DR. MEHDI M. ALI holds degrees from University of Baghdad, Iraq, the London School of Economics and the University of Cambridge, England where he completed his Doctorate in Economics.  Mehdi has 33 years experience with international financial institutions and UN organizations and has held various senior positions in the World Bank. He was the Regional UN Representative for the Middle East and North Africa in Cairo, Egypt covering 19 countries. For 4 years he was Director of the Asia Region with the OPEC Fund for International Development and was a former advisor to the Governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on macro-economic matters.  Authored and co-authored over 60 articles, reports, papers on economics, finance and rule of laws published by the World Bank, OPEC FUND and others. Mehdi teaches Trade and International Finance at Webster University, Vienna.

BOND BENTON, M.A.* is an American based in Vienna. Bond has worked extensively in professional consulting and training in the areas of communication and culture. He has facilitated programs for the U.S. State Department, the United Nations, Invest Kredit, UPC Telekabel, Donau Chemie, IBM, SOS Kinderdorf, and numerous other prestigious institutions.  His intercultural work has taken him all over the world including consultation work in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Rwanda, Israel, Estonia, Germany, and the Netherlands. Bond is a published author in the field of communication and currently works as a professor in intercultural communication at Webster University – Vienna

MAG. DONALD BAILLIE*:  Donald is a New Zealand citizen. In the past, Donald has worked at the Creditanstalt bank as a Treasury Organization specialist and later moved to Market Risk Management.  Later years saw him as a Principal at Ernst &Young Management Consulting in the area of wholesale banking. He also co-headed the founding, operations and subsequent sale of a subsidiary company developing and implementing a risk management software suite. Recently he gained the FRM (Financial Risk Manager) certification from GARP and is a “certified Basel-II consultant.  Donald has recently been published as co-author of a book on Business Management. At Webster University, he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Investments.

JOY CHAN, M.S.: Joy possesses a M.Com (Finance)(Merit), Sydney, Australia; B.Business, Singapore and CFA, US, and is currently a Financial Controller in KPMG Central & Eastern Europe Regional office based in Budapest. Joy has had extensive experience lecturing courses on Corporate Finance, Investments, Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate Restructuring and Valuation in universities in Australia, UK, Malaysia, Hungary and Austria. Joy is also an in-house trainer on Corporate Restructuring and Valuation courses at prominent Austrian banks.  Prior to lecturing, Joy worked as an Assistant Director at the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Singapore in Singapore.  She covered the Emerging markets directorate and traveled frequently to the emerging markets to spearhead various economic and financial initiatives that assist Singapore companies in their globalization efforts.

ELISABETH CASSELS-BROWN, M.A. is a U.S. American of British and German descent; living in Vienna since 1988.  Elisabeth is a trainer for Business English and intercultural communication skills since 1989 for many Government Agencies and some of the leading companies in Austria.   Since 2002 Elisabeth is an “Adjunct Professor” of Cross-Cultural Management at Webster University Vienna and Lecturer at the IMC Fachhochschule in Krems (2002 – 2005). In 2003 she developed the cross-cultural management module for the project “Neues Lernen Wirtschaft” for the Austrian Ministery of Education (in cooperation with team consult Wien). Since 2006 she is an Associate at Ashridge Business School (U.K.). Licensed for the “CPQ - Cultural Perspectives Questionnaire” and “TIP – The International Profiler“.

JENNIFER DAIGLE, M.O., M.A.*, is a Canadian citizen living and working in Vienna.  Jennifer is a counseling psychologist and adjunct professor of Psychology at Webster University in Vienna. She is currently working on projects involving burnout and procrastination and has contributed to a recent International conference on burnout.  Jennifer offers trainings on the topics of time and stress management.

MAG. STEFAN GEYERHOFER* is a Co Founder of the Institute for Systemic Therapy (IST) in Vienna, Austria. He is a licensed Clinical Psychologist, Health Psychologist and Psychotherapist and has conducted Workshops on Systemic Brief Therapy and Family Therapy throughout Europe, the USA and Japan. Since 1993 he is a member of the Psychology Faculty at Webster University in Vienna and has been a Visiting Scholar at University of California Berkeley and a Visiting Professor at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri.  Stefan trains in Team Building and Leadership.  He recently organized a international conference on Burnout.

MAG. HENDRIK HOMAN, MBA* is a native Dutchman, based in Vienna.  He holds a Master´s degree in Economics from University of Vienna and a MBA from INSEAD in France.  Currently he teaches marketing at Webster University and the University of Vienna.  Hendrik has held a number of senior management positions in international companies over the last 20 years such as Managing Director of Readymix Lieferbeton, General Manager of Xerox Austria, Managing Director of AKG Acoustics. He brought the American franchise system Mail Boxes Etc. to Austria and managed the Masterfranchise organization.

