On February 6, 2019, Consul General Andreas Launer presented Hikmet Ersek (CEO and President of Western Union) and his wife, Dr. Nayantara Ghosh-Ersek, with high Austrian decorations at a festive ceremony at the Western Union Headquarters in Denver, CO. The accolades, the Decoration of Honor in Silver for Services to the Republic of Austria and the Decoration of Merit in Gold of the Republic of Austria, respectively, had been bestowed upon Mr. Ersek and Ms. Ghosh-Ersek by Austrian Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen for their dedicated services as Austrian Honorary Consul and Honorary Vice Consul for Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico.