Since the beginning of June 2020, Kurt Maier, CEO of Heinzel Group, has been the new President of Austropapier, the Association of the Austrian Paper Industry. He succeeds Christian Skilich, who has represented the Austrian paper industry both nationally and internationally since 2018. With Kurt Maier, a further high-profile board member and industry expert is now taking the lead in representing the interests of the paper industry. Born in Graz in 1961, he received his doctorate from Graz University of Technology in 1991. From 2005 to 2016 he was board member of Zellstoff Pöls AG, first as Chief Financial Officer, later as Chairman of the Board. He then moved to the Heinzel Group headquarters in Vienna, where he has been CEO since 2016. As his goal for his two-year presidency Maier states: «We live in challenging times. The climate crisis and corona pandemic are having an enormous impact on our industry. In recent years, the paper industry has developed into a leading sector of the bio-economy. We must continue along this path and thus see the challenges as opportunities».
Christian Skilich changed from the Mondi Group to the Lenzing Management Board at the same time as he relinquished his Austropapier presidency. At Lenzing he is in charge of “Fiber Pulp and Wood Raw Materials”.