Jan-Willem Ruisbroek

Sir Richard Shirreff was born in Kenya in 1955 where he spent his early years. Educated in England, he graduated from Exeter College, Oxford (Modern History) before being commissioned into the British Army from Sandhurst. 

In his 37-year career, he commanded soldiers on operations at every level from platoon to division. This has included combat in the Gulf War of 1991 as a tank squadron leader and again in Iraq as a divisional commander, together with other operations in Northern Ireland, Kosovo and Bosnia.  In addition, he had extensive staff experience at brigade, Army HQ and in the Ministry of Defence. He commanded NATO’s Allied Rapid Reaction Corps and his final military assignment was NATO’s 4 Star Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (DSACEUR). In February 2016 he co-founded Strategia Worldwide Ltd, a global risk advisory company, which has since built up a sizeable portfolio of clients across different sectors. 

In 2016 his novel ‘2017: War with Russia’ was published in the UK, USA and Poland. It became a best seller and has been translated into eight languages. He is an honorary fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.

Samy Chaar, PhD

Samy Chaar is Global Chef Economist and CIO for Switzerland at Lombard Odier and a voting member of the Lombard Odier Investment Committee. In this role, he is leading a team that formulates the bank’s macroeconomic insights and analyses economic forecasts (growth, economic trends and cycles, inflation, balance of payments, central banks action, financial conditions, major geopolitical events & their impact on the markets). 

Samy joined Lombard & Odier in 2006. He holds a PhD in economics and a degree from the Paris II Pantheon-Assas & Paris IX Dauphine Universities. He was a researcher in the economics department of the IRGEI Institute, whilst teaching at the Paris IX Dauphine and Paris II Pantheon–Assas Universities. From 1999 to 2002 Samy worked in Asia with the Crédit Agricole Group, first with W.I. Securities in Tokyo and then in asset management in Hong Kong, after which he returned to Paris to prepare for his doctorate.

Carlo Farina

Carlo Farina was born in Italy in 1976 and moved to Switzerland in 2004 for professional reasons. Throughout his career he has held different positions at Reuters Sa and HSBC. Since 2013 he serves as  real assets portfolio manager for the CERN Pension Fund. In this role he is responsible for the real estate, timber/farmland and infrastructure portfolio of the CERN Pension Fund and also being focused on sustainability practices for the Pension Fund. Moreover, he is a frequent speaker on ESG and climate investing related themes.

He holds different professional certification including CAIA, CFA ESG, CFA Climate and Investing and APRM, Professional Risk Management Association and Microsoft Office Master level,

Carlo speaks fluently Italian, French and English.

Carole Freléchoux
 

Carole Freléchoux is the Deputy Director of Aevum Pension Fund. Aevum is the pension fund of AEVIS Victoria (AEVS SW) entities and insures the group's 4,600 employees. The group focuses on three areas with high added value and strong growth potential: healthcare, lifestyle and infrastructure, in other words one of Switzerland’s two leading private hospital groups, ten luxury hotels under the brand« Michel

Reybier Hospitality » and high-quality real estate assets. Carole is overseeing investment for the pension fund. Prior to joining the fund, she managed multi-asset portfolios for institutional investors and served more than a decade as board member of a pension fund. She earned the Swiss Federal Diploma as a Certified Banking Expert designation and is both CAIA and CESGA certified.

Serge Ledermann

Founder (in 2016) and manager of 1959 Advisors SA, legal entity that groups all independent director mandates (in banks and asset management companies) as well as investment advisory (families, foundations, pension funds). Previously in charge of the asset management at Safra Sarasin in Switzerland (2015-16), deputy-CEO of Retraites Populaires in Lausanne (2012-15). Backed by more than thirty years of experience of banking, essentially in asset management activities for private and institutional clients, he has held several management positions, in particular at Banque Heritage, Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) and Lombard Odier Darier and Hentsch & Cie (Partner in charge of Asset Management).

Serge Ledermann is a graduate of the HEC School of the University of Lausanne and of the International School for Banking Studies of Geneva and also chaired the Swiss Association of Financial Analysts and Asset Managers (SFAA) from 1997 to 2001. He is currently a member of various Advisory Boards for asset allocation.

