Change of Leadership at Designa

Michael Gradnitzer joined the team and was made head of sales and distribution at DESIGNA in 1997. After a transition period as fully authorized signatory, he succeeded Uwe Renner as CEO in 2001. He led DESIGNA with a strong orientation toward sales and expansion. On July 1, 2006, he returned to his native Austria with a move within the Group to Vienna.

DESIGNAs new strength at the top is Dr. Thomas Waibel. Many of you already know him from the Intertraffic in Amsterdam or from various other occasions.

The 49-year-old from Vorarlberg brings with him a great deal of experience. After graduating from the Technical University of Graz, the electrical engineer with doctorate headed the development of the LEGIC Chip at Gantner Electronic in Vorarlberg. He then went on to direct several companies within the Collini Zimmermann Group in Austria and Switzerland. Subsequently, he became a member of the Group Executive Board. Now he will be bringing his experience and expertise to DESIGNA and to the companys parking management systems.

We will continue on the course of expansion set by Michael Gradnitzer. The ever-increasing number of markets also means that DESIGNA systems have to support a continuously growing number of market-specific functions. Moreover, the rapid developments in data processing are leading to more and more improvements that we will want to incorporate into PM ABACUS. This will make further expansion of the technical departments at DESIGNA necessary, a process that has already begun, divulges Thomas Waibel, among other things, in his initial speech as CEO. This will put the Group in an even better position to further strengthen its position in the market and to increase its level of technical expertise.