Delegations from thirty members of the International Network of Financial Centers for Sustainability (FC4S) gathered in Geneva in October. On this occasion, Switzerland was pleased to organize a sustainable finance week that culminated in the Building Bridges Summit on October 10 that brought together 800 high level participants, 26 partners, and 36 speakers.
With this initiative, Switzerland crystallized the ‘Building Bridges’ vision into a reality, positioning its sustainable finance ecosystem as a clear unique selling proposition for the world.
All feedback confirms that this ‘first-of-its-kind’ initiative was a milestone, a benchmark, that has laid the groundwork for promising future endeavors. It is now widely agreed that we have an extraordinary ecosystem with latent potential for deriving profit with a purpose.
Since October, the future of Building Bridges has been discussed from Zurich to Bern and on both side of Lake Geneva, with many great ideas and big ambitions for sustainable finance and Switzerland.
With the success achieved in the first edition, we are all looking forward to bringing this initiative to the next level.
CONFERENCE CHAIRMAN: Patrick Odier – Senior Managing Partner, Lombard Odier Group
Our potential is immense. We are here to gain traction.
Fabio Sofia – President, Sustainable Finance Geneva
Sandrine Salerno – Mayor of Geneva
Political insights on the Swiss sustainable finance ecosystem and the opportunity to lead the way on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Ueli Maurer – President of the Swiss Confederation
Reaching a shared understanding on the potential of the Swiss and Geneva ecosystem to connect investment and impact
MODERATOR: Saadia Zahidi – Managing Director, New Economies and Societies World Economic Forum
KEYNOTES: Tatiana Valovaya – Director-General, UN Geneva Office / Sergio P. Ermotti – CEO, UBS Group AG
PANELISTS: Daniela Stoffel – State Secretary for International Finance / Thomas Vellacott – CEO, WWF Switzerland / Philipp Rickenbacher – CEO, Julius Baer
Peter Bakker – President & CEO, World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
Investing in the transition towards a more regenerative, inclusive and distributive economy
LEAD DISCUSSANT: Andrea Brown – Head of Impact, Quadia
DISCUSSANTS: Jean-Marc Duvoisin – CEO, Nespresso / André Hoffmann – Vice Chairman, Roche & President, Fondation MAVA
Patrick Njoroge – Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya
Digital technologies can be creatively combined into entirely new sustainable digital finance products to accelerate sustainable investing
LEAD DISCUSSANT: Bertrand Gacon – Co-Founder & CEO, Impaakt
DISCUSSANTS: Simon Zadek – Principal, UNDP / Philipp Aeby – CEO, RepRisk
Yves Mirabaud – President, Geneva Financial Centre
Pierre Maudet – State Councillor, Geneva
Sabine Döbeli – CEO, Swiss Sustainable Finance
The dynamism and expertise of the Asset Management industry to showcase and discuss the benefits, limitations and future of ESG integration
MODERATOR: Fiona Frick – CEO, Unigestion SA
KEYNOTE: Manuel Leuthold – President of the Board of compenswiss (Swiss Federal Social Security Funds)
PANELISTS: Claudia Bolli – Head of Responsible Investing, Swiss-Re / Natasha Braginsky Mounier – ESG Investment Director, Capital Group / Jan Poser – Chief Strategist & Head of Sustainability, Bank J. Safra Sarasin Ltd
Nadia Isler – Director, SDG Lab
Melchior de Muralt – Managing Partner, de Pury Pictet Turrettini & Cie SA
Philipp Krüger – Associate Professor, Geneva Finance Research Institute (GFRI)
The central role of institutional investors: how to make engagement the norm rather than the exception? What can we learn from the Swiss experience and what comes next?
MODERATOR: Roland Dominicé – CEO, Symbiotics SA
PANELISTS: Andreas von Planta – Member of the Board of Directors, Novartis AG / Monika Beck – Member of the Management Board, DEG / Stefan Bichsel – Member of the Executive Board, Head of the Asset Management & Trading Division, BCV / Daniel Wild – Global Head of ESG Strategy, Credit Suisse
Arancha Gonzalez – Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Executive Director of the International Trade Centre
Laurent Ramsey – Partner and CEO, Pictet Asset Management
Patrick Odier has been a Managing Partner of the Lombard Odier Group since 1986 and a Senior Managing Partner since 1 July 2008. He has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Lombard Odier & Co Ltd since 1 January 2014.
Patrick Odier holds an economics degree from the University of Geneva and an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago.
