Organisation - We advance

we drive gender equality
in swiss business

Advance is the leading business association for gender equality in Switzerland, a network of over 140 Swiss companies committed to increasing the share of women in management. We are convinced that a gender-equal workplace is a win-win for men, women, business and society at large. Join us if you think so too!
our members

GENDER
EQUALITY MEANS 
BUSiNESS

It is a proven fact that gender-mixed teams perform better, are more innovative and likely to generate more profit. A look into the status quo in Switzerland becomes an urgent wake-up call. In management and executive boards, women are still a minority. It’s high time to take effective action, because including women in leadership makes business sense.
Read our Whitepapers Read the Gender Intelligence Report

OUR
MISSION and objective

We believe that sustained success depends on having a balanced gender mix at all levels of an organization and support our member companies with a concrete program to turn diversity into a competitive advantage.

Our objective is to reach a sustainable minimum of 30% female representation at all management levels across all member companies by 2030.

we create impact by

  • advancing the female talent in our member companies and helping them thrive,
  • sensitizing men and management about the topic as key change agents on this journey,
  • connecting our member companies, offering them platforms for cross-company exchange and allowing best practices to be adopted faster by others,
  • shaping public opinion with national initiatives, whitepapers and campaigns,
  • and by creating transparency through providing Swiss facts and figures on diversity and inclusion in our annual Advance & HSG Gender Intelligence Report

discover our
unique
program

Advance offers its member companies an exclusive program to support them in reaching their D&I objectives.

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Download our brochure

Find a practical overview of the Advance offer in our brochure. We love saving prints! If you wish, we are happy to send you a hard copy. Please order at contact@weadvance.ch.

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Board

President

Anna Mattsson

Partner McKinsey & Company

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Vice President

Florence Schnydrig Moser

Head of Private Banking at Zürcher Kantonalbank

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Treasurer

Marion Leslie

Head Financial Information at SIX

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Robert Itschner

CEO BKW

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Andreas Berger

Chief Executive Officer Swiss Re Corporate Solutions

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Nicole Burth Tschudi

CEO Post Communication Services, Member of the Executive Board at Swiss Post

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Nora Teuwsen

Country Holding Officer Switzerland ABB

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Holger Laubenthal

CEO Cembra Money Bank

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Malvika Singh

Managing Director IMPACT

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President

Anna Mattsson

Partner McKinsey & Company

Globally recognized M&A strategy, merger management, and carve-out expert who helps companies achieve more impactful deal outcomes.

Anna leads the Strategy & Corporate Finance Practice for Switzerland and coleads M&A strategy and portfolio for the Life Sciences Practice around the world. She is a globally recognized merger management and carve-out advisor specializing in advising boards and management teams in designing, planning, and executing complex, cross-border integrations, separations, and alliances. She also helps her clients develop M&A blueprint and build M&A capabilities.

Anna has close to twenty years of M&A experience, advising clients in buying and selling across the entire M&A value chain. She has supported more than 110 M&A deals, ranging from $200 million to $50 billion. While her industry focus is on life sciences, she has worked across multiple industries, ranging from consumer and industrials to technology.

Anna also has extensive consulting, corporate, and private-equity experience. She regularly lectures on M&A topics at business schools across Europe and has authored numerous studies.

In addition to her work with M&A, she is also passionate about diversity and has served in multiple roles and boards to further diversity and inclusion.

Anna has previously held various executive management roles including being the Chief People Officer for Deloitte in Switzerland. 

EXPERTISE

M&A, Life Sciences, Private Equity & Principal Investors, Strategy & Corporate Finance, Carve-outs, Merger Management

PAST EXPERIENCE

Deloitte – Partner, Managing partner, Director

Gyrus Capital – Operating-advisory partner

Advance – Vice president of the board

EDUCATION

University of Gothenburg – MS and BA, Business Administration and Economics

Vice President

Florence Schnydrig Moser

Head of Private Banking at Zürcher Kantonalbank

Florence Schnydrig Moser became Head of Private Banking and member of the Executive Board of Zürcher Kantonalbank in 2021.

