Career
From 25 October 2005 to 16 June 2015 he has been governor of Styria (Landeshauptmann der Steiermark). He was vice-governor of Styria from 12 March 2002 till 24 October 2005. On 2 March 2002 he was elected as the chairman of the Sozialistische Partei Österreichs (Socialist Party of Austria) Styria (Steiermark).
1967–1977: centre for ATSE Graz
1970–1977: 75 games in the Austrian Ice Hockey National Team, participation in 7 Ice Hockey World Championships and the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck
Since 1995: president of the ASKÖ-Styria und vice president of the national ASKÖ-Association
1972–1978: studies of social science and economics
1978: trained as a tax advisor
1979–present: in the Merkur Versicherung AG
1989–2002: Merkur board member, responsible for the financial sector
On 2 March 2002, he became president of the Sozialistische Partei Österreichs (Socialist Party of Austria) Styria and on 12 March he became vice-governor of Styria.
On June 2015, he was succeeded as governor by Hermann Schützenhöfer.