He joined the Lombard Odier Group in 1982 and completed his training in Zurich, New York and Montreal before becoming a Managing Partner. He has devoted most of his career to the strategic management of the Group and the development of business relationships with both private and institutional clients as well as external management companies.
Patrick Odier was Chairman of the Swiss Bankers Association from 2009 to 2016.
He is a member of the Board Group of economiesuisse (Swiss Business Federation).
He chairs Fondation Lombard Odier and the Dr Henri Dubois-Ferrière Dinu Lipatti Foundation. He is also a board member of the Louis-Jeantet Foundation and the Brocher Foundation in addition to many other Swiss and international philanthropic organisations and academic institutions.
Fabio Sofia has more than 15 years of experience in sustainable finance, particularly investments related to sustainable development goals.
He played a pioneer role in the field of microfinance joining Symbiotics at inception where he first developed the Latin America market (10 countries) which grew to 300 million US Dollars by 2009 and spurred the company to open its first regional office in Mexico City.
In 2012, he headed up the pipeline & brokerage unit, managing several large advisory mandates as well as Symbiotics’ first bond transactions. Following this, he headed the business development unit, where he set up the company’s first sales activities and developed and acquired several new mandates. He largely contributed to the success of the firm thanks to the implementation of several key-partnerships which made possible for Symbiotics to exceed USD 2 billions under management until the end of 2017, for an exhibition in more than 70 countries.
Prior to joining Symbiotics, he worked for the Human Rights Policy section of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and for Lombard Odier & Cie, a Swiss private bank.
He is now associate director at Wecan Group, a fintech company specializing in digital financing solutions and blockchain.
Fabio Sofia joined Sustainable Finance Geneva (SFG) in 2012, first as treasurer, than as Vice-president. He is President since 2016.
He holds a master’s degree in International Relations from the Graduate Institute (IHEID) in Geneva.
Mrs Sandrine Salerno is Mayor of the City of Geneva. Besides being the Head of the Department of Finance and Housing, she is also in charge of the City of Geneva’s policies regarding sustainable development, diversity, equality and economic development. In addition, Mrs Salerno is responsible for the Human Resources and Procurement policies, and she represents the City’s government within the diplomatic and international circles in Geneva.
Elected to the executive body of the City of Geneva as a representative of the Socialist Party, she holds a Bachelor degree in Political Science and a Master in Public Administration from the University of Geneva. Before being elected to the executive body of the City of Geneva, Sandrine Salerno worked as the Deputy Chief of the Europe–Third World Centre (CETIM), in the Human Rights Programme (1995-1997), a Coordinator at the Swiss-Immigrants Contact Centre (1997-2001), a researcher at the University of Geneva (2001-2006) and then as the Deputy Head in the unit of University Affairs at the Department of Education of the Canton of Geneva (2006-2007).
Mrs Salerno’s political career began when she became a member of the Town Council for the City of Geneva (1999-2007), where, among many other commitments, she was a member of the Financial Commission. It is in June 2007 that she was elected to the City’s executive Council.
President of the Swiss Confederation for 2019, Head of the Federal Department of Finance FDF
Time period | Occupational activities |
---|---|
1994 – 2008 | Manager of the Zurich Farmers‘ Association |
1974 – 1994 | Manager of a farmers‘ cooperative |
Time period | Political activities |
---|---|
5 December 2018 | Elected President of the Swiss Confederation for 2019 |
6 December 2017 | Elected Vice President of the Federal Council for 2018 |
Since 1January 2016 | Head of the Federal Department of Finance FDF |
5 December 2012 | Elected President of the Swiss Confederation for 2013 |
14 December 2011 | Elected Vice President of the Federal Council for 2012 |
2009-2015 | Head of the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport DDPS |
10 December 2008 | Elected Federal Councillor |
1996-2008 | Chairman of the Swiss People’s Party |
1991-2008 | National Councillor |
1983-1991 | Cantonal Parliament of Zurich |
1978-1986 | Communal Council of Hinwil |
Her teams work with leaders from business, government, civil society and academia to understand and shape the new economy, advance competitiveness, drive social mobility and inclusion, close skills gaps, prepare for the future of work and foster gender equality and diversity. Saadia founded and co-authors the Forum’s Future of Jobs Report, Global Gender Gap Report and Human Capital Report. Her book, Fifty Million Rising, charts the rise of working women in the Muslim world and was longlisted for the FT/McKinsey Business Book of the Year 2018. She has been selected as one of BBC’s 100 Women and won the inaugural FT/McKinsey Bracken Bower Prize for prospective authors under 35. She holds a BA in Economics from Smith College, an MPhil in International Economics from the Graduate Institute of Geneva and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School. Her interests include the future of work, the impact of technology on employment, education and skills, income inequality and using big data for public good.
