Speakers Exporter demain! 2018

Opening Speech – Martial Décoppet

With over 30 years’ experience in corporate banking, Martial Décoppet has spent most of his career with two major groups: Credit Suisse and BCV. He is fully familiar with the cantonal and regional economic fabric (large companies, SMEs and real estate professionals). He is also an active member of several economic committees.

Keynote – Tara Feret Erath

Tara Feret Erath has served in Bern since June 2016. Previously, she was the Director of the State Department’s Nordic and Baltic Affairs Office. Other assignments include Economic Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Acting Director of the Office of the EU and Regional Affairs and Economic Counselor in Brasilia. She holds a BA from Williams College in Economics and in French and a MS from the Eisenhower School of the National Defense University.

Keynote – André Kudelski
André Kudelski is Chairman and CEO of the Kudelski Group. He is Chairman of the Innosuisse Board, the Swiss Federal Agency for Innovation, Vice Chairman of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce and Aéroport International de Genève and Member of the Supervisory Board of Publicis Groupe and the Strategic Advisory Board of EPFL. He holds an M.Sc. in Applied Physics from EPFL.

Moderator of keynote slot - Loïs Siggen Lopez
Loïs Siggen Lopez graduated from the Académie du Journalisme et des Medias (UNINE), in Switzerland. He started his journalist career as a radio journalist for the Radio Suisse Romande (now RTS). For two years, he's been co-producer of “Factuel”, the first “fact-checking” radio news show in Switzerland. He's produced another radio news show “Neophiles” for one year, leading more than 200 interviews with entrepreneurs and startups of Switzerland (and beyond). Two years ago he became a political correspondant at the Palais federal for the television.

Breakout Session 1 Credit Suisse (Suisse) SA: «Between globalization and protectionism: What if we made a mistake?»

Hugo van Buel studied engineering at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School. He is also the CEO of Cla-Val Europe, a company with global operations in the field of hydraulic regulation. He initiated the integration of digital and communication technology in flow regulation solutions. Result: New algorithms and robotics for the real-time regulation of complex systems. CLA-VAL received the Prix Vaudois des Entreprises Internationales (PVEI: Vaud International Business Prize) in 2016.

Breakout Session 2 AXA: "Switzerland's challenges in the face of global trade barriers"

Tibère Adler has been Director of Avenir Suisse for French-speaking Switzerland since May 2014. From August 2018, he will be "Adjunct Fellow". He focuses mainly on the subject areas of direct democracy, media and Switzerland’s relationship with the rest of the world. A qualified lawyer and holder of an Executive MBA, he was previously CEO of the Edipresse group and a member of several boards of directors. He is also co-founder of the Swiss Board Institute.

Breakout Session 2 AXA: "Switzerland's challenges in the face of global trade barriers"

Eric Babusiaux is in charge of international insurance solutions at Axa Switzerland. With extensive experience in Germany and France in construction and risk prevention, he joined the insurance industry in 2010 when he relocated to Switzerland. Today, he develops AXA's network and services abroad with the main objective of meeting the expectations of international customers.

Breakout Session 3 PwC: «The human being at the center of digital transformation»

A representative of PwC Digital Services in French-speaking Switzerland, Mathieu Delavy has a great deal of expertise with respect to digital transformation. Armed with more than 15 years of experience in large groups and local organizations, he “thinks globally and acts locally.” He acts across the digital value chain on projects of any size.

Breakout Session 3 PwC: «The human being at the center of digital transformation»An associate who is responsible for the teams Risk Assurance FS and Cyber Security at PwC in French-speaking Switzerland, Borboën specializes in the field of IT for companies in the financial sector. As an expert on matters including IT audits, risk management, and cyber security, he has advised numerous international, private, and cantonal banks as well as countless international groups for more than 15 years.

Breakout Session 4 SWISS: “Global competitiveness ‘made of Switzerland’”

Lorenzo Stoll, born in 1971, joined SWISS in October 2013. A graduate of the École Hôtelière de Lausanne, he began his career in the hotel and tourism sectors. Lorenzo Stoll joined SWISS after 12 years at Nestlé, where he held various executive positions. As Chief Executive Officer for French-speaking Switzerland and Member of the Executive Committee of Swiss International Air Lines, Lorenzo is leading, with his teams, the redeployment of SWISS to Geneva Airport.

Breakout Session 5 DQ Solutions: "How collaboration tools simplify your international expansion"

Markus Bina is a “modern work ambassador” who helps companies shape their digital transformation. A technology executive with more than 15 years’ experience in workplace management and digital transformation, he proposes innovative solutions to address his clients’ biggest business challenges. In collaboration with DQ Solutions, Markus advises businesses to encourage innovation and growth.

Breakout Session 5 DQ Solutions: “How collaboration tools simplify your international expansion”

Alain Rymar is a pre-sales engineer at Cisco Systems with 32 years’ experience in the IT industry working for various manufacturers, including Case/Dowty, Cabletron Systems and Cisco Systems. At Cisco Systems, Alain Rymar has held various positions as systems engineer for global clients, manager of engineers and product specialist. Based in Rolle, Alain Rymar provides support to Cisco clients, partners and sales representatives in promoting the values of Cisco collaboration solutions.

