Dr. Gerhard Roiss, CEO of OMV, was awarded the title of Honorary WU Senator yesterday, in recognition of his years of loyalty and support to WU.

 

Gerhard Roiss initiated one of the most important sponsorship programs to have benefited WU in recent years. To reward his efforts on behalf of WU, he was awarded the highest honor WU has to give, the title of Honorary Senator, at a formal ceremony. In his opening words, Rector Christoph Badelt thanked Roiss for “generous sponsorship of education, which cannot be taken for granted in times of economic pressure,” and praised his commitment to “investing in future-oriented topics like sustainability.” Werner Hoffman, WU professor and Head of the Institute for Strategic Management, and Norbert Zimmerman, Honorary WU Senator and Chair of the Berndorf AG supervisory board, also spoke at the event. 

Hoffmann: Exemplary achievement

In his speech, Werner Hoffmann emphasized how much the businessman has done for WU. “Gerhard Roiss’ achievements, particularly in working together with academia, have been exemplary. It was his personal initiative to enter into comprehensive, long-term cooperations with top universities like WU and the Montanuniversität Leoben that go above and beyond the type of sponsorship agreements commonly seen in Austria. It speaks for Roiss’ international qualities as a top manager that he has always looked to Anglo-American best practice in cooperating with academia. Hopefully many more Austrian businesspeople and managers will follow his example. This would be an important contribution to strengthening the innovative potential of Austria as a business location.” WU’s comprehensive collaborations with OMV in research and teaching have resulted in an endowed chair, a competence center, and an expertise network for exchanging knowledge in energy issues, as well as a sponsorship agreement for the Central Library in the Library and Learning Center. Selected OMV employees contribute regularly to the MBA program in Energy Management, and Roiss himself has participated in numerous WU events to share his expertise and experience with students and faculty.

Zimmermann: Successful reorganization under Roiss

Norbert Zimmermann praised Gerhard Roiss’ personal qualities and his achievements over many years as an OMV employee and board member. “As Chair of the Board for many years, Gerhard Roiss can look back on a spectacularly successful development for OMV. His most important achievements as a member of the board include the takeover and extremely successful integration of PETROM, the restructuring of the petrochemical sector, followed by the strategic development of BOREALIS into a world-class company. As CEO, Gerhard Roiss invested enormous amounts of energy into planning and implementing the reorientation of the whole company as an internationally respected partner in the oil and gas transport sector,” said Zimmermann.

Roiss: Education is the key to social stability

OMV CEO Gerhard Roiss: “Contributing to the education of young people is part of OMV’s corporate attitude. Education is the key to a country’s social stability and secures economic perspectives for every individual. It is our responsibility as one of Austria’s most important companies to contribute to a positive environment at Austria’s universities and keep them competitive. I am pleased to receive this honor from WU and accept it on behalf of everyone at OMV who is committed to the topic of education.”

Contact:

Cornelia Moll
Press Relations Officer
Tel: + 43-1-31336 ext. 4977
cornelia.moll@wu.ac.at

WU press release OMV CEO Gerhard Roiss made Honorary WU Senator as PDF