Tatiana Valovaya is the 13th Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UN Geneva) and the first woman to occupy this position.
Ms. Valovaya has more than 35 years of experience in public service, diplomacy and journalism. She began her career in 1983 in the editorial office of the Economic Gazette in Moscow, first as a correspondent, then as deputy editor of the Department of World Economy.
In 1989, Ms. Valovaya joined the Permanent Mission of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to the European union (EU), where she served as Third Secretary. She then became Second Secretary of the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the EU, until 1994. During her diplomatic career, she was in charge of the financial and economic cooperation issues.
From 1995 to 1997, Ms. Valovaya worked at the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation, where she was responsible for relations with the statutory bodies of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). She then served as Head of the Monetary and Financial Policy Directorate at the Ministry for the CIS.
From 1999 to 2012 Ms. Valovaya worked in the Government administration of the Russian Federation as Deputy Director and then Director of the Department of International Cooperation.
Ms. Valovaya joined the Eurasian Economic Commission in 2012 as a Member of the Board (Minister) responsible for integration and macro-economic issues. In particular, she was in charge of implementing integration policies within the Eurasian Economic Commission, coordinating the formation processes of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, and the negotiation of free trade agreements between the Eurasian Economic Community and third countries. In addition, she was in charge of relations with international organizations.
In 1980, Ms. Valovaya graduated from the Faculty of International Economic Relations of the Moscow Finance Institute. She holds the scientific degree of Candidate of Economic Sciences (1st doctoral level scientific degree and the degree of Doctor of Economic Sciences from the Financial Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation.
Ms. Valovaya has written more than 170 scientific and journalistic publications on issues of international monetary and credit relations, European and Eurasian economic integration and multilateral cooperation in the CIS framework.
In addition to her mother tongue, Russian, she speaks English and French.
Sergio P. Ermotti has been Group Chief Executive Officer of UBS Group AG since November 2014, having held the same position at UBS AG since November 2011 and on an interim basis between September and November 2011.
Mr. Ermotti became a member of the GEB in April 2011 and was Chairman and CEO of UBS Group Europe, Middle East and Africa from April to November 2011. From 2007 to 2010, he was Group Deputy Chief Executive Officer at UniCredit, Milan, and was responsible for the strategic business areas of Corporate and Investment Banking, and Private Banking. He joined UniCredit in 2005 as Head of Markets & Investment Banking Division.
His career began at Merrill Lynch in 1987, where he held various positions within equity derivatives and capital markets until 2003. In his last two years there, he served as co-Head of Global Equity Markets and as a member of the Executive Management Committee for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Mr. Ermotti is a Swiss-certified banking expert and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Programme at Oxford University
Daniela Stoffel (born in 1968) took up her role as State Secretary for International Finance at the Federal Department of Finance (FDF) on 1 March 2019.
In 1998, Daniela Stoffel entered the diplomatic service of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). In 2005, she took over as Head of Public Relations and Culture at the Swiss Embassy in Washington D.C. and in August 2009 she moved to the Swiss Embassy in Berlin as Head of Economic and Financial Affairs. There she was appointed Deputy Head of Mission in 2012. In 2015, Daniela Stoffel assumed a staff function in the General Secretariat of the OECD in Paris.
From 2015, Daniela Stoffel was on detachment to SIF with the title of Ambassador, latterly as Head of Political Staff. From 2016, she was also the Diplomatic Advisor to the Head of the Federal Department of Finance (FDF). In these functions, Daniela Stoffel was involved in safeguarding and dealing with current financial policy issues and challenges and in the corresponding international negotiations and contacts.
Daniela Stoffel graduated from the University of Zurich in 1992 with a degree in Philosophy, Economics and German Linguistics. Accompanying her work as a University Assistant at the Institute of Philosophy of the University of Zurich, she wrote her thesis in 1996. She is a citizen of Winterthur, in the canton of Zurich, and is the mother of an adult daughter.
Thomas Vellacott is CEO of WWF Switzerland and a member of WWF‘s global Network Executive Team. WWF‘s mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature. WWF challenges unsustainable practices and builds solutions-based alliances for transformation. WWF Switzerland has 280,000 supporters and over 4,000 volunteers. Worldwide, more than 5 million people support WWF in over 100 countries.
Thomas has been passionate about nature for as long as he can remember. He joined WWF as a member and volunteer when he was eight years old. Prior to taking on the role of CEO in 2012, Thomas was responsible for developing WWF’s partnerships with the private sector and subsequently spent nine years heading up WWF Switzerland‘s national and international nature conservation projects. Before joining WWF, he worked in private banking for Citibank and as a consultant and engagement manager for McKinsey & Co.
