The Future of Finance 2023 – Zurich

Agustin Carstens

General Manager

Bank for International Settlements

Agustin Carstens became General Manager of the BIS on 1 December 2017. Mr Carstens was Governor of the Bank of Mexico from 2010 to 2017. A member of the BIS Board from 2011 to 2017, he was chair of the Global Economy Meeting and the Economic Consultative Council from 2013 until 2017. He also chaired the International Monetary and Financial Committee, the IMF's policy advisory committee from 2015 to 2017. Mr Carstens began his career in 1980 at the Bank of Mexico. From 1999 to 2000, he was Executive Director at the IMF. He later served as Mexico’s deputy finance minister (2000–03) and as Deputy Managing Director at the IMF (2003–06). He was Mexico's finance minister from 2006 to 2009. Mr Carstens has been a member of the Financial Stability Board since 2010 and is a member of the Group of Thirty. Mr Carstens holds an MA and a PhD in economics from the University of Chicago.

Georges Kern

CEO

Breitling SA

Georges Kern studied Political Science in Strasbourg, France, and graduated in Business Administration from the University of St.Gallen in Switzerland. He acquired experience in the fast-moving-consumer-goods sector at Kraft Foods Switzerland before moving into the watch industry at TAG Heuer. In 2000, he joined Richemont, the Swiss luxury goods group, and was active in the integration of the brands A. Lange & Söhne, Jaeger-LeCoultre and IWC Schaffhausen following their acquisition. In 2002, at the age of 36, he became the youngest CEO within Richemont when he was chosen to run IWC Schaffhausen. In 2017, he was promoted to Head of Watchmaking, Marketing and Digital at Richemont and focused on supervising the Specialist Watchmaking Maisons. In 2017, Georges Kern was appointed the new CEO of the independent watch company Breitling SA, where he is also a shareholder. In his position at Breitling, Georges Kern’s mission is to foster the development of one of the world’s most established watch manufacturers to create a leading neo-luxury watch brand. Georges Kern served as a member of the Young Global Leaders at the World Economic Forum from 2005 to 2010, and became Founding Curator of the Global Shapers Community in Zurich in 2011. He was also recently nominated to the Board of Directors of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce.

Dr. Thomas Heinzl

CFO

Vontobel

Thomas Heinzl returned to Vontobel in August 2020 as CFO and member of the Executive Committees of Vontobel Holding AG and Bank Vontobel Bank AG, where he already held a senior position in Vontobel's Wealth Management business from 2012 to 2014. He joined Vontobel from UBS AG, where he most recently served as COO UBS Asset Management and Chairman of UBS Asset Management Switzerland. In his various management roles at UBS Asset Management, Thomas Heinzl was responsible for strategy, regulation, business and reputational risk management, and the overall governance of the division, among other areas. Thomas Heinzl is an Austrian citizen who holds a doctorate from the University of St. Gallen with a focus on capital market theory. He also holds a degree in engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich with a focus on database technology and artificial intelligence. Thomas Heinzl began his career at McKinsey in Zurich, where he advised wealth and asset managers, among others, on strategy and risk management matters.

Emi Lorincz

President

Crypto Valley Association

Emi Lorincz started her career in traditional financial services at Morgan Stanley, then moved to commodity trading at Eni and later worked in the area of payments at Credit Suisse. Since 2017 her focus has been directed towards the ever evolving world of digital assets and blockchain technology. Bringing a wealth of work experience from the traditional markets and the field of cryptocurrencies, - she combines these two worlds to help companies benefit from both. She is passionate about advancing the case of Bitcoin. Following various commercial roles at cryptocurrency exchange, ShapeShift, and later at Ledger, - Emi is currently engaged at the trading infrastructure firm, Talos, - while serving on the council of the Bancor Foundation, Linum Labs and as the President of the Crypto Valley Association.

Marni McManus

Country Officer for Switzerland, Monaco and Liechtenstein

Citi

Marni McManus is Citi Country Officer for Switzerland, Monaco and Liechtenstein, since January 2022. She is in charge of the entire franchise which includes: Banking, Capital Markets & Advisory, Global Wealth Management, Markets, Services, and Citi Commercial Bank. Marni has been at Citi for 23 years and was previously Global Head of Healthcare Corporate Banking in New York. She’s advised clients on their capital structure, capital allocation and financing plans in addition to their international cash management, trade needs and improving working capital management. She has raised over $250bn for her client in the capital markets. She also spent a decade covering consumer companies and spent several years in restructuring. Marni holds a BSc in Business Administration from the University of Vermont and a MBA/MIM from Thunderbird, the American Graduate School of International Management. Prior to business school, she was a microfinance loan officer in Uganda with the Peace Corps.

