Matthias Strolz was born on 10 June 1973 in
Bludenz, a district capital in
Vorarlberg, and grew up in Wald am Arlberg, part of the town of
Dalaas, in the Klostertal. In 1991, Strolz completed the
Matura at the
Bundesgymnasium Bludenz. During his school years, from 1990 to 1991, he was the student council president of Vorarlberg. Subsequently, Strolz began studying international economics and political science at the
University of Innsbruck, where he spent a semester abroad at
Dublin City University in 1994/95. In the course of his studies, Matthias Strolz was elected as a member of the
AktionsGemeinschaft in 1996 as chairman of the
Austrian Students' Association at the University of Innsbruck. In 1997 and 1998, Strolz also worked as a freelance journalist and publicist, before joining the
Austrian Armed Forces a year later. In 2000, Matthias Strolz gained the qualification as a certified
business consultant, on the other hand he became a
trainee at the
Federation of Austrian Industries, where he worked as a freelance coach and presenter since 1997. At the same time, Strolz became a parliamentary employee of the Vorarlberg
ÖVP National Council member
Karlheinz Kopf. In 2003 Matthias Strolz obtained his doctorate with a dissertation on organizational development at the
Faculty for Interdisciplinary Research and Continuing Education at the University of Klagenfurt. Already in 2001, Strolz founded the company i
c2 consulting GmbH as managing partner, since 2008 he was managing partner of
promitto GmbH. He suspended his business activities in October 2012, when he founded the new political party NEOS, to which he was elected leader at the founding convention on 27 October 2012. In the run-up to the 2013 National Council elections, the newly established party entered into an electoral alliance with the
Liberal Forum and was able to reach 5.0% of the votes in the election, thus making it possible for the party to enter the National Council. On 29 October 2013, Matthias Strolz was sworn in as a member of the Austrian National Council for the first time. In Parliament, Strolz acts as club clerk of the parliamentary club of NEOS and
LIF. After the merger of NEOS and LIF to the new party
NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum on 25 January 2014, Strolz was again elected to the position of party chairman by the Annual General Meeting. On 7 May 2018, Strolz announced his resignation as party leader, club clerk, and as a member of parliament. == Personal life ==