Mag. Birgit Waitz-Merl

Managing the local office & representing EF Tours in Costa Rica; Leading a team of 50 Tour Directors and 2 assistants; Solely responsible for all operational tasks for 10,000 travellers per year and 4 Mill.USD budget, Negotiating & contracting of approx. 100 vendors annually, Recruiting, training & assisting Tour Directors, Crisis Management (24h Point Person in Emergencies), Market Research & Product Development, Business Analysis (Projections, Budget & End of Year Data), Eventplanning

Started as a Trainee; After 7 months employed as Full Time Area Manager in Transportation; Managing transportation logistics for 150,000 travelling students annually in 12 European countries, Solely espsonsible for 1.5 Million Euro budget; Market research for bus- and ferry companies; Negotiating; Strategic Allocations of transfers/bus packages; Dealing with on tour issues; Emergency response; Accounts payable; Business Analysis (Projections, Budget & End of Year); Recruiting & Training of Trainees

Instructor of Business Classes („European Business Competence Licence – ebc*l“) and developing appropriate seminar material.

Tour guide with “People to People Student Ambassador Programs”; guiding American High School Students through Europe

Instructor of student workshops (and developing appropriate seminar material) about: Team building, Concentration skills, Successful presentations, Rhetoric and communication;

Internship at the Austrian Chamber of Foreign Trade in Los Angeles, California

Various Internships (mainly during summer months) with: Tax counsellor, Publishing company, Insurance company, Institutes of further education, Austrian agricultural lobby, Retail industry.

• Special Field: Organizational Behaviour • Master Thesis about Recruiting Tools and Recruiting Criteria of Managers • Optional Subjects: Social Policy, Economics, Spanish, Presentation Skills, Personal Development • Erasmus Exchange Program at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Sep - Dec 2002)