Because I believed in myself.

Planning a career means “recognizing and using opportunities,” says director and board member Gerlind Lair-Jeseki. And: “Be visible so that opportunities arise.”

According to Gerlinde Layr-Gizycki, she kept asking herself: “How can I develop further?” It started with her first job as an auditor at Arthur Andersen. “For me it was like jumping out of the deep sea,” says the 54-year-old. She did not explicitly address this topic while studying economics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and had to catch up quickly. She appears to have been a success, as she was the first woman to be sent to the London branch for five months.

“Because I believed in myself,” she says. The exchange of ideas and communication has always been important to her. And in all directions, “even upwards – respectfully, but without reverence and shame,” which was not natural at that time.

At the age of 27, she moved from exams to the financial sector because she not only wanted to take the exam but actively shape it. At first she was in charge of finances there, personnel issues were added later. “I’m not a routine person,” she says. This was one of the reasons she later added an executive master’s degree to the Bocconi School of Management in Milan: because she wanted to go deeper into marketing. After that, she assumed several mandates of the supervisory boards.