From 2018 until joining Zürcher Kantonalbank, Florence Schnydrig Moser was CEO of Swisscard AECS GmbH in Horgen. From 2000 to 2018, she worked for Credit Suisse in various management positions in the Private Banking area including posts in Zurich, Australia and Hong Kong. In her last role at Credit Suisse Florence Schnydrig Moser was Head of Products, Investments & Marketing and responsible for the development and marketing of products for Swiss private clients. Furthermore, as a member of the Management Committee, she held cross-company responsibilities within Credit Suisse (Switzerland) AG. 

Florence Schnydrig Moser holds a degree in mathematics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certification. 

She is the Chairman of the supervisory board of the Zürcher Kantonalbank Österreich AG, Salzburg. In addition, she is a member of the board of Advance (Gender Equality in Business) and Hasler Foundation. 

Treasurer

Marion Leslie

Head Financial Information at SIX

Marion Leslie is Head Financial Information at SIX and a member of the SIX Executive Board. She is also a member of the BME Board of Directors. As Head Financial Information, Marion leads the SIX global data business, serving financial institutions worldwide with critical data and insights to support their clients.

The British-Australian dual citizen brings a strong industry knowledge and more than 25 years of experience in developing and operating successful businesses in the Financial Information space. She holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Education in French and German from the University of Cambridge.

Marion was included in the World Federation of Exchanges “Women Leaders List 2021” and was named one of the 100 Most Influential Women in European Finance by Financial News in 2020. In 2017, she was nominated in the Cranfield University Female FTSE 100 Women to Watch Board Report and in 2014 was the winner of the Award for Achievement at the Women in Banking and Finance Awards.

In addition to this, she has been a Non-executive Director of the Board for the UK Hydrographic Office, since 2015 and a Trustee at Prostate Cancer UK since 2016.

Marion Leslie and her husband moved to Switzerland with their two children in January 2020.

Robert Itschner

CEO BKW

Robert Itschner started his professional career as an apprentice mechanic. He holds a BSc Degree in Electrical Engineering from the School for Applied Sciences in Rapperswil, and a MSc Degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, USA. 

Robert has more than 25 years of experience in R&D, Marketing, Operations, Sales, and various Leadership roles in local and global businesses in ABB. In October 2022, he became CEO of the energy and infrastructure company BKW. Furthermore, Robert has been on the executive board of Swissmem, the Swiss association of mechanical and electrical engineering industries, since 2019.

Robert believes strongly that an equal workplace is a non-negotiable requirement for any company, and fundamental for success now and in the future. In his daily work, he is pushing the D&I agenda in BKW, with the aim of taking concrete actions that lead to visible progress.

Robert is married with three adult children.

Andreas Berger

Chief Executive Officer Swiss Re Corporate Solutions

Andreas Berger joined Swiss Re in 2019 as Chief Executive Officer Corporate Solutions and member of the Group Executive Committee.

Andreas has more than 25 years’ experience in the insurance industry. He started his career in 1995 as a leadership trainee at Gerling Group, followed by various leadership positions at Boston Consulting Group. He returned to Gerling in 2004 as Head of Commercial Business and International Programs and Affinity Business.

When Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE (AGCS) was created in 2006, Andreas became its Global Head of Market Management & Communication, where he established an overall market management function for the corporate client segment and served as AGCS spokesperson. In 2009, he was appointed AGCS Chief Executive Officer, Regional Unit London with responsibility for UK, Ireland, South Africa, the Middle East and Benelux.

In 2011 Andreas Berger joined the AGCS Board of Management as Chief Regions & Market Officer (Central & Eastern Europe, Mediterranean, Africa and Asia). In addition, he assumed responsibility for the Global Broker Channel Distribution for the Allianz Group.

Andreas is married and father of a son.

Nicole Burth Tschudi

CEO Post Communication Services, Member of the Executive Board at Swiss Post

Nicole became CEO Communication Services at Post CH Ltd in January 2021. Prior to this, she was CEO of Adecco Group Switzerland and was additionally zone responsible for Adecco Austria, Luxemburg and Belgium.