Thomas holds degrees in Arabic and Islamic studies from Durham, in International Relations from Cambridge and in Business Administration from IMD. He serves on the boards of several nonprofits and startups in the sustainability space. Thomas and his family live in Zürich, from where he enjoys exploring nature on land and under water.
Since 1 September 2019, Philipp Rickenbacher has been CEO of Julius Baer Group Ltd. and Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd.
Philipp Rickenbacher joined Julius Baer in 2004 and subsequently held various senior leadership roles, including the responsibility for the Structured Products area. In 2016, he was appointed to the Bank’s Executive Board and became Head Advisory Solutions. From January until the end of August 2019, he was Head Intermediaries & Global Custody and Member of the Bank’s Executive Board.
Before joining Julius Baer, he was employed with McKinsey & Company in Zurich and London from 1997 to 2004, amongst others as Associate Principal.
Philipp Rickenbacher holds a Master of Science in Biotechnology from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich. Additionally, he is a graduate of the Swiss Finance Institute and of the Advanced Management Program of Harvard Business School. He is father of two children.
Mr Bakker has led WBCSD since 2012. WBCSD is a global, CEO-led organization of over 200 leading businesses working together to accelerate the transition to a sustainable world. WBCSD member companies come from all business sectors and all major economies, representing a combined revenue of more than USD $8.5 trillion and with 19 million employees.
Mr. Bakker is a distinguished business leader who, until June 2011, served as CFO and then CEO of TNT NV, the global transport and logistics company. He has been recipient of the Clinton Global Citizen Award (2009) and the Sustainability Leadership Award (2010). Mr. Bakker is Chairman of War Child in the Netherlands and serves as a member of corporate sustainability advisory boards.
He is an Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau since 2018, in recognition of his long-lasting commitment to engaging business in tackling global sustainability issues.
Andrea Brown has spent more than fifteen years working in sustainability, having led initiatives on circular economy, plastics, greenhouse gas emissions and social impact with some of the world’s largest companies and most disruptive innovators.
She currently works for one of Switzerland’s pioneer impact finance company – Quadia, where she helps accelerate the circular and regenerative economy by overseeing the impact strategy of over 180 million USD in equity and debt investments.
Prior to joining Quadia, she spent 10 years at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a CEO-led business coalition of more than 200 companies. There, she most recently led the Circular Economy program.
Jean-Marc Duvoisin was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Nestlé Nespresso SA in March 2013.
Prior to this role, Jean-Marc had served as Director of Corporate Human Resources at Nestlé since 2007. In 2010, he became Deputy Executive Vice President Human Resources & Centre Administration and member of Nestlé Executive Board.
Since joining Nestlé in 1986, he had assumed various international and headquarter-based positions in Marketing and Sales. He spent part of his career in different markets across Latin America where he served as Country Manager of Ecuador before becoming Market Head for the Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador Region in 2003. A year later, he was promoted to the position of Head of Mexico.
Jean-Marc also served as Chairman of the Nestlé Pension Funds for five years.
He holds an MSc in Economy from Lausanne University HEC, an International Economics Degree from Inst. Univ (HEI), Geneva and an MA in Political Science from Lausanne University.
A Swiss and Italian citizen, he is married with two children, and speaks English, French and Spanish fluently.
André Hoffmann is the Vice Chairman of Roche Holding, Switzerland and serves on the board of the fully owned subsidiary Genentech Inc. in California (USA).
Alongside his non-executive roles in the family business, Mr. Hoffmann has a distinguished cursus in nature conservation and sustainability. He has served among others on the board of WWF International as Vice-President. He is the President of Fondation MAVA and of Fondation Tour du Valat in the Camargue, France.
Mr Hoffmann has joined the Board of SystemIQ to help positively disrupt critical economic systems; the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum, as well as of the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in San Francisco. He has also been instrumental in establishing the Hoffmann Global Institute in Business and Society (HGIBS) at INSEAD, his Alma mater, and chairs its Advisory Board.
Mr. Hoffmann studied economics at St. Gallen University and holds an MBA from INSEAD.
Dr. Patrick Njoroge is the ninth Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), and has been in office since June 19, 2015. He has overseen a significant overhaul of the banking system in Kenya, including the launch of the first Kenya Banking Sector Charter. He also led the country in the launch of the new generation currency banknotes and coins, thus fulfilling a much-anticipated constitutional requirement. Dr. Njoroge has been keen on facilitating the growth of the Micro, Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (MSME) sector, which has been the engine of growth of the Kenyan economy.
