Mr. Fazekas, born in 1971, holds a PhD in Economic History and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the University of Vienna (Austria) and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Minnesota (USA), starting his career in 1998 at the European Commission in Brussels and the Office of the European Union Representative (West Bank and Gaza Strip, UNRWA) in 2000.
From 2003 to 2013, Mr. Fazekas held a number of management and supervisory board functions in international business companies. Since 2007, he was Managing Director of the Vienna Airport Holding company. Under his leadership and initiative, the airport company expanded into a leading service provider in East- and Southeast Europe. In 2011 he became Managing Director of Diamond Industries Holding, one of the globally leading manufacturers of piston aircrafts.
From 2013 to 2017, he was shareholder of different companies in the financial sector. He has launched numerous trans-border cooperation programs and projects in the fields of development of infrastructure, traffic, security, energy, environment and private sector for Southeast Europe. His mother tongue is German; he speaks fluent English and has a working knowledge of French.
Mr. Michael Fazekas was appointed Executive Coordinator of the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI) within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on 01 July 2017.