Mario Butterling, Viking Director of Recruitment, earned a bachelor of laws from Germany’s Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, followed by an MBA from the London School of Business & Finance in 2014. That same year, he joined the Viking family and now leads the recruitment of crew members for all our fleets—river, ocean, expeditions, Mississippi and China outbound—as well as staff for our operational office in Basel, Switzerland. Prior to this, he worked for Mandarin Oriental, Four Seasons and other private luxury hotels across Europe, along with a few years in the gemstone and high-end watch industries.

In addition to history, geography and travel, Mario is particularly interested in China—and that includes the language. Already fluent in German, English, French, Italian and Spanish, he is in the process of adding Mandarin to his linguistic tool kit.