President of the Salzburg Festival.
Austria
Areas of Responsibility of Dr. Helga Rabl-Stadler include External representation of The Salzburg Festival.
Successful development of a network of sponsors with currently four main sponsors — Audi, Siemens, Kühne-Stiftung and Rolex and numerous project sponsors — in particular Roche, Nestlé, Swarovski, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Solawy and Uniqa as well as the acquisition of patrons such as Donald Kahn, Gerhard Andlinger, Dr. Erich Schumann and Senator h.c. Prof. DDr. Herbert Batliner.
Helga Rabl-Stadler studied of law as well as journalism and political sciences, graduated as a Doctor of Law. Then lived in Vienna, working as a journalist specialized in economy and domestic politics for the newspapers Die Presse and Die Wochenpresse. In 1974–1978 she was First female journalist to write an editorial column for the Vienna daily newspaper Kurier.
1983–2008 Helga Rabl-Stadler was Co-owner and partner of the family Business Modehaus Resmann in Salzburg and Linz.
In 1983 Helga Rabl-Stadler became Member of the Austrian National Council for the party Österreichische Volkspartei, passing a program for flexible work hours and an initiative to liberalize retail opening hours; also advocating an improved treatment of sponsorship activities in tax law. In 1985–1988 she was the First female Vice President of the Salzburg Chamber of Commerce. 1988–1995 President and Financial Advisor of the Salzburg Chamber of Commerce, overseeing 250 employees.
On the January 26, 1995 she became the President of the Salzburg Festival, renouncing all her political and representational positions in Salzburg and Vienna.
2 December 2016: Dr. Helga Rabl-Stadler was confirmed as Festival President until 2020 by an unanimous vote of the Festival’s Supervisory Board.