Claude Nicollier was born in Vevey, Switzerland, in 1944. He became an astrophysicist after studies in
physics in Lausanne and astrophysics in Geneva. He also trained as a Swiss Air Force pilot and as an
airline pilot. He is a graduate of the Empire Test Pilot’s School, Boscombe Down, United Kingdom, class
of 1988. His service with the Swiss Air Force was a part-time activity from 1966 to 2004, and he flew the
De Havilland Venom, Hawker Hunter and F-5E Tiger aircraft types. He was active as a First Officer on the
DC-9 aircraft with SWISSAIR from 1974 to 1976.

He was selected in 1978 in the first group of the European Space Agency (ESA) astronauts, then was
detached to the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas, for full training as Mission
Specialist on the US Space Shuttle, following an agreement between ESA and NASA. After several years
of training and various jobs at JSC, he served as a crewmember on four Shuttle missions between 1992 and
1999, including two on-orbit servicing missions on the Hubble Space Telescope. During his last mission in
December 1999, he performed a spacewalk of more than 8 hours duration to install new equipment on the
orbiting observatory. He spent a total of more than 1000 hours in space during these four missions.
He is currently employed by “Space Innovation” in Lausanne, Switzerland, and honorary Professor at the
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL). For 15 years and until the end of 2014, he was teaching a
Masters level course “Space Mission Design and Operations”, currently available on line as a MOOC
course provided on the edX platform. He is still giving occasional courses, on demand, at EPFL and ETHZ
in Zürich.

He is a member of the Federal Commission for Space Affairs, which advises the Swiss Federal Council on
matters related to the space policy of the Swiss Confederation. Occasionally, he serves as scientific and
technical advisor for students working semester or Masters projects at EPFL. He remains available for
companies and educational institutions to give lectures in the fields of aeronautics and space exploration.

Alex brings over 20 years of experience in the tech and data space, beginning his career as a CTO in startups and later leading data science and engineering in the travel sector. Eight years ago, he joined Capgemini Invent, where he has been at the forefront of driving digital innovation and transformation for his clients. He has a strong track record in designing large-scale data ecosystems, especially within the industrial sector.

Currently, as the Global Lead of Capgemini Invent’s Generative AI Acceleration Lab, Alex crafts Gen AI go-to-market strategies, develops assets, upskills teams, and assists clients in scaling AI and Gen AI solutions from proof of concept to value generation.

Olivier Huez

Olivier is a partner at Venture Capital firm Red River West, which invests in the best European companies to support their commercial expansion to the US. Over the last few years, Olivier has invested in several Artificial Intelligence companies, from semi-conductors to Computer Vision and agentic AI. 

In addition to his role as investor, Olivier oversees the development of Red River West’s proprietary data platform which leverages advanced data engineering and AI algorithms to source and screen investment opportunities and improve the team’s efficiency. 

Olivier holds French and British citizenship, he graduated from Ecole Polytechnique and Telecom Paris-Tech. He is also a British Chartered Accountant (CIMA).

Xavier Baraton

Xavier Baraton is Global Chief Investment Officer. He joined HSBC in September 2002 to head the Paris-based Credit Research team and became Global Head of Credit Research in January 2004. From 2006, Xavier managed euro credit strategies before being appointed as Head of European Fixed Income in 2008 and as Global CIO, Fixed Income in 2010. In this role, Xavier moved to our New York office in 2011 and became regional CIO North America. Having returned to Europe, he has taken on additional responsibilities as CIO for Alternatives and Real Assets in 2016 and for Private Debt in 2019, before being appointed as Global CIO of HSBC Asset Management in July 2021. Prior to joining HSBC, Xavier spent six years at Credit Agricole CIB, including five years as Head of Credit Research. Xavier began his career in 1994 in the CCF Group. Xavier graduated from the "Ecole Centrale Paris" as an engineer with a degree in Economics and Finance in 1993 and holds a postgraduate degree in Money, Finance and Banking from Paris Panthéon Sorbonne University in 1994.

Pascal Broulis

Born in 1965 in Sainte-Croix, Pascal Broulis developed an early passion for politics.
He joined the Radical Party (now PLR) and was elected to his municipality’s legislative body at the age of 20. At 25, he became the youngest deputy in the Grand Council. In 2002, he declined a management position offered by his employer, the Banque Cantonale Vaudoise, to run for the State Council. Elected, he was re-elected in the first round in 2007, 2012, and 2017, being the only candidate to surpass 100,000 votes (60.42% of the votes). He was the first to preside over the Vaud government for five consecutive years (2007–2012). A staunch federalist, he chaired the Conference of Cantonal Governments from 2010 to 2013 and, since February 1, 2017, has led the ch Foundation for Federal Collaboration.

