Professor Marie-Therese Claes, Department of Management

Marie-Therese Claes (aged 75), a native of Belgium, earned her doctoral degree in philosophy and humanities in 1992 at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Belgium. Until 2016, she was professor of intercultural management at the Economics School of Louvain and ICHEC in Brussels. Among other positions, she served as dean of the business faculty at Thailand’s Asian University for 2 years and was director of the International Executive MBA at the Louvain School of Management, also for 2 years. During her career, she has held numerous visiting professorships and completed many research stays in Europe, the US, and Asia. After becoming a professor emerita in 2016, she continued to work as an academic staff member at UCL. Her main research interests are intercultural management, diversity and inclusion in organizations, and female leadership. “Drawing from my many years of experience and my international contacts, I’m planning to investigate various aspects of diversity in organizations and what this concept means in different cultures and contexts, and I also want to take a closer look at structural discrimination and the relationship between diversity and identities in my research and teaching activities,” says Marie-Therese Claes. As of October 1, Professor Claes has taken over the interim professorship of gender and diversity in organizations (to substitute for WU Rector Edeltraud Hanappi-Egger) at WU’s institute of the same name.

Professor Georg Eckert, Department of Private Law

Georg Eckert (aged 46) obtained his venia docendi in 2010, for a thesis on international corporate law entitled “Internationales Gesellschaftsrecht: das internationale Privatrecht grenzüberschreitend tätiger Gesellschaften,” which he completed at WU Vienna. In 2010, he became an associate professor at WU, and in 2014, he was appointed full professor of private business law at the University of Innsbruck. Georg Eckert’s research focuses on national, international, and European corporate law. In his research at WU, he plans to look especially at Austrian and European competition law. As of October 1, he now holds a half-time professorship of business law with a focus on competition law at WU’s Institute for Business Law.

Professor Georg Kofler, Department of Public Law and Tax Law

Georg Kofler (aged 43) holds doctoral degrees in law and in economic and social sciences. From 2001 to 2006, he worked as an assistant professor at the University of Linz (JKU), where he earned his venia docendi in 2006, for a thesis on double tax agreements and European Union law, which won awards such as the IFA’s Mitchell B. Carroll Prize. Until 2008, he worked as acting assistant professor at New York University School of Law. Georg Kofler then gained practical experience working at the Austrian Ministry of Finance, and in 2009, he was appointed full professor of financial and tax law at JKU. During his academic career, he has been a visiting professor at the University of Florida, the University of Sydney, and New York University. On October 1, he became full professor of international tax law (extent of employment: 50%) at WU’s Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law. “This institute certainly ranks among the best worldwide. I’m very much looking forward to contributing to its research, teaching, and international cooperation activities. Due to new business models, international cooperation, digitalization, and geopolitical shifts, international taxation is a rapidly evolving field. My goal is to prepare the students optimally for the challenges they will be facing,” says Georg Kofler.

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