Before that, Nicole was CFO of Pontoon Solutions, an Adecco Group company, and Head of M&A for the Adecco Group from 2010-2015. In her roles as CFO and CEO, she had profit and loss responsibility for large entities and responsibility for over 1000 employees, led successful transformations and networked in the Swiss business community.

Between 2008 and 2010, she was Managing Director of Adecco Germany Holding. From 2005-2008 Nicole was Head of Investor Relations and Special Projects at the Adecco Group. Her responsibilities included all communications with the financial market and she managed numerous other projects and was responsible for international sales controlling. Between 1998 and 2005, she held various positions and lead teams in equity research departments of investments banks.

Nicole holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Zurich and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Besides her native German, Nicole Burth speaks English, French and Italian. She lives in the canton of Zurich, is married and has two children.

Nora Teuwsen

Country Holding Officer Switzerland ABB

Nora Teuwsen is the Country Holding Officer of Switzerland at ABB since 2022.

She holds a Master’s degree in Law from the University of Zurich as well as an Executive Master of European and International Business Law from the University of St. Gallen.

Swiss-German dual citizen and mother of two children, Nora was previously a partner in a Zurich law firm and, prior to her appointment as Group General Counsel of SBB, held various management positions at SBB, in particular at SBB Real Estate.

Nora Teuwsen is also, among other things, a member of the board of trustees of the “Menschen für Menschen” foundation and a member of the board of directors of Raiffeisenbank St. Gallen.

Nora Teuwsen wants to further embed gender equality in the unquestioned (work) culture. To achieve this goal, we need to make role models more visible. And to encourage women to dare to progress, to believe in their own strengths, to be less complacent about possible shortcomings – in other words, to seize opportunities and embrace change with open arms. She wants to contribute to this with her own experience so far.

Holger Laubenthal

CEO Cembra Money Bank

Holger is Chief Executive Officer of Cembra Money Bank AG, a publicly listed bank in Switzerland. He assumed this role in March 2021. In this capacity, he leads the company’s activities in consumer loans, auto financing and leasing, credit cards, and retail financing. Holger also serves as an advisor to various companies and senior executives across the Middle East and Europe, and has been on numerous corporate boards.

Previously, he was President, Consumer & Manufacturing at Alghanim Industries (Kuwait), where he oversaw the company’s operations across various businesses in the Middle East, as well as Turkey, China, and South East Asia.

Prior to that, Holger was CEO of GE Inspection Technologies, a global B2B technology company, and before that CEO of Mubadala GE Capital, a 50/50 commercial finance JV between Mubadala and GE Capital. From 2011 to 2014, Holger was President and CEO of GE Money Bank Russia, and prior to that Vice President, Global Strategy for GE Capital, based in Norwalk, CT. Between 2003 and 2008, Holger held successively larger leadership roles in the GE Capital businesses in Switzerland and Germany, and several other consulting and industrial roles before that.

Holger was born and raised in Germany. He holds an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School (2002), was a Graduate Research Scholar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a visiting student at UC Berkeley. In 1997, he graduated with a Diplom-Ingenieur/MS in Industrial Engineering from the Technical University of Berlin.

Holger has been working with multiple charities and has been serving on numerous boards of listed and private companies, as well as investment funds.

Holger is married and has two daughters.

Malvika Singh

Managing Director IMPACT

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.

Management

Alkistis Petropaki

General Manager

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Alexandra Rhiner

Communication Manager

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Anne Halbritter

Head of Cross-company Mentoring

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Barbara Favre

Relations Manager

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Faye Witteveen

Program Manager

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Claudia Solanes

Program Specialist

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Konstantina Nani

Office Operations Coordinator

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Sabrina Durante

Communications Specialist

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Lena Schwerzmann

Project Manager

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Priska Burkard

Thought Leadership Specialist

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Regula Rütti

Mentoring Manager

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Mathilde Andersen

Mentoring Assistant

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Alkistis Petropaki

General Manager

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.