Yves Robert-Charrue

Member of the Executive Board, Head Switzerland, Europe, Middle East & Africa

Julius Baer

Yves Robert-Charrue joined Julius Baer in 2009 and became a member of the Executive Board in 2010. Since 2010, he has been leading numerous areas of Julius Baer, including Investment Solutions, Intermediaries and Region Switzerland. In January 2020, he started heading Region Switzerland, Europe, Middle East & Africa. Before joining Julius Baer, Yves Robert-Charrue worked for Credit Suisse where he was Head of Single Manager Hedge Funds and Head of Mergers & Acquisitions for the bank’s Asset Management Division. He received his M.A. in Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen and was also educated at École Supérieure de Commerce in Lyon and the London Business School. Yves Robert-Charrue is a Swiss citizen and born in 1973.

Wolf Scheider

Head of Private Equity

Partners Group

Wolf-Henning Scheider is Head of Private Equity, based in Zug. He has 35 years of industry experience. Prior to joining Partners Group, he worked in ZF Group, a global technology company, where he served as the Chairman of the Board of Management and CEO, and was also responsible for Research & Development and Sales. He also worked in MAHLE Group where he served as Chairman of the Management Board and CEO, as well as Robert Bosch GmbH, where he held various roles amongst others such as the CEO of the Car Multimedia Division and the Gasoline Systems Divisions. Afterwards, he was appointed as Member of the Board of Management and later on took over the overall responsibility for the activities of the Automotive Group. He holds degrees in business administration from Saarland University, Germany and RWTH Aachen University, Germany.

Stefan Schwitter

Head Asset Management

Crypto Finance (Asset Management) AG

Stefan Schwitter is responsible for the Asset Management division of Crypto Finance Group. He has extensive experience in senior and executive roles in banking and investment management. Stefan joins from SEBA Bank, where he ran the Investment Solutions department. Prior to that, he led the Global Investments & Product Division at VP Bank Group, the Investment Services Europe Division for LGT Bank, and the Global Active Advisory Services for EFG Bank. Stefan started his career as a derivatives trader at UBS, before working as a structured products trader at Credit Suisse. Stefan holds an MBA in Finance from the University of San Diego and Master’s degrees in Management (New York University) and in Innovation Management (HEC Paris). He is a CAIA charter holder and a graduate of the Senior Executive Programme at the London Business School.

Mirjam Staub-Bisang

Head of Switzerland

BlackRock

Mirjam Staub-Bisang is Head of BlackRock Switzerland and a member of the EMEA Executive Committee as well as a Senior Advisor to BlackRock Sustainable Investing. Prior to BlackRock, Mirjam led an investment management firm focusing on sustainable investing based in Zurich. Mirjam also served as a non-executive director on the boards of public and private companies and as chair the investment committees of several asset owners such as pension funds and endowments. Prior to these roles she held senior positions in asset management and private equity investing at Commerzbank and Swiss Life and worked in investment banking at Merrill Lynch in London and Zurich. Today she serves on the board of the global shoe retailer Bata as a non-executive director. Since 2020 she also serves on the board of the Asset Management Association Switzerland and since 2022 on the board of Swiss Sustainable Finance. Mirjam holds a PhD in Law from the University of Zurich and an MBA from INSEAD. She authored the standard work ‘Sustainable Investing for Institutional Investors: Risks, Regulations, Strategies’ and co-authored the second edition of ‘Infrastructure as an Asset Class’ of which a 2nd edition has been published 2022. In 2009 she was elected a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.

Daniela Stoffel

State Secretary for International Finance

Federal Department of Finance (FDF)

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.

Sebastien Dessimoz

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Taurus SA

Sébastien Dessimoz, CFA is a co-founder and Managing Partner of TAURUS Group SA. He previously held several C-level executive and board level positions for leading asset management firms, with strong expertise in product development, trading, IT, business development and transformation. He worked 5 years at Syz Asset Management as Chief Operating Officer, Member of the Executive Committee and Board Member of several regulated entities. Previously, Sébastien spent 3 years at BrevanHoward, the biggest European hedge fund, as Managing Director and head of the Swiss office. Sébastien Dessimoz also worked at Lombard Odier, notably as Head of Hedge Fund business development and investment manager. Sébastien spent 5 years as a senior management consultant at McKinsey & Company. Sébastien started his career as an engineer in the Silicon Valley for 3Com Corporation.

