New Board Member

The European Forum Alpbach gladly welcomes a new board memeber: Antonella Mei-Pochtler was co-opted on 6 December 2022.

Born in Italy and a renowned strategy consultant, she was a member of the global leadership committee of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and held a series of management positions across Europe and the world with a main focus on digital transformation, brand management, strategy and organisation development. As an international senior advisor, member of multiple supervisory boards and investor, she is active in the technology sector, and as a fervent European she is involved in a number of institutions, where her prime focus is on innovation.

“By bringing Antonella Mei-Pochtler onto the Executive Board, we are taking another major step towards strengthening the brand internationally. For many decades, the European Forum Alpbach has been bringing together the most innovative minds from politics, business, civil society, culture and science to develop ideas for a strong and democratic Europe. We offer a varied, cross-generational and interdisciplinary exchange that has an impact on Europe’s policymakers. Antonella Mei-Pochtler will actively support us in our efforts”, says Andreas Treichl, EFA President.

Ms. Mei-Pochtler is currently active on a number of international boards of directors, including GeneralGroup, PublicisGroupe, ProSiebenSE, WestwingSE, Eni Plenitude, iSi Automotive and TUM Venture Labs. Until recently, she also worked for SIPRA in West Africa, being a nominated member of the IFC (International Finance Corporation). Antonella Mei-Pochtler on her new task: “We are currently at a turning point. Now more than ever before, we have to combine all our efforts to strengthen Europe and, through innovation, continue our work on making it a competitive place worth living in. This particularly requires an open, substantial dialogue with young visionaries from all areas of society. The European Forum Alpbach offers precisely that kind of platform, and that is why I am so delighted to support the team with innovative content, specific experience and international connections.”

For many years, Ms. Mei-Pochtler has additionally been committed to a variety of social causes, especially in the field of educational equity as a longstanding committee member of Teach for All and of the education project Business@School, which she co-founded, as well as the Pohrms school network in Germany. She is co-chairperson of the Kofi Annan Award for Innovation in Africa, a joint initiative of the African and European Union.

From 2018 to 2022 she was head of ThinkAustria, the think tank and strategic planning unit of the Austrian Federal Chancellery.