Alexandra Rhiner

Communication Manager

Alexandra joined Advance in 2017 as Communication Manager. She has 20 years of experience in the corporate world and in consulting across communication disciplines in B2B, B2C and NPO markets (technology, health care, pharmaceuticals, finance, services, law and education). Previous roles include PR & Communication Manager with Schneider Electric, Adjunct Faculty Member of AKAD Business School for Banking & Finance, and Insurance. Alexandra has a Master in English and German (UZH) and holds an Executive Master in Communication Management (USI/UCLA).

Alexandra is passionate about the cause of Advance. She strongly believes that an inclusive and gender-equal world is a better world for all. Alexandra lives in Zurich with her son.

Anne Halbritter

Head of Cross-company Mentoring

Anne is an economist and systemic human resource and organizational development specialist. She has built up and has been managing the unique Advance cross-company mentoring program since 2014. Apart from her role as mentoring manager for Advance, she has also been partner at Hoeschgasse Consultants Zurich since 2012 with her own company Mensch-Team-Organisation GmbH. Previous roles include Head of Group HR Development, Charles Voegele Group, Managing Director, Bon appétit Academy, Bon appétit Group, and Departmental Head of Retail & Consumption, Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute.

Anne has always been passionate about supporting people, teams and organizations in development and change processes. She is a dedicated ambassador for Advance because she believes that empowering more women for leadership is essential for attracting diverse high potentials to better perform in growingly complex business environments. This will have a positive game changing impact on creative solutions, on how we will work and live together and it will strongly contribute to the success of our economy at large.

Anne is married and lives in Jona with her husband. She enjoys nature and all kinds of re-creative outdoor activities.

Barbara Favre

Relations Manager

Barbara joined Advance in 2022 and as a Relations Manager she supports our Members in making the most of their membership at Advance.

She holds a Master in Tourism Management and has more than 10 years of experience in Customer Relationship Management and Operations in Healthcare and Retail industries.

She is a strong supporter of woman empowerment for a more sustainable and better future for all. She is passionate about diversity & inclusion and engages as a volunteer with the LEAN IN Network Switzerland.

Her own experiences, combined with her work at LEAN IN have given her insight on challenges women face at work and has created a burning desire to join Advance in its mission for a gender equal workplace.

Barbara is married and lives with her husband and son in Zurich area.

Faye Witteveen

Program Manager

Faye joined Advance in April 2020. In the position of Program Manager, she brings a wealth of experience from her corporate career at Thomson Reuters, where most recently she was a Talent & Development Director responsible for Diversity & Inclusion and Culture Change. She is enthusiastic about working with Advance’s member companies to help them move the gender diversity needle. In so doing, greater societal change can be achieved.

Faye holds a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies and has further developed her knowledge and skills during her career with NLP, Facilitation and Grief Counselling Certificates. In September 2020, she certified as a Professional Integral Coach (PCC) with The Centre for Coaching, Switzerland.

Faye is British and has lived in both Geneva and Zurich for a total of 14 years. She is married to a Dutch partner and they live in Zurich with their two young daughters. 

Claudia Solanes

Program Specialist

Claudia has been with Advance since 2014, experiencing first hand not only its continuous growth but also its increasing impact in Switzerland. Each one of us can make a difference. Claudia works also as an university tutor for an international master in conflict resolution. Claudia holds a Master in International Relations and a Diploma in Human Science. She did previously work for a photo journalism agency, for consulting companies and as the responsible of a Master Degree at the Open University of Catalonia. 

Claudia is a strong supporter of equal rights and of the power of women for a more stable and divers future. Claudia has two daughters and a son, and lives with her family near Zurich.

Konstantina Nani

Office Operations Coordinator

Konstantina joined Advance in 2019. She had a first career as an archaeologist, followed by 10 years of experience in public policies, having worked in the governmental sector in the area of social policy making. She was a member of EU Committees for employment policies and worked for the integration of EU Directives regarding gender equality in the Greek law.

Konstantina has a Msc in European Studies and a CAS in Management from the University of St. Gallen.