Shawn Edwards

Chief Technology Officer

Bloomberg

Shawn Edwards is Bloomberg’s Chief Technology Officer. Based in New York, he oversees the development of Bloomberg’s global technology strategy, including enhancements to the company’s core business, the Bloomberg Professional service. Shawn and his team, in partnership with Bloomberg’s global Engineering team, are instrumental in the ongoing development of Bloomberg’s leading market data, analytics, news and community products. The team researches existing and emerging technologies, architects solutions in strategic areas and sets the technology direction for the company. In 2017, Shawn was named to the top ten of the Institutional Investor Tech 40 – an annual ranking of financial industry technology leaders. He was previously included in the top ten of the Institutional Investor Tech 50 in both 2015 and 2016. Previously, Shawn ran Bloomberg’s global Engineering group where he helped streamline the product development process, bolster the Bloomberg network’s technical infrastructure and create a user-experience design team, which now influences product development company-wide.

Jean-Paul Zammitt

Vice Chairman and Chief Commercial Officer

Bloomberg

Jean-Paul Zammitt is Vice-Chairman of Bloomberg L.P. and the company’s Chief Commercial Officer. He serves on the company’s Management Committee and has ownership of the company’s market-facing solution delivery and business development strategies. Organizational functions under his oversight include Sales and Account Management, Customer Support and Service Delivery, Marketing, and Bloomberg’s early-stage venture capital firm, Bloomberg BETA. Over his more than 20-year career with Bloomberg, Mr. Zammitt has worked in management roles across Sales, Product Development, Strategy and Operations. He has previously been accountable for all aspects of the Bloomberg Professional® Services, including the Bloomberg Terminal and enterprise-level solutions for data, trading, analytics and risk management. He serves as a nonexecutive director of Bloomberg Trading Facility, Ltd. (BTFL) and Bloomberg Index Services, Ltd. (BISL). Mr. Zammitt is a London School of Economics (LSE) alumni.

Francine Lacqua

Anchor

Bloomberg TV

Francine Lacqua is an award-winning London-based anchor for Bloomberg Television. She co-anchors daily weekday program “Bloomberg Surveillance: Early Edition,” where she provides insight on foreign policy, global markets and the top business stories of the day. She also presents “Leaders with Lacqua,” a special series where she sits down with top CEOs, entrepreneurs and public figures. Additionally, she anchors “ETF IQ Europe” weekly. Since joining Bloomberg in 2000, Lacqua has covered the World Economic Forum in Davos, IMF in Washington, G20 meetings, the EU Leaders Summit and OPEC. She also led Bloomberg Television’s coverage of the Italian and French elections where she was one of the first international reporters to interview cabinet members. While at Bloomberg, Lacqua has interviewed high-profile figures such as French President Emmanuel Macron, ECB President Christine Lagarde, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, Billionaire financier George Soros and former ECB President Mario Draghi. She has also interviewed finance ministers from South Korea, Russia, France, Mexico, Italy and Greece, as well as moderating televised debates from the World Economic Forum in Davos and the European Economic Governance package. In 2018, Lacqua received the Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy (Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia). The decoration, honoring Italians living abroad who promote national prestige and co-operation with the nation, was presented by the Italian Ambassador Raffaele Trombetta on behalf of the president of Italy. In 2013 Lacqua won ‘International TV Personality of the Year’ at the AIB Media Awards. She was previously nominated in 2009 and 2010. In 2012, she was part of the Bloomberg team that won the OPEC award for ‘Public Interest Reporting’. She has an LLB in English law from King’s College in London and earned her undergraduate degree at the Sorbonne. She is fluent in French and Italian.

Bastian Benrath

Economy and Government Reporter

Bloomberg News

Bastian is the Economy and Government Reporter for Switzerland at Bloomberg News, providing coverage and analysis on what moves the Swiss economy and its politics. Based in Zurich but living in Basel, he is a regular train-traveler through Switzerland and takes a particular interest in explaining Swiss specialties to an international audience. As a specialist for digital topics, he has also taken up a broader responsibility for digital central-bank money (CBDCs).

Andy Hoffman

Luxury Goods Reporter

Bloomberg News

An award-winning journalist, Andy Hoffman is a reporter for Bloomberg News based in Geneva, Switzerland. He covers the Swiss watch industry, tobacco as well as drinks and beer companies in Europe. After joining Bloomberg in 2013, Hoffman was awarded a Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW) award in 2016 for a Bloomberg Markets Magazine story co-written with a colleague on Vitol - the world's biggest independent oil trader. He previously won two national newspaper awards for business reporting while with The Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper.

Emily Nicolle

Crypto Blogger

Bloomberg News

Emily is Crypto Blogger at Bloomberg News, providing analysis and commentary on new developments in blockchain and digital assets. As a reporter, she has a particular interest in DeFi, video games, on-chain investigation and global regulation. Based in London, she also writes about crypto in the UK.

Friederike Von Tiesenhausen

Global Head of Public Affairs

Bloomberg

Friederike von Tiesenhausen works on Bloomberg LP's external affairs with a particular focus on continental Europe. Before joining Bloomberg she worked for the German federal government, a policy think tank and for many years as a political and economic journalist. She studied at the University of Cambridge, UK.