Investor Relations Conference 2024

CFO, SIX Group

Daniel Schmucki has been serving as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of SIX since March 1, 2017. In his role, the Swiss national oversees not only traditional financial functions but also Strategy and M&A, as well as central Chief Operating Officer (COO) responsibilities, including Strategic Projects, Business Excellence, Real Estate Management, Procurement, Project Portfolio Management, and the SIX Fintech Venture Fund. He also consolidates all Investor Relations activities under his umbrella, adhering to the user-owned, user-governed governance of SIX.

In recent years, he drove several major transformational M&A initiatives, such as the acquisition of the Spanish stock exchange BME in 2020 and the sale of SIX's credit card business to Worldline in 2018. Prior to joining SIX, Daniel was the CFO of the publicly traded Flughafen Zürich Ltd. for many years. In this capacity, he managed portfolio investments and the P&L for all international airport activities and was part of the successful IPO in 2000. Additionally, he serves as the Chairman of the Investment Committee of the Board of Directors at Worldline and is a member of the Board of Directors at Zurich Zoo.

Head Issuer Relations, SIX Swiss Exchange

Before taking on the role of Head Issuer Relations at SIX Swiss Exchange in September 2022, Vera Güttinger worked for listed companies in Austria and Switzerland for over 16 years. She held positions in corporate accounting, investor relations and sustainability and has broad experience in these areas.

President, IR club Schweiz

Lorna Davie is the President of the IR club Switzerland and is responsible for working together with the Board Members across all areas including Expanding the Membership, Professional Development, Networking, Communication and overall collaboration with Partners and other Global IR Associations.

She was formerly a Director, Investor Relations and prior to that she worked in the Investment Banking Division, spanning over 24 years at Credit Suisse.

Head of Investor Relations, SVP Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA

Nick has more than 20 years of healthcare sector experience. Most recently he joined Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA as Head of Investor Relations, Senior Vice President. Before this he was Head of Investor Relations at GSK plc, and prior to this he was Director of Investor Relations at AstraZeneca plc. Nick has been accountable for investor outreach and engagement in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and ESG. He has also overseen more than $200 billion in business development transactions, including the demerger of GSK plc's consumer healthcare business to form Haleon plc, the $39 billion acquisition of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a rare disease company, and an equity placing of $3.5 billion gaining access to trastuzumab deruxtecan, a novel anti-drug conjugate from Daiichi Sankyo Company Ltd.

Prior to investor relations at AstraZeneca, Nick was Director of in-line indications for Brilinta, a medicine used to treat patients who have suffered from a heart attack. Before moving to the commercial organisation, he was a Director of Business Development leading both buy and sell-side licensing and M&A transactions in the Regional and Corporate Business Development Team.

Before this role, Nick was appointed principal Corporate Strategist, based in London, where he provided a range of advisory services to the Senior Executive Team and Board.

In 2005, Nick took a sabbatical to compete in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. He began his early career as an Associate Lawyer, graduating with a bachelor’s degree with honours in Law and Criminology before taking his Legal Practice Course.

Moderator, Communication Consultant, Coach Christine Maier Kommunikation GmbH

Christine Maier is a Swiss entrepreneur. She began her career as a presenter and journalist. For 30 years, she stood in front of cameras and on stages in Switzerland (SRF) and abroad (BR, ZDF, ITV England). At SRF, she was head of the editorial team and presenter of the “Club” (2001-2011) and news anchor for “10vor10”.

In 2016, the former editor-in-chief of “SonntagsBlick” founded her own company. Since then, she has been advising leading personalities as a communications expert, giving training courses on presentation and media skills and moderating events.

Group Investor Relations Director Aramex

Anca Cighi is the Investor Relations Director at Aramex, the Middle East’s leading provider of logistics and transportation services with global operations in 65+ countries. Having spent close to 15 years in the GCC region, Ms. Cighi brings a wealth of experience from one of the fastest growing and dynamic emerging markets in the world. She made Aramex the first company listed on the Dubai Financial Market to open up 100% to foreign ownership and brought the latest in integrated sustainability and business reporting to their investor relations function. This was recognized by an Award for Best Integrated Annual Report by the Middle East investor relations society

Earlier in her career, Ms. Cighi held several roles in the areas of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications, among others as Senior Director at FTI Consulting EMEA. She advised on high-profile M&A transactions in Asia and the Middle East, bond issuances, and set-up new IR departments and policies. She led communications programs for initial public offerings as well de-listings and return to privatization. She helped issuers effectively navigate key events, such as market upgrades from frontier market status to emerging market status and advised on market index eligibility, conditions of inclusion and upgrades and impact of money flows on a company’s stock.

