Dipl.-Ing. Dr.techn. Dr.hc. Wilfried Eichlseder, born in 1956 in Steyr, Upper Austria, studied mechanical engineering at TU Graz. He started his career as an engineer specialized on finite element and fatigue analysis, in 1981 at Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG. In 1995 he became director of the Engineering and Technology Center Steyr.

1999 he was appointed to a professorship of the chair of mechanical engineering at the Montanuniversität Leoben. In 2011, he was appointed Rector of the Montanuniversität Leoben, which has now entered its third four-year period.