She is married and has two children. Konstantina is also engaging as a volunteer in the area of integration and strongly believes that an inclusive culture and opportunities for personal development allow people to thrive, achieve their full potential and give back. With Advance, she feels privileged to help driving all of the above.

Sabrina Durante

Communications Specialist

Sabrina joined Advance in 2022 as a Communications Specialist. She has a broad experience in corporate communications, journalism, and communication consulting. Her passion for copywriting has taken her through large corporations and SMEs as well as non-profit organizations and educational institutions, from local newspapers to specialized journals. Sabrina has a Master of Arts in French, English and History from the University of Zurich.

Sabrina firmly believes that gender bias should be a thing of the past, and through her involvement with Advance, she is hoping to see it disappear from the Swiss corporate world.

Sabrina is married and lives with her husband and her teenage daughter and son near Zurich.

Lena Schwerzmann

Project Manager

Lena is an organizational & work psychologist and has 10+ years of applied knowledge in HR trends, future work studies and practices, complemented by a background in digital marketing and communications. She joined Advance in 2021 as a project manager running  the organization of events and communication responsibilites.

Apart from her role for Advance, she is the founder of the platform spoton.ch that brings together experts of future work, organizes many HR events in Zurich and consults a myriad of firms and businesses in the industry.

Previous roles include Lead of HR Festival by HR Today, B2B Team Lead in Marketing & Communication at JobCloud AG and Employer Branding Expert at Baloise Group and Bertelsmann New York.

Lena is a strong believer in a better working world with human leadership, real equality and purpose-driven business in order to solve growingly complex and global challenges.

Lena is married and lives in Zurich with her two daughters.

Priska Burkard

Thought Leadership Specialist

Priska has worked over 15 years in the finance industry, where she led national and international IT projects for major banks with great success. She started her career in the IT world as a career changer, from Medical Laboratory Assistant to Software Engineering. Her skills and expertise enabled her to not only work for international projects but also move to Hong Kong to take on different roles in Project and Product Management.

In 2016 she left the finance industry to focus on building up her own company. As Managing Director of TechFace, Priska uses her experience, knowledge and passion to support women pursuing a purposeful career in tech and connect them to companies committed to diversity and inclusion. Furthermore, she helped to build up Girls in Tech Switzerland, a global non-profit organization with the goal to attract and retain women in tech. She understands and experienced the hardship and strength needed as a woman in tech and wants to support the next generation reaching their dreams and career goals.

Regula Rütti

Mentoring Manager

After her initial education in business administration, Regula Rütti studied clinical psychology at the University of Applied Sciences in Zurich (ZHAW) and subsequently acquired a Swiss federally recognized psychotherapy degree. From 2011 – 2013 she held a lectureship at ZHAW University of Applied Sciences Psychology in the topic of psychodiagnostics. She is experienced in the fields of public relations/communication/media, social and health care, public administration, public transportation, power engineering and paper production. During her professional career, she has held management positions in the fields of human resources management, healthcare/consulting, office management/administration, communications, conciliation/life-balance and communications.

Today, she brings her experience in SMEs as well as in large companies and at corporate level as a consultant, coach, assessor and organizational developer both as a freelancer – also in her role as Talent Development Specialist for Advance and in her own company rr resources&relations.

Consulting, inspiring and thriving people and companies – discovering their resources, empowering their relations and leading them to success is her passion!

Mathilde Andersen

Mentoring Assistant

After graduating from commercial school, I attended the Hotel Management College in Thun, Switzerland, and gained extensive experience in the hospitality industry. I worked in various hotels and restaurants as an assistant manager and team leader.

I later moved into Human Resources Management and completed various training courses. My professional experience in this field includes several years in the shipping industry. Nautical operations, personnel planning, administration, recruitment, personnel development and organizational activities were part of my daily business.

After my three-year trip around the world, I worked as a personnel consultant, assisting job seekers with all HR issues and developing reintegration strategies.

In early 2022, I decided to start my own business and live as a digital nomad – a new adventure that combines my professional and personal passions.

My mission is to provide hands-on support to companies by acting as a virtual workforce for any tasks they need assistance with.