Franz Voves (born 28 February 1953 in Graz, Styria,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

) is an

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

of the

SPÖ The Social Democratic Party of Austria (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs , SPÖ), founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (german: link=no, Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) unti ...

and a former player in the Austrian

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

national team. From 25 October 2005 to 16 June 2015 he has been

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of Styria (Landeshauptmann der Steiermark). He was vice-governor of Styria from 12 March 2002 till 24 October 2005. On 2 March 2002 he was elected as the chairman of the SPÖ Styria (Steiermark).

Sporting career

*1967–1977:

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

for

ATSE Graz ATSE Graz is an ice hockey team in Graz, Austria. They play in the Eliteliga, the third level of ice hockey in Austria. History The club was founded in 1947, and won the Austrian Hockey League in 1975 and 1978. The club was merged with UEC Graz in ...

*1975: Austrian Ice Hockey Champion with ATSE Graz *1970–1977: 75 games in the Austrian Ice Hockey National Team, participation in 7

Ice Hockey World Championship The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annual ...

s and the

1976 Winter Olympics The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games (german: XII. Olympische Winterspiele, french: XIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1976 ( bar, Innschbruck 1976, label= Austro-Bavarian), was a ...

in Innsbruck *Since 1995: president of the ASKÖ-Styria und vice president of the national ASKÖ-Association

Vocational career

*1972–1978: studies of

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...

and

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

*1978: trained as a

tax advisor A tax advisor or tax consultant is a person with advanced training and knowledge of tax law. The services of a tax advisor are usually retained in order to minimize taxation while remaining compliant with the law in complicated financial situations. ...

*1979–present: in the Merkur Versicherung AG *1989–2002: Merkur board member, responsible for the financial sector

Political career

Since 1995, Voves has been a member of the board of the SPÖ in Styria. On 2 March 2002, he became president of the SPÖ Styria and on 12 March he became vice-governor of Styria. In the 2005 elections for the Styrian government, Voves and his party got a majority with 41% of the votes, which was the first time since the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

that the SPÖ got a majority in an Austrian state election. On 25 October 2005, 45 of the 56 members of the Styrian federal state parliament (''Landtag'') voted him governor of Styria, succeeding

Waltraud Klasnic Waltraud Klasnic (née Tschiltsch, born 27 October 1945) is an Austrian politician who was (governor) of Styria from 1996 until 2005. Politics Klasnic joined the women's organisation of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) in 1970. She was ...

. In June 2015 he was succeeded as governor by

Hermann Schützenhöfer Hermann Schützenhöfer (; born 29 February 1952) was governor of the Austrian province Styria from 2015 until 2022 and chairman of the Styrian People's Party (STVP/ÖVP) from 2006 until 2022. Personal life Schützenhöfer grew up in Edlitz in L ...

External links

Voves Site on the official sites of Styria
{{DEFAULTSORT:Voves, Franz 1953 births Living people Austrian ice hockey centres Governors of Styria Ice hockey players at the 1976 Winter Olympics Olympic ice hockey players of Austria Politicians from Graz Sportspeople from Graz Social Democratic Party of Austria politicians