Powered by Advantage Austria and the MIT
Bankers and economists fear a spate of threats to global growth among them financial deregulation and protectionism. Join MIT's Roberto Rigobon, Michael Schrage, and Elisabeth Reynolds in a panel discussion with Dr. Christoph Leitl, President of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber on current economic trends and the impact of innovation, productivity, and competitiveness on the United States and Europe.
Personal Details Born 29 March 1949 in Linz, Austria Married, two children, two grandchildren
Education 1967 Matura, High School, Linz Fadingerstrasse 1971 Degree in Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz 1973 PhD, Economic and Social Sciences, Johannes Kepler University Linz 1974 Hernstein Management Academy 1975 Internships at Zürcher Ziegeleien and Wienerberger Baufstoffindustrie (brickworks)
Professional Background 1977 - 1990 Managing Director, family company Bauhütte Leitl-Werke (brickworks) Vice President, Austrian Association of Brick Manufacturers 1986 Established Baustoff Interhandel GmbH Supervisory Board Member, Oberbank AG, Isoroc Holding AG, MTB Beteiligungen AG, Bauhütte Leitl-Werke
Political Career 1966 Founding Chairman, European Youth (Europajugend), Linz 1976 Chairman, European Federal Movement, Upper Austrian Region Vice Chairman, European Federal Movement of Austria 1982 - 1990 Chairman, ‘Young Industry Austria’ 1985 - 1990 Elected Representative, Upper Austrian Regional Parliament 1990 - 2000 Member of the Government of the Federal State of Upper Austria with portfolio for economy, tourism, technology, energy, vocational training, regional planning and Europe. 1995 - 2000 Deputy Governor and Treasurer of the Federal State of Upper Austria 1995 - 2000 Member, Committee of the Regions (CoR), SME Division 2000 - Member, Executive Committee, Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP)
Austrian SME Union (ÖVP Wirtschaftsbund) 1999 - Chairman, Wirtschaftsbund — Upper Austrian Branch 1999 - President, Wirtschaftsbund — Central Office 2005 - 2009 President of the European SME Union Austrian Federal Economic Chamber 1980 - 1990 Member, Executive Committee, Austrian Association for Building Materials and the Ceramics Industry 2000 - President, Austrian Federal Economic Chamber 2004 - Chairman, Social Insurance Institution for Trade & Industry 2001 - 2005 President, Eurochambres (Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry) 2006 - Honorary President of Eurochambres 2006 - Honorary President, Global Chamber Platform
Honorary Posts - President, Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) - President, OIER (Organisation for International Economic Relations) with consultative status with the UN Economic & Social Council and the Council of Europe - President, Raiffeisen Economic Forum, Upper Austria - Member of the Foundation Board, Julius Raab Foundation - Member, National Olympic Committee - Vice President, Austrian Sports Aid Foundation (Österreichische Sporthilfe) - Member of the Board, Austrian Academy of Sciences - Co-President, AlpEuregio.BusinessClub - Member of the Honorary Board, Energy Globe Foundation - Member of the Foundation Committee, Foundation PRO ORIENTE - President, International Forum for Culture and Economy, Linz (IKW)
Academic Posts - Visiting Professor at the Vienna University of Economics & Business Administration (International Trade Department) - Princeton University - Fudan University, Shanghai - University of Cape Town - T.C. Istanbul Commerce University and Marmara University - MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Harvard University - University of Lagos - Stanford University
Awards - Honorary Senator, Johannes Kepler University, Linz - Honorary Senator, Vienna University of Economics & Business Administration - Declaration of Honour of the City of New York - Upper Austrian Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold - Recipient of the Honorary Ring of the provincial capital of Linz - Gold Medal of European Merit - Maltese Cross - Officer of the French Legion of Honour - Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of the Kingdom of Jordan - Commander with Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Polar Star, Sweden - Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy - Honorary Member, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) - European Citizen's Prize - "Star of Romania" National Order in rank of Commander
Interests Gardening, fishing, photography, hiking, skiing, philately
Elisabeth Reynolds is a Partner in Unless, an investment firm focused on industrial transformation, and a Lecturer in the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning. She was Special Assistant to the President for Manufacturing and Economic Development at the National Economic Council until October, 2022. During her time at the White House, she helped lead the Administration’s work on supply chain challenges, national manufacturing strategy, regional economic development and the broader industrial policy agenda. Before working in the Biden Administration, Reynolds was the executive director of the MIT Industrial Performance Center and co-led, with Professors David Autor and David Mindell, the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future. In both roles, she worked on manufacturing-related issues including growing innovative firms to scale and technology adoption by small and large firms.
Roberto Rigobon is the Society of Sloan Fellows Professor of Management and a Professor of Applied Economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is also a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a member of the Census Bureau’s Scientific Advisory Committee, and a visiting professor at IESA. Roberto is a Venezuelan economist whose areas of research are international economics, monetary economics, and development economics.
Roberto focuses on the causes of balance-of-payments crises, financial crises, and the propagation of them across countries—the phenomenon that has been identified in the literature as contagion. Currently, he studies properties of international pricing practices, trying to produce alternative measures of inflation. He is one of the two founding members of the Billion Prices Project and a co-founder of PriceStats.
Roberto joined the business school in 1997 and has won both the “Teacher of the Year” award and the “Excellence in Teaching” award at MIT three times. He received his Ph.D. in economics from MIT in 1997, an MBA from IESA (Venezuela) in 1991, and his BS in Electrical Engineering from Universidad Simon Bolivar (Venezuela) in 1984.
Michael Schrage is a research fellow with the MIT Sloan School of Management's Initiative on the Digital Economy. His research, writing, and advisory work focuses on the behavioral economics of models, prototypes, and metrics as strategic resources for managing innovation risk and opportunity. He is author of the award-winning book The Innovator’s Hypothesis (MIT Press, 2014), Who Do You Want Your Customers to Become? (Harvard Business Review Press, 2012), and Serious Play (Harvard Business Review Press, 2000). His latest book, Recommendation Engines, was published in September 2020 by MIT Press as part of its Essential Knowledge series. He's done consulting and advisory work for Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, British Telecom, BP, Siemens, Embraer, Google, iRise, the Office of Net Assessment, and other organizations
Schrage has run design workshops and executive education programs on innovation, experimentation, and strategic measurement for organizations all over the world and is currently pioneering work in selvesware technologies designed to augment aspects, attributes, and talents of productive individuals. He is particularly interested in the future co-evolution of expertise, advice, and human agency as technologies become smarter than the people using them.