Dkfm. Elisabeth Gürtler is one of the most prominent individuals in Austria's realms of business, society and equitation. The General Manager of the Spanish Riding School at the same time manages the operation of the famous Hotel Sacher in Vienna and Salzburg and was a successful competition rider.

Elisabeth Gürtler-Mauthner (born May 7, 1950 in Vienna) studied commerce and economics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. From 1973 to 1983, she was married to Peter Gürtler, who later became the owner of Hotel Sacher.

The mother of two worked in her parents' commercial firm and in the Hotel Sacher. Since 1990, Elisabeth Gürtler has been the managing director of the Hotel Sacher in Vienna and Salzburg. Additionally, Elisabeth Gürtler assumed responsibilities in leading business committees, including on the Board of the Austrian Hotel Association and as Vice President of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber. From 1999 until 2007, she chaired the Vienna Opera Ball. She has been the General Manager of the Spanish Riding School since December 2007.

She has been awarded numerous accolades for her entrepreneurial achievements, including Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year 1994 and Hotelier of the Year 2009. She received numerous orders of merit for her contributions to the country as well as the title of 'Commerce Councillor'.

Elisabeth Gürtler's love of horses began when she was a child. At the young age of five, she had her first riding lessons, and she competed for the first time in the dressage state championship in 1970. In 1979, she was the Austrian runner-up in dressage riding and participated in international dressage competitions in Austria, Germany and former Yugoslavia. Her teachers included horse trainers and ecuyers of the Spanish Riding School, among them the ecuyer Georg Wahl as the trainer of the Austrian Dressage Team and the ecuyer Ernst Bachinger.