Management Board
Nikolaos Lykos
Executive Chairman of the Management Board
Mr. Nikolaos Lykos was born in Athens in 1957. A graduate of Lycée Leonin, he studied Philosophy at Essex University and Business Development at Templeton College, Oxford. After completing theoretical studies with the British Institute of Graphic Arts, he undertook industrial training at Harris Corporation in Dayton, Ohio and at Heidelberg College, Heidelberg. He has been active in the development of the family held Lykos company, founded in 1897, since 1980, representing the 4th generation of Lykos family. In 2000, he became Chairman of the Board and CEO INFORM LYKOS (LYK), listed on ATHEX since 1994. Since 2011, he is steering for the consolidation of all group operations in Vienna from the position of the Chairman of the Management Board. He has been in the Board of the International Business Forms Industries since 1984 and has served as its Chairman for two consecutive terms.
Emmanouil Kontos
Group CEO
Mr. Emmanouil Kontos was born in Australia in 1971. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the National University of Athens and a Master’s degree in Business Administration. He began his career in 1995 at Colgate Palmolive in Greece, where by 2000 he was Head of Financial Reporting. From 2000 to 2007 he was Finance Director Greece, MENA & European Development Markets, CEE at General Mills, taking then the role of Financial Controller Greek Business Unit at Coca Cola Hellenic. He continued as Group CFO at Korres Natural Products in Greece until 2011. From 2011 until 2018 he held leadership roles with General Mills initially as Finance Director Middle East, North Africa & Turkey based in Dubai, then GM Sub Saharan Africa in Johannesburg/Dubai and his last role before joining AC Group was Managing Director Middle East and Africa Region. In 2018, Mr. Kontos joined INFORM, listed on the ATHEX, as Managing Director of that division and then he hold the position of Group Deputy CEO. Currently, he is Group CEO of AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS AG. Having over two decades of experience across Europe and Middle East Africa, Mr. Kontos is an international leader and operated in senior CFO and Managing Director roles.
Burak Bilge
Executive Vice President Türkiye / Middle East and Africa
Mr. Burak Bilge was born in İstanbul in 1975. Burak Bilge is a graduate of Boğaziçi University Department of International Trade and has a post-graduate degree in Banking and Finance from Yeditepe University, his PHD on political science and foreign relation is still on going.
He started his career in the banking sector as a management trainee for Cards and Payments Department in Yaşar Bank in 1996. He later served as a senior expert in the Kent Bank’s Retail Banking and Product Management division. Bilge worked as a senior vice president of International Business Development in Garanti Bank Payment System from 2002 to 2007 to develop payments and cards business further in the region where his last assignment was to establish famous Bonus Card loyalty program in Romania advising Garanti Romania. From 2007 until 2013 he held global leadership role in Austrian Erste Banking Group, where he managed and spearheaded cards business and innovation across the Central and Eastern European region.
In 2013 Mr Bilge joined AUSTRIACARD to establish and lead Group’s Turkish business, currently he is the Managing Director of AustriaCard Türkiye.
Jon Neeraas
Executive Vice President Western Europe, UK, Nordics and Americas
Mr. Jon Neeraas was born in Mo i Rana, Norway in 1966, he holds a Bachelor`s degree from the Norwegian School of economics (BI).
He started his career as co-founder of TAG Systems Norway in 1990, acting as the Sales Director Banking, a position he held until EDB Business Partner ASA acquired the business in 2005. EDB Business Partner was at that time a 3.500 employee company listed at the Oslo stock exchange and Jon acted as the CEO of their card division. In 2008 he decided to join TAG Systems Andorra, a company Jon also was a co-founder of back in 1999, now acting as the CEO developing the company from a card manufacturer into personalization services. During the next years he established local personalization businesses in Finland, Baltic, Poland, Spain, UK and USA, developing TAG Systems Group into a market leader in the Fintech space.
In 2019 Mr. Neeraas joined AUSTRIACARD, acting as the CEO of the TAG Systems brand after an M&A transaction between AC and TAG.
Markus Kirchmayr
Group CFO
Mr. Markus Kirchmayr was born in 1980 in Austria and holds a Master’s degree in Economic Sciences from Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Austria. As a part of his studies, he studied 2 semesters at HEC Montréal, Canada. In 2023 he began his career at KPMG Austria in Financial Advisory and then moving to Audit where he was responsible for statutory and group audits as well as advisory projects. During his time at KPMG, Markus Kirchmayr acquired the certifications of Certified IFRS Accountant, Chartered Tax Consultant and Certified Public Accountant in Austria and was seconded for 21 months to KPMG Switzerland as Audit Manager at the Lausanne office. In mid-2013, he continued as Head of Group Consolidation at the listed company Conwert Immobilien Invest SE, Austria being responsible for the preparation of the consolidated financial statements. In May 2015, Markus Kirchmayr joined AUSTRIACARD Group as Finance Director of Digital Security Division and the Vienna-based entities and subsequently also assumed responsibility for ERP, HR, Legal & Compliance and M&A. In 2021, he was promoted to his current position as Group CFO.