Petra Jantzer is Senior Managing Director at Accenture and CEO of European Pharmaceuticals and Med Tech Business. In her role, she is supporting large Life Science companies in bringing innovative medicines to patients and achieving better health outcomes.

Petra has more than 20 years’ experience in R&D, both as a consultant in the (bio)pharmaceuticals sector and as a researcher. She holds a PhD in Immunology and graduated with an honors degree in molecular biology from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich.

Before her current position, she was a tenured Partner with McKinsey & Company. In that role, she was a co-founding Board Member of Advance. In 2017, Petra was re-elected to the Board.

With her own career, Petra has been role modelling gender equality in the workplace and beyond and is a strong force in fostering female talents. Petra and her husband live in Zurich with their two sons.

Alkistis Petropaki has joined Advance as General Manager in 2015. She has more than 20 years experience in leading positions in well known FMCG companies like e.g. L’Oreal, Nestlé, Mövenpick and Lindt & Sprüngli. Before joining Advance she was the Country Manager of Yves Rocher in Switzerland. She studied economics and holds a MBA from ESCP-EAP. She also has a Master’s degree in German literature and psychology from the University of Athens.

Alkistis strongly believes in the benefits of mixed-gender teams for society, for organizations as well as for individuals. With her engagement with Advance she is convinced to be able to make an impact in the Swiss economy.

Alkistis is married and has two grown-up children.

«As a matter of fact, the talent pool in economy is diverse. It is inclusion which makes diversity productive – a culture of togetherness. We love bringing diverse people together for the better of prosperity.»

Esther-Mirjam de Boer is the co-owner and CEO of GetDiversity, the board and executive search company for diversity since 2007. As an entrepreneur, she is invested in several firms and holds non-executive board mandates in four companies. She has served as president of the association of female entrepreneurs in Switzerland and as board member of the association geschaeftsfrau.ch which engages women in mergers and acquisitions.

As a columnist for “Handelszeitung” Esther reflects politics and economics in Switzerland from an outspoken, progressively liberal and female perspective. She is a lecturer, public speaker and facilitator around diversity and leadership on a strategic level.

Esther is professionally and personally engaged for gender equality: «I love to contribute to equal opportunities, because I am the mother of a teenage girl and I know that only together we’ll create a better world for everyone.»

Arthur Honegger studied media and political sciences at the University of Zurich and is an alumnus of the Ringier School of Journalism. He joined Swiss Radio and Television (SRF) in 2005, where he started as a reporter for the domestic news program “Schweiz Aktuell”. In 2008, he moved to New York where he worked as USA correspondent for SRF and wrote columns for the Sunday weekly Sonntag (“Stimme aus Amerika”) and the Aargauer Zeitung (“What’s up, New York?”). In 2011, he was named bureau chief in Washington D.C. for the Swiss Radio and Television company SRG SSR.

Since 2015, Arthur has been the anchor of Switzerland’s popular news format 10vor10. He produced the documentary series “Mein unbekanntes Amerika” (My Unknown America) for the international TV network 3sat. Besides, Arthur is renowned for his commentary about current affairs on social media. Take a look! @honegger (twitter) / @honeggram (instagram)

Arthur is married and the father of a girl and a boy. The topic of gender balance is close to his heart. «My wife and I agree that our kids should grow up in a society where equal opportunities and an inclusive mindset are the norm. Those old gender stereotypes don’t help much in realizing the personal potential of every human being. We talk a lot about that at home – I’m glad both my daughter and my son have a very open world view when it comes to these things.»

(photo credit: Henna Honegger)

Yvonne Bettkober is an international executive with extensive experience in the conception and operationalization of technology-driven transformation processes.

She has led teams and businesses across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She started her professional career in Germany at Siemens and then worked for various software vendors. For more than 15 years, Yvonne Bettkober has been working with new technologies and their transformation potential for companies of all sizes. She spent over a decade at Microsoft in various roles and regions leading teams in more than 20 countries. She served on the Board of Directors for Microsoft South Saharan Africa and Indian Ocean. In 2015, she joined the Swiss Executive Board of Microsoft where she initially took over the SME, corporate and partner business; leading the reorganization of that segment to a cloud-based model. She was subsequently appointed Director for new business development and Enterprise Solutions (Microsoft’s technical sales unit). Additionally to her main professional duties, Yvonne serves as advisory board member for several startups an associations with Africa-focus and is member of the board of Digital Switzerland.

Yvonne Bettkober, who grew up in Cameroon and France, moved to Germany in 1992 to study at the Technical University of Berlin. She holds a master’s degree in Telecommunications Engineering and an MBA from Warwick Business School. She has been living in Switzerland with her husband and three sons since 2006.

Michael Hengartner is President of the ETH Board and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the ETH Domain.

The Swiss-Canadian citizen, born in St. Gallen, Switzerland, grew up in Québec City, Canada, and studied biochemistry at the Université Laval. After his PhD studies at MIT with Nobel laureate H. R. Horvitz, he led a research group at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the USA for seven years.

In 2001, he became the first occupant of the Ernst Hadorn Endowed Chair for molecular biology at the University of Zurich (UZH). From 2009 to 2014, he was dean of the Faculty of Science, and from 2014 to 2020 president of UZH. From 2016 to 2020, he served as president of swissuniversities, the Swiss Rectors’ Conference.

