Group Executive Board

Andreas Brandstetter, 55

has been a member of the Management Board since 2002 and its Chair since 2011. Before joining UNIQA, he was head of the EU office of the Austrian Raiffeisen Association in Brussels. He holds a doctorate in political science, having studied in Vienna and the U.S. and completed an Executive MBA at California State University, Hayward/IMADEC. Andreas Brandstetter completed his postgraduate studies at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Harvard Business School. From 2018 until 2024 he was elected President of Insurance Europe, the representative body in Brussels of European insurance and reinsurance companies.

Wolf Gerlach, 45

has been a member of the Management Board and responsible for Operations and Data & IT since 2020. A graduate in business administration, he began his career with the Allianz Group before joining UNIQA International’s Bank-based Sales in 2008 and subsequently heading up the department of Group Strategy from 2010 until 2012. He then served as Chief Operations Officer of our Romanian subsidiary for four years, before joining the Management Board for Retail at UNIQA Hungary in 2016. Wolf Gerlach completed his postgraduate studies at Harvard Business School.

Peter Humer, 53

has been responsible for the function Customers & Markets Austria since January 2020. With a doctorate in social and economic sciences, he started his professional career at UNIQA in 1996 in sales, followed by various national and international positions in the Group. In 2009, Peter Humer took over the functions of Management Board member at Salzburger Landes-Versicherung AG (wholly owned subsidiary of UNIQA) and of Regional Director in Salzburg, and in 2017 he was appointed Member of the Management Board for Sales at UNIQA Österreich Versicherungen AG. In 2019 he completed post graduate studies at Harvard Business School.

Wolfgang Kindl, 58

has been a member of the Management Board since 2011 and is responsible for Customers & Markets International. Wolfgang Kindl has worked for the UNIQA Group since 1996, managing our subsidiary in Geneva from 2000 to 2004 and serving as Managing Director of UNIQA International from 2005. When he was appointed to the Group Management Board in 2011, he was also appointed Chair of the Management Board of UNIQA International. Since 2024, he has been a board member of Eurapco, a strategic alliance of mutual insurance companies in Europe. With a doctorate in social sciences and economics, he graduated from a postgraduate programme in environmental management. He also completed postgraduate studies at the IMD in Lausanne and at Harvard Business School.

René Knapp, 42

has been a member of the Management Board and is responsible for the areas Asset Management, Personal Lines and People & Brand since January 2020. The mathematics graduate and recognised actuary began his career at UNIQA in 2007 and took over responsibility for the life insurance actuarial department in 2010. From 2012, he headed the Group Actuarial department, which was expanded to include Group Risk Management in 2015. In addition to his activities for UNIQA, René Knapp is not only committed to the actuarial profession as a member of the Management Board of AVÖ, but has also held numerous guest professorships at Austrian universities. He also completed executive programmes at Harvard Business School and the Sloan School of Management (MIT).

Sabine Pfeffer, 52

took over as head of Customers & Markets Bancassurance Austria in April 2023 and has since been responsible for the Raiffeisen Insurance Austria brand. A graduate in Business Administration, Sabine Pfeffer has also completed a Master’s degree in Legal Studies as well as a university course in Insurance Management at the WU Executive Academy, and has more than 20 years of management experience in the insurance industry. Before joining UNIQA, she was head of the personal insurance administration department at Wiener Städtische Versicherung AG.

Kurt Svoboda, 58

has been responsible for finance and risk management on the Group Management Board since July 2011. He was also CEO of UNIQA Österreich Versicherungen AG from December 2017 until June 2020. He began his career at KPMG Austria GmbH in 1992, subsequently held management positions at various insurance companies and then joined the Group as Managing Director of UNIQA Finanz Service GmbH in 2003. Kurt Svoboda studied business administration, specialising in international taxation and insurance management, and completed an international management course at the University of St. Gallen, as well as postgraduate studies at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Harvard Business School.