VIENNA, AUSTRIA – September 30, 2022 – This week, Women Corporate Directors (WCD) held a kick-off event to launch its newest chapter located in Austria.

Held on September 27th, the event hosted over 30 women who witnessed the inaugural launch of the chapter. The launch began with a welcome to the attendees by Christine Catasta (Chapter Chair of WCD Austria), and Jennifer Reynolds (Chief Executive Officer of WCD). Shortly after, attendees learned more about WCD and its membership offerings, followed by a keynote panel discussion and Q&A.

The start of the Austrian chapter was led by five founding members; Christine Catasta, Rita Jakusch, Anastassia Lauterbach, Gerlinde Layr-Gizycki, Karin Artner, Lieve van Utterbeeck and Julia Zdrahal-Urbanek. As the journey of WCD’s Austria chapter begins, the founding members plan to:

• Develop a trusted community of Austrian women corporate directors
• Bring an array of local events that will focus on topics including global competitiveness, digital transformation, cyber security, and other timely subjects
• Inspire visionary boards in Austria through education and tools that keep members engaged

Rita Jakusch, one of the chapter’s founding members, feels that bringing WCD to Austria will be worthwhile for the increase of women in the c-suite and non-executive boards.

“There have been some exceptional clubs, networks, and mentoring programs in Austria for women in higher management positions, but there was nothing alike for non-executive directors,” said Zdrahal-Urbanek.

WCD’s CEO, Jennifer Reynolds, noted that the start of a WCD chapter in Austria will play a vital role in the advancement of women corporate directors in the county.

“We are delighted to add Austria to WCD’s global community of women corporate directors,” said Reynolds. “The members in our Austrian chapter will play an important role in advancing women in their local economy and contributing to our European and international initiatives. We look forward to working with this highly accomplished group of women.”

Women Corporate Directors (WCD) is the only global membership organization and community of women corporate directors. WCD has 2500 members serving on 8500 boards throughout the world. For more information, visit www.womencorporatedirectors.org or follow us on Twitter @WomenCorpDirs or LinkedIn

Featured Image: Pictured left to right: Lieve Van Utterbeeck, KPMG, Karin Artner, KPMG – both also Co-Chairs and Co-Founders, Jennifer Reynolds (CEO WCD), Christine Catasta (Chairwoman), Rita Jakusch (Co-Chair and Co-Founder), Anastassia Lauterbach (Co-Chair and Co-Founder), Julia Zdrahal-Urbanek (Co-Chair and Co-Founder), Gerlinde Layr-Gizycki (Co-Chair and Co-Founder)