Since joining the State Council, he has headed the Department of Finance and External Relations. Under his leadership, the canton eliminated its budget deficit, stabilized its financial situation, and significantly reduced its debt. The financial rating of the canton rose from “A” in 2003 to the highest rating, “AAA,” starting in 2013. Responsible for state projects and strategic initiatives, Pascal Broulis was deeply committed to the Plateforme 10 project, which brought together three museums in the heart of Lausanne. He is now involved in overseeing the museum project in Avenches. Along with his State Council colleagues, he successfully completed the reconstruction of the cantonal parliament (despite a threatened referendum), launched the renovation of Château Saint-Maire (the seat of the government), proposed the expansion of the cantonal court, and initiated "Vortex," the future village for the 2020 Youth Olympic Games.

On June 30, 2022, he left the Vaud State Council. He is currently the president of Y-Parc Swiss Technopole SA in Yverdon-les-Bains, president of the Foundation Council of the Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece, and a board member of Retraites Populaires in Lausanne and ELCA Informatique.

Since December 4, 2023, he has served as a member of the Council of States, representing the Canton of Vaud.

Samuel Bendahan

Samuel Bendahan is the co-president of the Social Democratic Group in the Swiss Parliament and a National Councillor representing the canton of Vaud. He serves as a member of the Economic Affairs and Taxation Committee and the Office of the National Council. Holding a PhD in Economics and Organizational Behavior from the University of Lausanne, he is currently a Senior Lecturer at both the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Lausanne and at EPFL.

In addition to his academic and political work, Samuel presides over several nonprofit organizations and is actively involved in companies operating in consulting, food manufacturing, and construction cooperatives. He previously served on the board of the Neuchâtel Cantonal Bank, where he was a member of the Pension Fund Committee as well as the Audit and Risk Committee.

Ivan Guidotti, PhD, CFA
 

Ivan Guidotti, PhD, CFA is a Partner and Head of Investments at XO Investments. Ivan has over 15 years of experience, essentially in investment advisory, asset management and risk and management. He holds a PhD in Finance from the University of Neuchâtel and a master degree in finance from the joint program of the Universities of Geneva, Lausanne and Neuchâtel.

He joined XO Investments in 2011 where he focuses on advising investors (pension funds, endowments, family offices) and implementing investment solutions that fits the clients’ need. Prior to joining XO Investments, he spent several years in academia and worked as quantitative analyst at Olympia Capital Management, Paris. He also currently holds a position of lecturer at the University of Neuchâtel and intervenes is various educational programs for professionals.

Jean-Pierre Danthine

Jean-Pierre Danthine is Honorary Director of the Enterprise for Society Center (E4S), a center affiliated to UNIL-HEC, IMD and EPFL, of which he was Managing Director from its foundation in December 2019 until 30 April 2023. He is a Distinguished Research scholar at IMD, an honorary professor at the University of Lausanne and at EPFL, and a member of the boards of the Schlumberger Foundation for Education and Research, of the Foundation “Les Treilles” and of the finance committee of the Foundation Leenaards. 

From 2015 to 2021 he was President of the Paris School of Economics. From 2010 to 2015 he was a member of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, of which he was Vice-Chairman from 2012. He was Managing Director of the Swiss Finance Institute from its foundation in 2006 until the end of 2009. His publications have appeared in Econometrica, the Journal of Political Economy, the Review of Economic Studies, the Journal of Finance and other leading international journals.

Rob Fawn

Rob Fawn is a Principal and Portfolio Manager in the European Leveraged Finance Team at PGIM Fixed Income, based in London. Mr. Fawn is responsible for managing high yield bonds and bank loans across multiple mandates. He manages the European investments in PGIM Fixed Income’s Credit Opportunities strategy, and is also responsible for managing the European Leveraged Finance sleeves within the Global High Yield and Multi Sector portfolios. Previously, Mr. Fawn was a credit analyst in the European Leveraged Finance Credit Research Team where he covered the chemicals, food, metals & mining and paper & packaging sectors.

Prior to joining the Firm in 2017, he spent 12 years at Citigroup, most recently as a credit analyst on their European High Yield Credit Trading desk, having also spent 6 years in M&A. Mr. Fawn received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The University of Bath.