Dr. Njoroge joined CBK after a twenty-year career at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, DC. Prior to his appointment as Governor, Dr. Njoroge was Advisor to the IMF Deputy Managing Director from December 2012, where his responsibilities included assisting in overseeing the IMF’s engagement with a large swath of IMF members. He also served as Deputy Division Chief in the IMF’s Finance Department (2006-2012), IMF’s Mission Chief for the Commonwealth of Dominica (2005-2006) and in other capacities since 1995. Prior to joining the IMF, Dr. Njoroge worked as an Economist at the Ministry of Finance (1993-1994) and as a Planning Officer at the Ministry of Planning (1985-1987).
He holds a PhD degree in Economics from Yale University (1993), a Master of Arts degree in Economics (1985) and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics (1983) from the University of Nairobi. Dr. Njoroge’s professional and research interests lie in Macroeconomics, Economic Policy, International Finance, Development Economics, Econometrics and Monetary Policy.
Dr. Njoroge began his second four-year term in June 2019. He was appointed to the UN Task Force on Digital Financing by Secretary General Antonio Guterres in November 2018.
Bertrand Gacon began his professional career in the financial sector and worked successively in Asia, Paris and Geneva with the BNP Paribas group. In 2006, Bertrand created the Responsible Investment offer of the French bank and developed a complete range of SRI and Impact Investing solutions for its private clients worldwide.
In 2011, he joined Lombard Odier in Geneva and became head of the Impact Office, a team that developed innovative investment solutions in the field of development finance and climate obligations. He also initiated and led the B Corp certification obtained by Lombard Odier.
In 2018, Bertrand co-founded the social enterprise « Impaakt », which uses collective intelligence to analyze and measure the impact that large companies have on the planet and society. The platform (www.impaakt.com) allows all citizens to both contribute and benefit from this universal knowledge database built around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In addition to his role as CEO at Impaakt, Bertrand is Program Director at IHEID, where he developed a Certificate of Advanced Studies on « SDG Investing ». He is also leading the « SwiSOX » project at Sustainable Finance Geneva, an initiative whose objective is to create in Geneva the « Nasdaq for social enterprises ».
Bertrand is a graduate of Skema Business School.
Simon Zadek is senior advisor to Achim Steiner, the head of the United Nations Development Programme, and is principal of Project Catalyst, a UNDP platform advancing large-scale, system-level initiatives to realise the SDGs.
Simon has specific responsibility for the UN Secretary-General’s Task Force on Digital Financing of the SDGs which Mr. Steiner co-chairs with Maria Ramos, a veteran of the commercial banking industry who recently (February 2019) retired as CEO of Absa Group Ltd.
Simon has served as senior advisor on sustainable finance to the UN Deputy Secretary-General, and as co-director of UN Environment’s Inquiry into Design Options for a Sustainable Financial System. For the G20, first under China’s presidency and then for Germany and Argentina, Simon led the Green/Sustainable Finance Study Group secretariat, and before that represented UN Environment as the co-chair of China’s Green Finance Task Force alongside the People’s Bank of China.
Simon is widely published and has held many academic positions, including at Tshinghua School of Economics and Management, Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Singapore Management University, and the University of Southern Africa. He has advised many companies on their approach to sustainable development and has founded and led a number of think tanks and partnerships, including AccountAbility and the Sustainable Digital Finance Alliance.
Dr. Philipp Aeby is a Co-founder and CEO of RepRisk. He is an expert in business conduct risk management with a special interest in machine learning. Before joining RepRisk in 2006, he served in various managerial positions across Europe at Amgen, a global biopharmaceutical firm, and worked on a broad range of international assignments with the Boston Consulting Group.
Philipp Aeby holds a PhD in environmental physics and a M.Sc. in Climatology and Hydrology from ETH Zurich, where he earned the ETH medal for outstanding research that involved applying neural networks to pattern recognition. He has served on various boards and advisory boards, among them on the Board of Swiss Sustainable Finance (SSF) when SSF was founded and on UNICEF’s Advisory Board during the launch of the Children’s Rights and Business Principles.
After graduating from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Yves Mirabaud spent five years in various banking institutions in Geneva, Zurich, Boston and New York before joining the bank in 1993. A Managing Partner since 1996, he was alo Member of the Executive Committee between 2000 and 2011. He became Senior Managing Partner in 2012.
Since January 2014, following a change in the legal structure of the Mirabaud Group, Yves Mirabaud is Senior Managing Partner of Mirabaud SCA and Chairman of the Board of Mirabaud & Cie SA.
