Management

Mario (born in Salzburg, Austria) studied at the College for Tourism in Salzburg before beginning an apprenticeship in the local travel agency Ruefa. After spending a year in South Africa developing a more global mind, he returned to Europe to become the MD of AirConti in Austria, Munich-based tour operator which later became part of TUI. Over the next decade he grew to lead the Upper Austrian travel agency chain for 5 years.

In 1990 with the fall of the Iron Curtain Mario seized the opportunity and ventured to Prague, Czech Republic to establish his first Liberty office with just 3 employees. He spent 9 years in Prague overseeing the business and expanding to become the global enterprise we are today with over 55 offices around the world, Prague still remaining an important location for Liberty in East Europe.

Mario has been in love with Africa since his first visit in the 80’s and has been Kenyan resident for over a decade. He owns 3 lodges in Kenya including a conservancy and is passionate about nature conservation. Mario travels 7-9 months a year to oversee the offices worldwide and loves to spend time with his son and wife.

Andreas Henckell, a German national, is an Africa enthusiast and has a great interest in African art and culture.

His love for Africa has led him to investing in H12 Kipalo Hills, H12 Delta Dunes and H12 Cardamom house, lodges in Kenya and soon, one in South Africa.

He started his career in Investment Banking at a local bank in Germany and worked over the years for north American Investment Banks in New York, London and Frankfurt.

After a long and successful career he parted the Investment Bank Industry in 2009 in order to focus on new opportunities in other business areas. Next to other private equity investments, Andreas is a 20% shareholder in the Holding of Liberty International Tourism Group since 2010, consulting with senior management regarding future strategies and financial issues.

Stefan (born Austrian) is one of Liberty’s ‘oldest’ members, having started to work for the group as a MICE Project Manager in the first office in Prague, Czech Republic in 1999, and from 2001 being part of the sales structure of the Austrian and German office. After finishing Tourism University in Salzburg in 2003 he continued working for the Austrian office in Salzburg as Project Manager and coordinator of MICE groups and Leisure tour series. Over the time Stefan became a shareholder in several Liberty offices worldwide and started to develop new sale structures in Latin America and Central Europe. Stefan was also involved in the internal development of the company in the former Sales and Marketing board from 2015 and after internal restructure in 2017 he was appointed to Chief Marketing Officer to further drive the growth of the Liberty group and create better brand experience.

Stefan likes to spend his (little) free time driving on the racetrack as a passionate petrolhead. While travelling a lot around the world his home at the moment is Prague where he lives with his wife and small son.

Engelbert Egger started very early in the travel industry of Austria (1972) developing 160 travel agencies for the largest bank cooperation Raiffeisen. He joined Austria’s largest private travel agency “Reisen+Freizeit” in the early 80’s and was responsible for the retail travel agency chain, as well as for the tour operators. As a CEO of “Reisen+Freizeit” he took over the lead for the largest DMC (over 600.000 guest annualy) in Austria, Italy, Hungary and installed the joint venture with “Thomas Cook UK”. In 1993 Engelbert joined “GEO Reisen” as a shareholder and led the company in the top ten on the Austrian market. He was also appointed CEO of the largest tour operator “Merlin Fernreisen” which was a daughter company of “GEO Reisen” and the leader for Caribbean holidays on the Austrian market.

After selling “GEO Reisen” to “TUI” (in 2011) Engelbert joined Liberty family and started with “Liberty Event”- a division specialized in incentive travel and events. Since 2018 Engelbert is responsible for the quality control for all Liberty offices worldwide.