for everything he has done for the Bank and the Foundation, and for making his expertise available as a member of the Supervisory Board.”
Effective immediately, the Managing Board of ERSTE Foundation consists of the following four representatives: Boris Marte (CEO since September 2021), Wolfgang Schopf (CFO), Martin Wohlmuth (COO) and Eva Höltl (non-executive member since 2020). Eva Höltl, an occupational physician and Head of Erste Group’s Health Centre, recently was appointed Deputy Chair of the Expert Committee for Psychosocial Health of the Supreme Medical Council (OSR), the principal advisory body to the Austrian Minister of Health.
The Supervisory Board of ERSTE Foundation is now composed as follows: Andreas Treichl (Chairman), Bettina Breiteneder, Mario Catasta, Maximilian Hardegg, Barbara Pichler, Franz Portisch, Johanna Rachinger, Philipp Thurn und Taxis, Markus Trauttmansdorff, Manfred Wimmer, Kurt Zangerle
Photo credits: Wolfgang Schopf / ERSTE Foundation; Martin Wohlmuth / ERSTE Foundation, Photo: Peter M. Mayr
For further inquiries, please contact:
ERSTE Foundation, Communications: Maribel Königer
Tel. +43 664 8385341, Email: maribel.koeniger@erstestiftung.org