Since April 2015, he is Chairman of the Association of Swiss Private Banks and since 2016 of the Geneva Financial Center. He is also member of the Board of Swiss Bankers Association.
Ancien président du Conseil d’Etat (01.06.2018-13.09.2018)
Parti libéral-radical
Elu le 17 juin 2012. Réélu le 10 novembre 2013 et le 15 avril 2018
Mandats politiques
2018-2019: conseiller d’Etat chargé du département de la sécurité (DS)
2012-2018 : conseiller d’Etat chargé du département de la sécurité et de l’économie (DSE)
2018-2019: président de la Conférence des directrices et directeurs des départements cantonaux de justice et police (CCDJP)
2016-2018 : président de la Conférence latine des chefs des départements de justice et police (CLDJP)
2016-2017 : président des chefs des départements de l’Economie publique de Suisse occidentale (CDEP-SO)
2011-2012: maire de Genève
2007-2012: conseiller administratif de la Ville de Genève
1999-2007: conseiller municipal de la Ville de Genève
2005-2007: président du parti radical genevois
2005-2015: président de la Commission fédérale pour l’enfance et la jeunesse
1993-1995: président du parlement des jeunes de la Ville de Genève
Expérience professionnelle
Consultant indépendant
Capitaine dans les troupes de sauvetage
Formation
Titulaire d’un master bilingue en droit de l’Université de Fribourg
Sabine Döbeli is the CEO of Swiss Sustainable Finance, an association that was founded in 2014 with the objective of promoting sustainability in Swiss finance.
Previously, she was Head of Corporate Sustainability Management at Vontobel. At Zürcher Kantonalbank she built up the sustainability research unit within the financial analysis department and was involved in the launch of various sustainable investment products.
Sabine holds a Masters in Environmental Sciences from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich and a post-graduate degree in business administration from the University of Basel.
Fiona Frick has been the Group CEO of Unigestion since 2011. She started her career at the company in 1990 as a fundamental analyst, covering traditional asset classes, before becoming an investment manager for bond funds.
In 1995, she led the creation of the Unigestion’s equity activities and developed an investment process based on the Minimum Variance anomaly.
Fiona holds an MBA from the Institut Supérieur de Gestion in Paris and a degree in Literature and Philosophy from the University of Dijon. She is a regular speaker at conferences and serves on the Board of Sustainable Finance Geneva. On several occasions, Fiona has been included on Financial News’ annual list of 100 most influential Women in the European financial services industry.
Manuel Leuthold holds a Master’s degree in economics and a LLM from the University of Geneva. After completing his studies, he spent 27 years with UBS, where he held several positions. As a member of the Executive Committee of UBS Switzerland, he headed the Corporate and Institutional Clients business unit in Switzerland. Subsequently he was Group Chief Administrative Officer of the Edmond de Rothschild Group for around 4 years.
Since 2016 he is an independent Board member with memberships in banking, real estate and healthcare. He is also Chairman of the Economic Development of the Canton of Vaud.
The Swiss Federal Council appointed Manuel Leuthold as Chairman of the Board of Directors of compenswiss (Swiss Social Security Funds) on January 1, 2016.
Claudia Bolli is responsible for the development and the implementation of the Responsible Investing strategy with Swiss Re since 2014. As such, she was instrumental in the transition of Swiss Re’s investment portfolio to ESG benchmarks as one of the first re-/insurance companies.
Before Claudia Bolli moved to the insurance business, she held several functions in the international banking business. In June 2018, she was selected by the European Commission to join the Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance. Specifically, she participates in the development of the requirements for the “Climate Transition and Paris-aligned” benchmarks as well as the benchmark ESG disclosure.
Claudia Bolli holds a Master degree in corporate finance and banking from the University of Zurich, and is a Certified International Investment Analyst (CIIA).
Natasha Braginsky Mounier is a global ESG investment director at Capital Group. She has 25 years of investment experience and has been with Capital Group for 16 years.
Earlier in her career at Capital, she was an equity investment analyst with research responsibility in EMEA equities, as well as sector coverage of Nordic telecoms and European family investment firms.
Prior to joining Capital, she was a corporate finance associate in New York at J.P. Morgan and the Blackstone Group and a portfolio manager at Credit Agricole Asset Management in Paris.
She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. Natasha is based in London.
Born in Bonn, Germany. Attended high school in Bonn and Geneva. After studying economics in St. Gall, Switzerland, and Freiburg, Germany, he moved to the ifo Institute for Economic Research in Munich.