Breakout Session 6 International SOS: “Your employees' health and safety abroad”
A graduate of the School of Business and Economics in Paris, he began his international career in Germany, Benelux and Switzerland (Zurich, Geneva). In 2009, he joined International SOS as General Manager for Switzerland. During the Arab Spring in 2011, he was responsible for the Malta-based Incident Management Team (IMT), which succeeded in evacuating approximately 1,500 International SOS clients from Tripoli and Benghazi (Libya).

Breakout Session 6 International SOS: “Your employees' health and safety abroad”
In 1993, Gérard Blanc joined International SOS as Chief Medical Officer at various International SOS medical centers (DR Congo, Nigeria, Vietnam). In 2000, he worked as Medical Director on an Exxon ChadCam project in Chad. In 2003, he was promoted to Regional Medical Director for Russia in Moscow. In 2008, he was promoted to Regional Medical Director based in Geneva.

Swiss Business Hub Talk - Alain Graf

Alain Graf has experience in the pharma and machine tool industry where he worked during the last 18 years. He spent 15 years in the Greater China region where he first studied Mandarin Chinese, then worked for two Swiss SME's in the machine tool industry and finally was based in the Swiss embassy in Beijing as head of the Swiss Business Hub.

Swiss Business Hub Talk - Marieke Hood

Marieke Hood is the Head of the Swiss Business Hub UK & Ireland since 2014, therefore supporting Swiss companies looking at exporting in the 2 countries, with a particular focus on innovative segments within ICT, Advanced Engineering and Life Sciences. She was previously based in Paris, promoting Switzerland as a place to do Business until 2013.

Swiss Business Hub Talk - South America

Philippe Praz joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (EDA/DFAE) in Switzerland in 1986. In 2012 he was was in charge to open the Swiss Business Hub Italy in Milan and acted as Director of this entity until 2016. Since September 2016 he is Director of the Swiss Business Hub, Brazil. Brazil has huge potential for Swiss SME's in some specific sectors like health or agribusiness&food processing.

Life Science Executive Talk: organized in collaboration with BioAlps

Mr. Di Napoli graduated with a Msc in Pharmaceutical Science from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) in 1990 and in 2008 took up the position of VP Scientific & Marketing at the TRB Chemedica Group, active in rheumatology, ophthalmology and neurology.

Life Science Executive Talk: organized in collaboration with BioAlps

Ms. Schmit has a Msc in Biochemistry and Business Management from France. She co-founded D&A Laboratoire – Cosmetique in Valais in 2018 and is currently its CEO. She was member of the board of Zimmer Surgical SA, JuvaPlus SA and Cosmotec SA..

Cleantech Executive Talk: organized in collaboration with CleantechAlps

In her capacity as President of the Board of the CSD Group (www.csd.ch) since 2011, Olga Darazs has been committed in particular to the development CSD’s strategy and governance. Her work for the Swiss Water Partnership has centered around setting up a platform (created in 2012) to bring together the main Swiss actors in the field of water operating at an international level.

Executive Talk Cleantech - organiszed by CleantechAlps
Gilbert Farina joined TVP in 2017 to drive sales and marketing. He leads go-to-market, direct large corporate account coverage and international sales channels development and expansion. From 2015 to 2017 he acted as Senior Advisor for Swiss high-tech start-ups: DartZeel, Windsoft, Optimiso. For 13 years prior he was at HP as VP Sales EMEA growing revenue from $1.7 to $3.4 billion/year via changes in sales approach and channel development.

Cleantech Executive Talk: organized in collaboration with CleantechAlps

Jean-Louis Guillet founded Soleol SA in 2008 and is the CEO. Soleol is a leader in Switzerland in renewable energies with around 100 employees and a turnover of 30 million. He is responsible for implementing the business and marketing strategy for the company’s sales and communications and market research. He is also responsible for training sales and marketing staff in the renewable energy sector, developing green energy solutions and maintaining contact with customers and suppliers. www.soleol.ch

Executive Talk Digital: organized in collaboration with digitalswitzerland

Nicola Thibaudeau graduated in mechanical engineering in 1984 from the Ecole Polytechnique at the University of Montreal in Quebec.  
Since then, she has held various posts at IBM Canada, Cicorel Flexdruck Werk, Mecanex SA (today RUAG), MPS Precimed SA in Corgémont and MPS Décolletage SA in Court. At the end of 2003, she took control of MPS Micro Precision Systems SA in Bienne. She also served on the board of directors of the health insurance company CSS for 14 years, and was on the board of the Swiss Post Office between 2006 and 2013.

Closing remarks - Alain Berset

Alain Berset began his career in 1997 as an engineer at Polytype. He completed his education with an MBA. An expert on the industrial landscape of Western Switzerland, he successfully steered his company through the difficulties posed by the strong franc. These experiences make him an ideal member of S-GE's Board of Directors.

Presentation - Mélanie Freymond
Mélanie Freymond holds a master's degree in the sociology of communication from the University of Fribourg. A journalist and television and radio host primarily for RTS, she has presented programs such as "Un Air de Famille" and the "Swiss Awards". She regularly moderates events and conferences in various fields.