Michael holds an Executive MBA from IMD, Lausanne and is the recipient of several awards for his research on the molecular basis of apoptosis, among them the Swiss National Latsis Prize, Josef Steiner Cancer Research Award, and an honorary doctorate from Sorbonne Université.

In 2010, Michael received the Credit Suisse Award for Best Teaching at UZH. Michael founded and/or sits on the board of a number of start-ups, including the biotech company Devgen (co-founded 1997) and Kudelski Group (independent board member since 2020).

Manuel Meier is Country Manager AXA XL Insurance for Switzerland. He is responsible for AXA XL’s insurance business, compromising of former XL Catlin, AXA Corporate Solutions and AXA Art. The 44-year-old Swiss citizen most recently held the position of CEO Northern Europe at AXA Corporate Solutions overseeing the Swiss, Austrian and Belgian market.

Manuel joined AXA from Zurich Insurance Group where he held various leadership positions, including the one as Head of Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) Commercial Insurance, Chief Executive Officer of Global Corporate Switzerland and Broker Relationship Leader for Zurich North America. Before joining Zurich in 2005, he worked at Kessler & Co AG, Switzerland’s leading insurance broker.

Manuel studied at the University of St. Gallen and has degrees in law and in business administration.

Malvika Singh is the founding partner of IMPACT, an international consulting and leadership development firm with offices in Switzerland and the U.S.A. She has over thirty years of experience as a successful leader in a multicultural environment. She works with Boards, CEOs, senior executives and top leadership teams in the areas of organization and leadership development. Her work focuses on the creation of innovation by design, and she specializes in working with individuals and organizations to create breakthrough results.

Malvika earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from The University of Pennsylvania, an M.B.A. in Finance and International Business from New York University, and Organizational Gestalt Diploma from Metanoia Institute. She is a member of Harvard Kennedy School Women’s Leadership Board (WLB), a lecturer at the Lorange Institute of Business, and was formerly affiliated with Ashridge University and CCL.

Malvika is passionate about advancing the cause of women. She is a champion and advocate of women getting a fair share representation in the corporate world. She is the initiator and co-founder of Advance and is an honorary board member.

Malvika is married with two children.

Swiss Singer-Songwriter Lea Lu has her roots in Poland, Spain, France and Algeria, growing up in Zürich. At the age of 5 she started to play the violin, later the piano and guitar but she has always had a passion for singing. At 18 Lea was the lead singer of Jazzpop-Band Nexus where she performed at Montreux Jazz Festival 2002.

Her debut „Dots and Lines“ was released on the SONY MUSIC Label in 2006. As a young artist she gained wide international recognition and played over 200 concerts from Europe to the Carribeans. (e.g. Grenada, Gurten Festival Berne, sold-out Kaufleuten in Zuerich)

In 2010 she finished her studies as a jazz vocalist at Musikhochschule Lucerne and was awarded with the national Music prize Prix Walo as best newcomer.

Leas ability of synesthesia is reflected on her 2nd album „Colour”. Her third Album „2“ was recorded in Nice (F) and published 2014 (Sony Music) in collaboration with the French Singer and multiinstrumentalist Medi (Mehdi Parisot). 

She has supported Morcheeba and Sinnead O`Connor and in 2016 she and her band played as special guests for a sold-out Coldplay Show at Letzigrund Stadion Zuerich (CH).

At the moment she is writing songs for her fourth album at an artist residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.

Susan Bincoletto was appointed Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein in 2017. She has over thirty years of experience providing the Government of Canada with policy advice on commercial and economic issues and leading teams to advance Canadian interests. She holds a Masters in Economics and Completed the Advance management Program at Harvard Business School in 2011.

Before her current role, Susan was Canada’s Chief Trade Commissioner, responsible for supporting Canadian companies abroad and attracting investment into Canada. Susan also served as Chief Financial Officer at the Department of Industry Canada and held other senior positions with the Government of Canada.

Throughout her career, Susan has valued the role mentors have played in supporting her advancement. She seeks opportunities to pay it forward by sharing her experiences and supporting women and their careers. She aims to constantly improve equality within her organization through self-reflection and dialogue.

Susan was born in Montreal. She is married with two adult children.

Since July 2018 Robert Itschner has been Country Managing Director of ABB Switzerland and since April 2019 also Head of the Motion business in Switzerland. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Technology Rapperswil and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Northwestern University in Illinois, USA. He began his career at ABB in 1993 as a software engineer. In the course of his career, he held various local and global management positions in Switzerland and abroad, including Head of the Power Systems Division in Central Europe and Head of Marketing & Sales of the global Robotics & Motion Division.

Esther Girsberger has a doctorate in law and an Executive MBA. After holding management positions at media companies, she started her own business in 2010. She wrote, among other things, the bestseller “Voted out – women in power live dangerously”, “Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf – The Unwavering” or “Livia Leu – our ambassador to Iran”. Esther Girsberger has been the owner and managing director of “speakers.ch AG – conveying personalities and content” since 2014. She is also the ombudswoman of SRG Deutsche Schweiz, lectures at the Institute for Media Studies, is a moderator and sits in numerous foundations.