ABOUT
Dr. Maria-Grazia Giuffreda
Associate Director, Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS)
Dr. Maria Grazia Giuffreda is Associate Director at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) in Lugano, Switzerland. She studied computational chemistry in Belgium, where she received her Ph.D. in 2001. After which, she was a postdoc at ETH Zurich in the Computer-Aided Chemistry (Informatikgestützte Chemie) group. In 2006 she started to work at CSCS as a User and Application support specialist, in 2010 she became Group Leader of the User Support and since 2013 she is in charge of the User Engagement and Support Unit and the Account Management for the Paying Customers. Since 2010 she is in charge of the User Lab Program. She is responsible for the communication with the User Community and contributing to the outreach and communication of activities related to the centre.
Ladina Heimgartner
Head of Global Media, Ringier AG
She has been a member of the Group Executive Board since February 2020 and Head of Global Media at Ringier AG and CEO of the Blick Group since October 2020. From February to September 2020, she was Head of Corporate Center at Ringier AG. Before joining the company, she held various positions at SRG SSR from 2007. Having started as a radio editor, she later became a head of department and deputy editor-in-chief. In 2011, as part of the SRG SSR General Management, she established the Markets and Quality department and was subsequently responsible for managing it. After being appointed director of the Rhaeto-Romanic business unit RTR in August 2014, she also became the Deputy Director General of SRG SSR in October 2017. Ladina Heimgartner studied German linguistics and the Romansh language (lic. phil. I) in Fribourg. She also holds an EMBA in Leadership and Management. Ladina Heimgartner is a member of the Swiss Federal Media Commission (FMEC) and a member of the board of the Initiative for Media Innovation.
Henri Hentsch
CEO, H.Hentsch Asset Management
He is the descendant of a well known family linked with Swiss Private Banking for more than eight generations and serves as CEO since June 2010. Prior to, he was a Senior Portfolio Manager at Lombard Odier; has served as a RM at Merrill Lynch in London, and was in Fixed Income sales at NatWest Markets. Henri has inherited values and a human network that he has kept enriching and enlarging over the years. Henri has a Bachelor's degree in Finance and Business, HEC Lausanne.
Nora Meister
Swiss Paralympic Swimmer
Nora Meister (born 6 January 2003) is a Swiss Paralympic swimmer who competes in international elite events. She was born with arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, which causes reduced muscle power in her legs. She also has impaired hearing. She is a double World bronze medalist and a four-time European champion in freestyle and backstroke swimming. She took up the sport in 2011 at Aarefisch Swimming Club in Aarau, Switzerland. She tried several sports, including handcycling and Para tennis, before settling on swimming with the goal of competing at the Paralympic Games. She was credited with breaking the world record competing at the 2016 European Championships in Funchal, Portugal. (Athlete, 14 Aug 2018), which has since been broken.
Christian Reuss
Head, SIX Swiss Exchange
Christian Reuss is Head SIX Swiss Exchange and a member of the management committee of the business unit Markets at SIX. Earlier roles at SIX include Head Cash Markets Swiss Stock Exchange and Head Department Sales & Product Management (including Marketing) for SIX Swiss Exchange. From June 2009 until June 2013, he was CEO of Scoach (by SIX and Deutsche Börse). From 2002 to 2009 Christian Reuss worked in several locations for Goldman Sachs, ultimately as Executive Director with pan-European responsibility in the Private Investor Products Group. Christian Reuss has a degree in business administration from Frankfurt’s Johann Wolfgang Goethe University and another Master of Business Administration from the Henry B. Tippie School of Management at the University of Iowa. He is a CFA charterholder and completed Executive Management Programs at Harvard Business School and at the IMD.
Sona Blessing
Alternative Alternatives
Sona Blessing is a moderator and finance education podcaster, independent research specialist and the author of "Alternative Alternatives: Risk, Returns and Investment Strategy" - Wiley Finance, Feb. 2011. She is a contributing author, in German, on real assets for "Alternative Investments: Analyse und Due Diligence” - NZZ Libro Dec. 2013; and has been a previewer of CAIA textbook chapters on real assets. Sona has served as a guest lecturer on ‘Alternative Alternatives’ at the Zurich School of Management and Law (zhaw), and gained experience at Swiss banks in the roles of a hedge fund research strategist and a global market strategist. She spent the first half of her career being a business journalist and editor in India, Indonesia, the U.K. and Taiwan. She serves, in a voluntary capacity, as a member of the Global Advisory Council, 100 Women in Finance; whilst continuing in her role as the organisation's ambassador in Switzerland.