DR. CHRISTOPHER KUMMER* is an Adjunct Professor at Webster University and Director of the Institute of Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances. He graduated in Business Administration with an emphasis in Strategy & Organization from the University St. Gallen (Switzerland) and received a Doctorate from Technical University Berlin (Germany). Besides his academic career, he has business experience as co-founder and CEO of a startup company and freelancing consultant.  Chris’ expertise in Mergers and Acquisition has received significant international media attention.

MR. CHARLES LAFOND, M.B.A.* is an American based in Vienna and has over twenty years of professional experience in English management training for companies in Austria. He trains in Presentational Skills.

MR. CHRISTIAN NEWMAN, M.S.e.* is an American based in Vienna.  Besides being Department Head of Business and Management and professor at Webster University, Vienna he currently heads the PDC. Before coming to Webster Vienna, he has worked in the United States and Austria in a variety of consulting jobs for companies such as Ernst & Young Management Consulting and Ericsson. He trains a wide range of topics, including: Leadership, Management Consulting Tools, Cross Cultural Management and Process Improvement.  Chris is a licensed trainer for “Leadership Through People Skills (LTPS)” ®, a celebrated Leadership and Communications methodology developed by US based Psychological Associates.

DR. THOMAS OBERLECHNER* is based in Vienna and is an organizational and clinical psychologist.  He has extensive experience with training groups in business in which he focuses on individual development and team building in organizational settings.  Thomas is Department Head of the Psychology Department at Webster University where he also teaches.  He is a published author (most recently The Psychology of the Foreign Exchange Market) and has worked closely with Harvard University on several research topics. 

DR. ELIZABETH ORTNER-CHOPIN* is an American based in Vienna. Elisabeth is a freelance trainer and university instructor based in Vienna since 1988. She started her training career as a Business English instructor and moved into the field of intercultural communication and management upon completing her Masters degree in International Business. She is an Adjunct Professor at Webster University Vienna and in Webster’s joint M.B.A. program with Comenius University in Bratislava. She designs and holds seminars and workshops in intercultural communication and management skills and supports managers in developing general cross-cultural competence. Her particular interest is in the use of diversity to create value for organizations. She has over 18 years of experience teaching and training in major Austrian companies and organizations. Her affiliation with Ashridge Business School (U.K.) is increasingly taking her outside of Austria as well. A native English speaker, Elisabeth also regularly holds workshops in German.

MR. NENAD PACEK, M.A., is a leading expert on successful business strategies and economic issues and outlooks in developing markets. His best selling book Emerging Markets: Lessons for Business Success and Outlooks for Different Markets is based on fifteen years of advisory work with senior management of some of the largest corporations in the world. In his capacity as a regional director of the Economist Intelligence Unit, Nenad is regularly involved in a consulting capacity at strategic planning meetings of major corporations.  Nenad regularly speaks at business briefings/workshops organized every year by Economist Intelligence Unit on issues ranging from business development strategies, investments, market entry and market expansion strategies, to political and economic outlooks in different markets. Nenad is regularly featured on TV and other media in the countries where events take place.

MR. DAVID WHITE is a native of New Zealand who has been a staff member with the International Atomic Energy Agency from 1976 to his retirement in 2002. Starting as a programmer analyst, he became head of computer training at the IAEA. David is specialized in Word and Excel at both basic and advanced levels. Besides being a trainer he is also a long-time adjunct professor at Webster University.  His areas of teaching include computer science and graphics, Word and Excel - particularly as applied to business or office use.

DR. ARNO HASLBERGER* is currently Senior Research Professor at Webster University Vienna. Arno’s teaching focuses on the development of leadership and people management skills and on all areas of human resource management. His research is centered on cross-cultural adaptation and the management of expatriates. Arno worked for GKN’s Aerospace Systems division in the UK where he was responsible for organizational development and training.  His previous industrial experience includes HR generalist and specialist positions with international responsibilities at General Motors and for Archer Daniels Midland in the US and Germany.  Besides his managerial work, he has taught university courses on various human resources management topics, organizational behavior, and labor economics in the US at Loyola University Chicago, in the UK at Thames Valley University, in Germany at Fachhochschule Wiesbaden, in Spain at Schiller University Madrid and at PEF Private University in Vienna.  Arno holds a doctorate in sociology and masters-level degrees in sociology and in business administration from Johannes Kepler Universität, Linz, Austria, and a master of science in industrial relations from Loyola University, Chicago., Chicago.

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