Christian

Christian was born in Vienna as the only son of Karlmann Mautner Markhof and Melitta Maček (*September 7, 1921, † Vienna May 26, 2007) and grew up with his three sisters (Maria Charlotte/Heidi *1952, Maria Elisabeth/ Sissy *1953 and Maria Christine/Mausi *1959) at the STAMAG premises in Stadlau. The family then moved to Habig Hof on Wiedner Hauptstrasse. After graduating from the Schottengymnasium in 1974, he received his doctorate in jurisprudence from the University of Vienna in 1978, where he also completed his legal year. In 1979/80 he studied business administration at the UNM Anderson School of Management/Albuquerque, New Mexico.

From 1981 – 1982 he started at Haarkos (L´ORÉAL) in Vienna as product manager for Kerastase and in 1983 he moved to L’ORÉAL Paris, where he worked as international marketing manager for the Kerastase brand until 1986. Result: globally successful relaunch, market share gains and the establishment of Kerastase as an independent operating unit within the company. In 1987 he was called back to Vienna and ran L’ÒREAL Produits de Luxe/PARCOFRANCE GmbH as sole managing director until 2002. The Austrian subsidiary was responsible for the distribution of the cosmetics and perfume brands Lancôme, Biotherm, Jeanne Piaubert, Helena Rubinstein, Giorgio Armani, Cacharel, Paloma Picasso, Ralph Lauren and Lanvin. His strategies for the sustainable restructuring of the company continually exceeded expectations (Restructuring the company, multiplying sales with a reduced number of employees, gaining overall market leadership, building a new office building, opening the most modern training center in the industry, developing an environmentally friendly shipping system). After ending his corporate career, he remained loyal to the luxury goods and art segments as a consultant and dedicated himself to sponsoring, promoting artists and organizing exhibitions.

His marriage to Claudia Leopold (*1961) resulted in his sons Vincenz (*1997) and Paul (*1998).