Who is Gabriele Jirkal?

Gabriele Jirkal, president of BPW Salzburg, Austria  was born on March 18, 1959 in Salzburg.

After working many years as an accountant with different companies her fascination for other countries and cultures kept her living for a while in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. Gabriele and a friend purchased a sailing yacht in Singapore, and they organized sailing trips to Malaysia. Back in Europe Gabriele gave lectures about her time in Southeast Asia. Instead of monetary contributions she always asked for old eye glasses as donations. As of now she has given more than 1.000 eye glasses to Doctors without Borders.

She worked 10 years as CFO in the head office of a Stoves, Fireplaces and Cooking Ovens company with branches in Austria, Germany, Italy, Romania and Switzerland. After a break she studied 3 months  Art and Culture at the  Hunter College of The City University of New York.  Now, for the last 7 years she has worked as CFO at the Hospital Barmherzige Brüder (St.John of God) in Salzburg, Austria 
In Salzburg she is also working with the pastoral group helping organize Christian celebrations and the yearly Christmas market to aid   with money for the Hospital St. John of God, Kerala, India.

Besides BPW, Gabriele is also a board member of the Austrian American Society in Salzburg
The AAS-Salzburg is a Friendship Society that strives to deepen friendship and understanding between the two countries. The ultimate goal of the program is to understand and experience the cultures between Austrians and Americans.
BPW Salzburg, AAS and Hospital Barmherzige Brüder Salzburg support each other in some of their activities.

Gabriele was the Austrian delegate at the XXVI BPW International Congress in Mexico City, 2008, and she attended the XIII European Congress in Munich, 2009.
Since July 2010 BPW of Salzburg,  Austria and BPW of Burghausen, Germany are Twin Partners. When Gabriele was elected as BPW president of Salzburg, she and her board successfully organized the first "Equal Pay Day" in the city center of Salzburg.
Her Motto: No one can go back to start a new beginning, but any one can start  today to make a new ending.