Chief Executive Officer

British; born in 1959


After studying languages at Oxford University (UK), in 1982 Peter Rothwell embarked on an executive career that took him through marketing, product management, purchasing and sales at several Britishbased travel companies. He became Managing Director of Airtours Holidays in 1995, then CEO of Airtours UK Leisure Group in 1998. Peter Rothwell later served as COO at Thomson Travel Group and as CEO of TUI Northern Europe, where he also took over as Managing Director of TUI UK in 2004. He was appointed COO and Member of the Board of TUI AG Tourism in 2006, from where he moved to become Deputy Chief Executive of TUI Travel PLC, London, following the merger with First Choice in 2007. Peter Rothwell became CEO of the Kuoni Group on 1 January 2009.

Chief Financial Officer

Swiss; born in 1965


Before Kuoni, Peter Meier was with the Sulzer corporation since 1992. A widely-experienced financial specialist, he served as a controller and head of finance at various Sulzer business units in and outside Switzerland before assuming the position of CFO of the Winterthur-based corporation in March 2007, also becoming a member of the Sulzer Executive Team. A graduate in business administration, he also holds an MBA from the State University of New York. Peter Meier became Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and member of the Group Executive Board of the Kuoni Group on 1 December 2010. He succeeds Max E. Katz in this position.

Executive Vice-President, CEO Outbound Europe Division

Danish; born in 1963

After completing an apprenticeship with Maersk Line and graduating from Copenhagen Business School, Leif Vase Larsen embarked on his professional career in 1986 as financial analyst at Bull A/S. From 1990 to 1999 he held various Controlling and Financial Management functions at the shipping company DFDS. In 2007 he completed an Executive MBA at the University of Stockholm.

Leif Vase Larsen has been with Kuoni Scandinavia since the start. During the first seven years he served as Financial Director and since 2006 as CEO. 2009 he was appointed Executive Vice-President for Northern Region and at the same time became a member of the Group Executive Board.

Following its acquisition of online travel services provider GTA in May 2011 and as the final part of a three-year investment and cost-reduction programme, the Kuoni Group has an updated corporate structure since October 1, 2011. This is when Leif Vase Larsen became CEO of the Outbound Europe Division.

Executive Vice-President, CEO Emerging Markets & Specialists Division

German; born in 1967


Having graduated in business administration, Stefan Leser initially held a number of functions at various companies in the German travel sector. After completing an MBA in finance and strategic management at Augusta State University of Georgia, USA, he joined Atraxis AG in 1999 as Executive Vice-President Business Development, Marketing & Sales. He later moved to EDS, going on to become CEO of EDS Switzerland AG and Head of Sales & Distribution for Central and Eastern Europe. He joined Kuoni in 2005 as a member of the Group Executive Board, in the newly-created position of Executive Vice-President Corporate Development. He assumed additional responsibility for the unit Scandinavia in 2006. In 2007 he was appointed Head of Strategic Business Division Smart and CEO of Kuoni Switzerland. As part of the restructuring of the Kuoni Group in 2009, Stefan Leser was appointed Executive Vice-President Southern Region.

With Kuoni's updated corporate structure he became CEO Emerging Markets & Specialists Division on October 1, 2011.

Executive Vice-President, CEO Global Travel Services Division

Swiss; born in 1965



After earning a university of applied sciences degree in business economics, Rolf Schafroth joined Coopers & Lybrand and went on to serve as a management consultant in Switzerland and the UK.

Later he moved to Deloitte & Touche, Switzerland, to perform the same function. A year later he joined Kuoni Switzerland as Head of Financial Controlling; and after just one year, in 1997, he was named Head of Finance & IT for Kuoni’s Incoming Strategic Business Unit. In 2003 he assumed overall responsibility for Incoming Europe, the Kuoni Group’s biggest incoming unit; and in 2006 he was named CEO of Destination Management, a new entity comprising all the Kuoni Group’s former incoming units. In 2007 he was appointed to the Group Executive Board as Head of the Strategic Business Division Destination Management. Following the restructuring of the Kuoni Group in 2009, Rolf Schafroth became Executive Vice-President Procurement & Production, while continuing as CEO Destination Management.

Following the acquisition of Gullivers Travel Associates (GTA) in May 2011 he is now CEO Global Travel Services Division, which emerged from the integration of GTA with the Kuoni Destination Management division.