LEADER Management

In order to tackle the many tasks of regional collaboration, the LEADER region has a full-time team covering a wide range of experiences and professional areas.

Mag. Michael Wagner
... took over management of the LEADER association Wachau-Dunkelsteinerwald in October 2020, and is responsible for implementing the local development strategy, acting as the contact person for funding applicants.

He has worked at the office location in Spitz since 2010, during which time he supervised the Vinea Wachau association and the Wachau Regional Wine Committee, as well as overseeing regional projects such as VITOUR Landscape and “Best of Wachau”. After completing his studies in “Business Consultancy”, he worked for a Japanese company in Tokyo for four years and then joined the Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs before moving to Krems.

  0043 2713/30 000
  0043 670/558 58 47
  leader@wachau-dunkelsteinerwald.at

[Translate to English:] Katharina Oberbauer © Daniela Matejschek

DI Katharina Sedelmaier
... has supported the team as a project assistant since April 2018 and is responsible, amongst other things, for the projects "Kirchen am Fluss" (Churches on the River) and “Leitsystem Wachau” (Wachau guidance system). She also supports the management of the World Heritage Site. After her parental leave, she mainly supports the team in administrative matters.

Katharina Sedelmaier completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Landscape Planning and Landscape Architecture at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. She chose Regional Development as her major subject. Before working for the Wachau-Dunkelsteinerwald region, she was employed in a landscape planning office. Katharina Sedelmaier comes from Schrems and lives in Baumgarten (municipality of Mautern an der Donau).

[Translate to English:] Stefanie Dornstauder © Daniela Matejschek

Stefanie Dornstauder, MA

... has been working for the region since April 2010. At the beginning, she was responsible for the Dunkelsteinerwald working group and the model climate and energy region of Wachau-Dunkelsteinerwald. From June 2015 to September 2017, she took over management of the LEADER Association of Wachau-Dunkelsteinerwald. Having returned to work after her maternity leave, Stefanie Dornstauder is responsible for project in the region Dunkelsteinerwald.

After completing her schooling at the Stiftgymnasium Melk, she studied Product Marketing and Project Management as well as Product Marketing and Innovation Management at the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt, Campus Wieselburg. Stefanie Dornstauder lives in Roggendorf (municipality of Schollach).

  0043 670/555 16 07
  dornstauder(at)wachau-dunkelsteinerwald.at

 

Based at the office in Spitz and responsible for the processing of projects, but not for LEADER management, are:

[Translate to English:] Elisa Besenbäck © Daniela Matejschek

DI Elisa Besenbäck, MSc
... came to the region as a project assistant in April 2016 and has supported various regional projects and collaborated on nature conservation projects. In February 2018, she covered for the manager of the LEADER Association of Wachau-Dunkelsteinerwald, who was away on maternity leave.

After gaining a Bachelor’s degree in Landscape Planning and Landscape Architecture, Elisa Besenbäck completed a Master’s degree in Landscape Planning and Landscape Architecture as well as a Master’s degree in Organic Farming at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. During her studies, she completed periods abroad at the universities of Florence, Budapest and Ames (USA). Elisa Besenbäck comes from Kleinnondorf/Rappottenstein in the Waldviertel.

  0043 2713/30 000
  0043 660/1630114
  besenbaeck(at)wachau-dunkelsteinerwald.at

[Translate to English:] Ingeborg Hoedl © Daniela Matejschek

Ingeborg Hödl, MA
… has been World Heritage Manager and managing director of the Verein Welterbegemeinden Wachau association and Arbeitskreis Wachau Dunkelsteinerwald Regionalentwicklungs GmbH since the middle of September 2018.

Born and raised in Amstetten, the Lower Austrian graduated with a diploma as an International Assistant Manager at the European Management Academy – EWS Vienna. She subsequently studied History of Art in Vienna and at Pace University in New York. She worked for Christie’s auction house and in the MuseumsQuartier in Vienna. After 10 years in culture and event management, she advanced her knowledge in the area of the preservation of historical monuments and completed a Master’s degree in Heritage Conservation at the University of Bamberg. She has since collaborated as a project manager on investigations of historical buildings in Austria and abroad. She recently worked for the St. Stephen’s Cathedral construction site hut within the scope of an EU project (masonry consolidation/nanotechnology).

  0043 2713/30 000-11
  0043 664/12 68 218
  hoedl(at)wachau-dunkelsteinerwald.at

[Translate to English:] Hannes Seehofer © Daniela Matejschek

Mag. Hannes Seehofer
... is the nature conservation expert in the office. Hannes Seehofer has worked at the Wachau office since 2003. He led the LIFE Wachau nature project from 2003 to 2009. He then managed the LIFE+ project "River Habitats Wachau-Mostviertel" from 2009 to 2014 and the LIFE+ project “Wilderness Wetland Wachau" since 2015. In addition, Hannes Seehofer is responsible as project manager for further nature conservation projects throughout the region.

Hannes Seehofer grew up in St. Pölten and studied Biology at the University of Vienna. He has professional experience of project management in the field of nature conservation (wetland restoration, contractual nature conservation). The part-time vintner and wine tavern owner lives in Furth-Palt.

  0043 2713/30 000-13
  0043 676/95 10 404
  seehofer(at)wachau-dunkelsteinerwald.at

Michael Tanzer, MA
... has been working for the World Heritage region since July 2020. In addition to continuing existing projects such as “Churches on the river” and the Wachau guidance system, he is also in charge of accounting and providing support for the World Heritage management.

Thanks to his bachelor’s degree in Social Economics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and his master’s programme in “Environmental and Sustainability Management” at the IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems, he infuses the Wachau World Heritage with diverse views.

  0043 2713/30 000
  0043 660/5149152
  tanzer(at)wachau-dunkelsteinerwald.at