Hildegard Aichberger new Managing Director at the Environment Agency Austria
Hildegard Aichberger has been the new Managing Director of the Environment Agency Austria since May. Alongside Verena Ehold, she heads Austria's most important expert organisation for the environment. For the first time in its history, Austrias Environment Agency has a female dual leadership.
"Our society is facing many challenges, particularly due to the consequences of the climate and biodiversity crisis. With their profound expertise, experts of the Environment Agency Austria provide a fact-based foundation for politics and business."
‘Together with the more than 600 employees, I will do my very best to promote a sustainable and socially responsible transformation of our society at regional, national and EU level. Dialogue with politics, business and civil society is important to me. I am very much looking forward to working with Verena Ehold, my colleague on the Management Board. Together we will set the course for sustainability, environmental and climate protection,’ explains Hildegard Aichberger.
In a multi-stage application process, the 51-year-old from Upper Austria was selected as the best candidate and was appointed by Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler with effect from May 2024. She follows Georg Rebernig, who stepped down from the Management Board at the end of February. "I would like to say a big Thank You to Georg Rebernig. He positioned the Environment Agency Austria successfully as an important European institution and made great efforts to promote networking with the environmental agencies in the EU,’ says Hildegard Aichberger.
She has been active in leading positions in business, media and civil society in the areas of environment and sustainability for more than 20 years. She brings a broad network to her new role, including as former Managing Director of WWF Austria, Managing Director of the ORF initiative MOTHER EARTH, and as a member of the management board of Caritas Austria. Recently, Aichberger was responsible for sales and marketing as a board member of oekostrom AG.
Hildegard (Gitsch) Aichberger studied Cultural Engineering and Water Management at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU), where she also completed her doctorate. She completed her MBA at the University of Dundee (Scotland). She is an honorary board member of the ‘Blühendes Österreich’ foundation and, among other things, a member of the ORF foundation board and chairwoman of the supervisory board of Bundessporteinrichtungen GmbH (Austrian Sports Resorts).
The Environment Agency Austria
As the most important expert institution for the environment in Austria and one of the leading environmental consultants in Europe, the Environment Agency Austria stands for the transformation of the economy and society to ensure sustainable living conditions. The experts develop decision-making bases at local, regional, European and international level. The Environment Agency Austria is transparent and non-partisan and engages in dialogue with politics, administration, business, science and civil society.