After completing his PhD in 1998, he joined the Russia Division of the International Monetary Fund in Washington. Returning to Switzerland in 1999 he worked in the Country Risk Department of one of Switzerland’s large banks, where he was responsible for Russia and Eastern Europe.
Jan Amrit Poser joined Bank Sarasin in 2001 and served the Bank which is now known as Bank J. Safra Sarasin in many different functions; first as a foreign exchange strategist, then as its Chief Economist, Head of Research and Head of Asset Management.
Since 2013 Jan Amrit Poser is responsible for the sustainable investment process and the claim of Sustainability of Bank J. Safra Sarasin. Jan Poser is a renowned commentator of sustainability, economic and financial market developments in the media.
Nadia is the Director of the SDG Lab serving as the leader of the team. She has a long career in international development with several years of field experience in bilateral cooperation and extensive experience in multilateral affairs within and outside of the UN system.
Nadia started her career with Médecins Sans Frontières and the Swiss Red Cross before joining the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation where she served for several years in Eastern Africa working primarily in the field of public health. She then joined the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs where she served as a Swiss diplomat for over 10 years, first as Deputy Head of Development Affairs at the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the UN in New York, before leading on development affairs and the SDGs at the Swiss Mission to the UN in Geneva.
Nationality: Swiss, British
Education: BA Arts & Masters in Contemporary History, University of Geneva | Post Graduate Certificates, Harvard School of Public Health & Harvard Kennedy School
Melchior de Muralt, managing partner de Pury Pictet Turrettini & Cie SA, Chairman Cadmos Engagement Funds, co-founder Blue Orchard Finance SA, member of the ICRC.
Philipp Krüger is Associate Professor of Responsible Finance at the University of Geneva and holds a Senior Chair at the Swiss Finance Institute.
He graduated with a PhD in Economics from the Toulouse School of Economics in France. His research interests are in corporate, sustainable, and behavioral finance. His research has been published in the three leading academic finance journals.
Professor Krüger is a regular speaker at leading finance conferences worldwide and has won numerous awards for his research, such as the Moskowitz Prize, a UN PRI Research Award, or the ICPM Climate Change Research Award.
Roland Dominicé est expert en microfinance, en finance internationale et en développement. Il a étudié les sciences sociales et les relations internationales à l’Institut de Hautes Études Internationales et du Développement de l’Université de Genève, où il a écrit son mémoire de maîtrise sur le renforcement de l’Etat et les étapes du développement politique moderne. Il a complété ses études à la Commission des relations internationales de l’Université de Chicago, où il a écrit son mémoire de maîtrise sur les stratégies de la mondialisation et la théorie du développement organisationnel.
Roland Dominicé a commencé sa carrière dans la finance, dans les domaines de la gestion de patrimoine, au sein de la division de gestion d’actifs institutionnels d’UBS, et de la finance d’entreprise, en tant que consultant en gestion chez PricewaterhouseCoopers. Il a ensuite rejoint l’équipe fondatrice de BlueOrchard Finance pour lancer le premier gérant de patrimoine privé dédié à la microfinance, où il a officié en tant que directeur financier pendant trois ans. Il a aidé l’entreprise à acquérir son aura internationale en pilotant le lancement des premières obligations structurées de microfinance sur les marchés de capitaux en 2004, en coopération avec J.P. Morgan et U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). Il a ensuite cofondé Symbiotics, où il a occupé dans un premier temps le poste de responsable du développement commercial, avant d’être élu CEO en 2008.
Andreas von Planta, Ph.D., has been a member of the Board of Directors of Novartis AG since 2006. He qualifies as an independent Non-Executive Director and is Chairman of the Governance, Nomination and Corporate Responsibilities Committee. He is also a member of the Audit and Compliance Committee and the Risk Committee.
Andreas von Planta provides senior counsel to the law firm Lenz & Staehelin AG, where he was a partner from 1988 through 2017. He is chairman of HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) SA, chairman of the audit committee of the International Road Transport Union (IRU), chairman of the regulatory board of the SIX Swiss Exchange AG, and a board member of Helvetia Holding AG in Switzerland.
He also serves on the boards of various Swiss subsidiaries of foreign companies and other non-listed Swiss companies, including Burberry (Suisse) SA, A.P. Moller Finance SA and Socotab Frana SA. He previously served on the boards of Raymond Weil SA (2007 to 2018), Holcim Ltd (2003 to 2014) and Lenz & Staehelin (1996 to 2018), all based in Switzerland.
Monika Beck has been a member of the Management Board of DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH, since July 2018.
