Christine Wohlwend (born 31 July 1978) is a

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

er businesswoman, forensic technician, and politician who served in the

Landtag of Liechtenstein The Landtag of the Principality of Liechtenstein () is the unicameral parliament of Liechtenstein. Qualifications Citizens who have attained the age of 18, have permanent residency in the country and have lived in the country for at least on ...

from 2013 until 2017. Wohlwend represented the Oberland constituency as a member of the

Progressive Citizens' Party The Progressive Citizens' Party in Liechtenstein (, FBP) is a Conservatism, conservative List of political parties in Liechtenstein, political party in Liechtenstein. The FBP is one of the two major party, major List of political parties in Liech ...

, and also served as the party's parliamentary group spokeswoman.

Biography

Early life, education, and law enforcement career

Christine Wohlwend was born on 31 July 1978 in Feldkirch, Austria. Her father Helmut Wohlwend was a lawyer. At a young age, her family moved to the village of

Balzers Balzers () is a municipality and village located in southern Liechtenstein. In 2024, the village had a population of 4,806. The main part of the village is situated along the east bank of the Rhine. History and culture Historically, the present- ...

. Wohlwend grew up in Balzers, and later attended the Liechtenstein Gymnasium in

Vaduz Vaduz (; or ; High Alemannic pronunciation: [])Hans Stricker, Toni Banzer, Herbert Hilbe: ''Liechtensteiner Namenbuch. Die Orts- und Flurnamen des Fürstentums Liechtenstein.'' Band 2: ''Die Namen der Gemeinden Triesenberg, Vaduz, Schaan.'' ...

, where she graduated in 1998. Later that year, she began attending the

University of Lausanne The University of Lausanne (UNIL; ) in Lausanne, Switzerland, was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second-oldest in Switzerland, and one of the oldest universities ...

in Switzerland, graduating in 2002 with a degree in

forensic science Forensic science combines principles of law and science to investigate criminal activity. Through crime scene investigations and laboratory analysis, forensic scientists are able to link suspects to evidence. An example is determining the time and ...

. In 2002, Wohlwend began working at the Federal Criminal Police Office in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

, Germany. She initially worked in the field of forensic technology, specifically

ballistics Ballistics is the field of mechanics concerned with the launching, flight behaviour and impact effects of projectiles, especially weapon munitions such as bullets, unguided bombs, rockets and the like; the science or art of designing and acceler ...

and

crime scene reconstruction Crime reconstruction or crime scene reconstruction is the forensic science discipline in which one gains "explicit knowledge of the series of events that surround the commission of a crime using deductive and inductive reasoning, physical evidenc ...

. Among her duties, Wohlwend prepared a report for the 14th

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...

Forensic Science Symposium. She later switched her field to quality management and compliance, and left the police in 2007.

Business and political career

Wohlwend moved back to Liechtenstein in 2008, becoming the head of the business controlling and services department of Kyberna AG, an IT company in Vaduz. She was named to the company's executive board in 2011, and was "responsible for data protection and data location issues". In 2012, Wohlwend received a master's degree in controlling from the Zurich University of Economics. The following year, she co-founded a

consulting firm A consulting firm or simply consultancy is a professional service firm that provides expertise and specialised labour for a fee, through the use of consultants. Consulting firms may have one employee or thousands; they may consult in a broad ra ...

in Balzers named Elleta AG. Wohlwend is the firm's managing director, focusing on "risk management, data protection, information security and compliance", and she sits on the company's board of directors. In 2020, she won the Business Day Award at the "13th Women's Business Day in Vaduz". In the

2013 Liechtenstein general election General elections were held in Liechtenstein on 3 February 2013 to elect the 25 members of the Landtag. The Progressive Citizens' Party (FBP) won ten seats, with the Patriotic Union (VU) winning eight. The Independents (DU), which had been fo ...

, Wohlwend was elected to the

, representing Oberland as a member of the

(FBP). Following her election, Wohlwend became the FBP's parliamentary group spokeswoman, thus becoming an ''ex officio'' member of the party's

presidium A presidium or praesidium is a council of executive officers in some countries' political assemblies that collectively administers its business, either alongside an individual president or in place of one. The term is also sometimes used for the ...

. During her tenure in parliament, Wohlwend supported legislation which would give government employees the same protections against dismissal as private sector employees, "strengthen government oversight of public companies", and launch a "review of subsidies and transfer payments to private individuals". Wohlwend left office at the end of her term in 2017. Since 2018, Wohlwend has been the president of the board of directors of Liechtensteiner Volksblatt AG, the managing company of ''

Liechtensteiner Volksblatt The ''Liechtensteiner Volksblatt'' was a daily newspaper serving Liechtenstein. It was published by the Liechtensteiner Volksblatt AG, and as of 2015, had a circulation of 9,000 copies. The editorial office was located in Schaan Schaan (; dia ...

'', one of Liechtenstein's two daily newspapers. In February 2023, she announced that the newspaper would cease publication in March due to declining subscriptions and rising costs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wohlwend, Christine Living people 1978 births People from Feldkirch, Vorarlberg People from Balzers University of Lausanne alumni German forensic scientists 21st-century Liechtenstein women politicians Progressive Citizens' Party members of the Landtag of Liechtenstein Liechtenstein businesspeople Liechtenstein people of Austrian descent Members of the Landtag of Liechtenstein (2013–2017) Women members of the Landtag of Liechtenstein