Harald Kogler was born in Klagenfurt on June 11, 1960. After graduating in industrial engineering in Graz, he became head of the Innovation Center at the Carinthian Chamber of Commerce in 1986. He went on to work as sales director at Philips Data Systems GmbH in Vienna. Having returned to Carinthia in 1993, he was the founding director of the Carinthian Economic Promotion Fund (KWF) and manager of BABEG. From 1999 to 2006 Kogler was a member of the board at FUNDERMAX AG, which employs just under 1,400 people at its headquarters in Carinthia and other locations in Austria, Germany and Russia. Here, too, there was a strong focus on southeast Europe. He then moved to Kronospan – the world’s leading manufacturer of wood panel products – in Hungary, Romania and Slovakia as a manager and board member. Harald Kogler was on the board at Kärntner Elektrizitäts-AG (KELAG) and manager of Kelag Wärme GmbH from 2008 to 2013.

Since November 28, 2013 he has been CEO at HIRSCH Servo AG. His term of office runs until 2025.