Group Executive Board

Chief Financial Officer; Swiss, born in 1965.

After earning a university of applied sciences degree in business administration, Peter Meier worked for Sulzer from 1992 in Switzerland and abroad. His roles included Head of Finance and Controlling at the Sulzer Chemtech and Sulzer Metco divisions. At the start of 2007, having gained much experience as a financial expert, he was appointed Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Sulzer Group and joined the group’s Executive Board. Peter Meier is a Swiss certified accounting and controlling expert and has an MBA from the State University of New York. He also successfully completed the Advanced Management Program at Wharton School of Pennsylvania (USA). Peter Meier became CFO and Member of the Group Executive Board of the Kuoni Group on 1 December 2010.

Executive Vice President, CEO Global Travel Services Division; Swiss, born in 1965.

After graduating from the university of applied sciences (St. Gallen) with a degree in business economics, Rolf Schafroth joined Coopers & Lybrand and went on to serve as a management consultant in Switzerland and the UK. Later in his consulting career he moved to Deloitte & Touche, Switzerland, for a year before joining Kuoni Travel Switzerland as Head of Financial Controlling. And after just one year, in 1997, he was appointed to Head of Finance & IT for Kuoni’s Strategic Business Unit Incoming Services. In 2003 he assumed overall responsibility for Incoming Europe, the biggest incoming unit of the Kuoni Group, 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 a restructuring of the Kuoni Group in 2009, Rolf Schafroth took over additional responsibility for the newly created division Procurement & Production for Kuoni Tour Operating, while remaining in charge of the Kuoni Destination Management division. 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 and Kuoni Destination Management.

Executive Vice President, CEO Outbound & Specialists Dvision; 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. In 2011 he became CEO of the Emerging Markets & Specialists Division. With Kuoni's adjusted group structure in March 2013 he is now CEO of the Outbound & Specialists Division.

Executive Vice President, CEO VFS Global; Indian, born in 1968.

After graduating in commerce from Mumbai University and obtaining a Diploma in Business Management from Poddar College, Mumbai, Zubin Karkaria joined Orbit Trade Fair Tours in 1989.  He then moved to SOTC in 1991 and was with SOTC when it was acquired by Kuoni Group in 1996. He was appointed as the COO of the Tour Operating division in 1999, and moved on to become the Deputy CEO and Head Business Development in 2003. He conceptualised and launched VFS Global in 2001, and was appointed as the CEO and Managing Director of Kuoni India and South Asia in 2005, responsible for all units of Kuoni India – Tour Operating, Destination Management, Business Travel, and Kuoni Academy, while concurrently developing the VFS Global business into a global leader in its field. Effective 2010 he was made the Non-Executive Chairman of Kuoni India and the CEO of VFS Global. In March 2013, in line with the development of VFS Global as an important division of Kuoni Group, Zubin Karkaria was appointed on the Executive Board of Kuoni Group.