Before she headed KfW’s Compliance department since 2015. From 2004 to 2015, she held various management positions at KfW Development Bank. During this time, she initiated, established and managed numerous MSME funds and funds in the climate finance and education finance field; for example MEF and EFSE. Monika Beck joined KfW in 2001.
Having studied economics in Stirling and Cologne, she initially worked for three years as a product manager at L’Oréal and, between 1992 and 2001, she worked at ProCredit Group mainly in Latin America.
Stefan Bichsel has been a member of BCV’s Executive Board and head of the Asset Management & Trading Division since 1 May 2009.
He was admitted to the Bar of the Canton of Bern and obtained a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree from Georgetown University in Washington DC. He was also admitted to the bars of New York and Connecticut. He later completed the Advanced Management Program at the Wharton School in Philadelphia.
After working at UBS and Banque Pictet, he was appointed the first CEO of Swissca Holding AG (now Swisscanto). From 1998 to 2001, he served as Chairman of the Board of the Swiss Funds Association (SFA) and in 2003 he became a member of the Management Board of Robeco Group (Rotterdam). From 2005 to 2007, he was Chairman of the Board of the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA). He joined Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch in 2006 as a partner of its holding group and member of Group Management.
Field of expertise: Strategic management
Languages: French, German, and English
021 212 30 93 / stefan.bichsel@bcv.ch
Daniel Wild is Credit Suisse’s Global Head of ESG Strategy in the Impact Advisory and Finance Department (IAF). He is responsible for the development of ESG products and services, and leads the evolution of the Credit Suisse ESG framework and its integration across the bank globally. Daniel has over 20 years of experience in the areas of sustainability and finance.
Prior to joining Credit Suisse in September 2019, Daniel was Co-CEO at RobecoSAM AG, a pioneer and leader in sustainable asset management. Daniel had been with RobecoSAM since 2006 and held various management positions in the areas of sustainability research and investments.
From 2004 to 2006, Daniel led infrastructure financing programs in Southeastern Europe and Asia for the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (seco) as part of Swiss development cooperation. From 1999 to 2004, Daniel headed the Environmental Technology Department at EBP, a Swiss engineering and consulting firm.
Daniel holds a Master in Chemical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich. He also earned his PhD in Environmental Engineering from ETH Zurich, in collaboration with EAWAG, the Swiss water research institute. He conducted postdoctoral research at Stanford University (USA).
Furthermore, Daniel has applied his expertise for Swiss Sustainable Finance (SSF) as a board member, for lectures on sustainability investing at the European Business School and AZEK, and in various advisory functions at organizations such as GRI or UNEP FI.
Arancha González, an expert in international trade issues with 20 years of experience, serves as Executive Director of the International Trade Centre (ITC), the joint development agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation, since September 2013.
Ms. González, a Spanish national, has extensive knowledge about international trade and economics, coupled with broad experience in trade and development matters in the public and private sectors, as well as in management at multilateral organizations.
Before joining ITC, Ms. González served as Chief of Staff to World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy from 2005 to 2013. During her tenure at the WTO, she played an active role in launching the Aid for Trade initiative and served as Mr. Lamy’s representative (Sherpa) at the G-20.
Prior to working at the WTO, Ms. González held several positions at the European Commission, conducting negotiations of trade agreements and assisting developing countries in trade-development efforts. Between 2002 and 2004, she was the European Commission spokeswoman for trade and adviser to the European Union Trade Commissioner.
Ms. González began her career in the private sector as an associate in a German law firm advising companies on trade, competition and state-aid matters.
Ms. González holds a degree in law from the University of Navarra and a postgraduate degree in European Law from the University of Carlos III, Madrid.
She co-chairs the World Economic Forum (WEF) Agenda Council on the Future of Trade and Investment.
Besides her native Spanish, she speaks English, French, German and Italian.
Laurent Ramsey has been a Managing Partner of the Pictet Group since 1 January 2016. He co-heads the Group’s institutional arm Pictet Asset Management with Sébastien Eisinger since 1 April 2019, having been sole responsible between 2016 and 2019.
He joined Pictet in 1993 and has held various senior management positions at Pictet Asset Management, both in Switzerland and in Asia.
Laurent holds a Master’s in International Management from HEC Lausanne School of Business and Economics.
Organized jointly by Sustainable Finance Geneva, Swiss Sustainable Finance and the Geneva Financial Center, this landmark Event was the result of a successful collaboration between the financial community and representatives of International Geneva and the federal, cantonal and municipal authorities.

