Ms. Cighi holds a B.A. degree in Business Administration and a B.A. degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from the American University in Bulgaria. Additionally, she is certified in Investor Relations by the UK IR Society and has completed executive education programs at IMD, Hult Ashridge, and Harvard Business School. She is fluent in English, conversant in Spanish, and a native Romanian speaker. Anca is an active member of the Middle East Investor Relations Association (MEIRA) and regularly speaks at their annual conferences and events.

With this background, Ms Cighi brings a unique and international view on investor relations.

Chief Executive Officer SGS

Géraldine Picaud was appointed Chief Executive Officer of SGS in March 2024. She joined the Group as Chief Financial Officer in December 2023 with an extended scope notably including Strategic transformation, M&A, IT and Digitalization, Procurement, Communication and Sustainability, in addition to Group Finance.

Géraldine has more than 30 years of experience in strategic leadership roles spanning various industries and development stages, from accelerated growth to corporate turnaround. She has a proven track record of delivering concrete results and transformation across complex global business environments.

She served as Group Chief Financial Officer and Executive Committee member of Holcim, a global leader in building solutions, from 2018 to 2023. In this capacity, she implemented a proactive strategy of growth acceleration and corporate simplification. Prior to this, she was Group Chief Financial Officer and Executive Committee member of Essilor International, the world leader in ophthalmic lenses, where she led the consolidation of the prescription lab market through a resolute strategy of bolt-on acquisitions. She also held senior executive positions at ED&F Man, an ingredient and commodity company notably specializing in agricultural products, coffee, sugar and animal feed, and at Safic Alcan, a specialty chemicals group. She started her career as an auditor with Arthur Andersen.

Géraldine graduated from École Supérieure de Commerce de Reims and holds an MBA. She is currently a non-executive director and chairwoman of the Audit Committee of Danone.

Expert in the digitalisation of the world of work

Dr Sarah Genner is a digital expert, lecturer and board member. She specialises in the impact of digital technologies on people, society and the world of work. She is a bridge builder between science and practice. She has worked as a journalist, corporate communications consultant and teacher, and has researched and taught on digital topics in Zurich and Harvard. She has been an independent expert and consultant since 2018.

Partner FGS Global

Caroline joined FGS Global in January 2021 to enhance the Equity Advisory & IR practice in London. She leverages her extensive experience in investor and market behavior to advise company management and Boards on valuation, market impact, and communication. Caroline excels in helping companies shape their equity story to support sustainable investor engagement, both as a retained advisor and for specific events like Capital Market Days, IPOs, and Activism Defence.

Caroline recently developed a framework for integrating ESG strategy into company equity stories, addressing growing investor demands.

Prior to FGS Global, Caroline had 25 years of investment banking experience at Deutsche, BAML, and Barclays, covering Equity Advisory, M&A, and Capital Markets. She also led Barclays Africa equity research and managed M&A and treasury functions at Sasol, where she oversaw its US listing project and participated in its Southern African exco.

Board member, former Head of IR at Givaudan IR Club Schweiz

Pierre, is an experienced investor relations leader with over 25 years overseeing investor relations at global companies in Switzerland and in France such as Givaudan in the last 4 years, Danone, Sodexo and CEVA Logistics AG . He successfully implemented the investor relations function for two companies, including an IPO in Switzerland, advising senior management on investor relations strategy, creating the equity story and building trusted relationships with investors and analysts. He is now a Board member at the IR Club Schweiz.

Founder & CEO QuantiFIre

Charlie is the founder and CEO of QuantiFire. After an early career in the British Army, he has spent the last two decades developing technologies and techniques that make a difference to IR programmes; he set up the London office of Orient Capital. Charlie's guiding principle is that thought leadership grounded in attentive listening and continuous innovation will deliver value.

Since starting QuantiFire in 2012, Charlie and his team have pioneered various "Insight as a Service" solutions that allow IR, ESG and Boards to quickly understand and engage investor communities, at scale. He believes that investor feedback is an example of a critical, yet greatly underutilised, aspect of capital markets engagement. Under Charlie's guidance, QuantiFire has created "Feedback Intelligence", a systematic and wholly reimagined approach to collecting and analysing market feedback that is now trusted by leading international companies.

Head of Research zCapital

I joined Vontobel in 2007 as a sell-side analyst covering various sectors from industrials to telecom, media and technology. In 2014, I joined zCapital as Head of Research, covering various sectors from industrials to chemicals, technology, media and healthcare. zCapital is a Swiss-focused, long-only fund with approximately CHF 2 billion in assets under management. We specialise in Swiss equities and manage three investment funds, the zCapital Swiss Small & Mid Cap Fund, the zCapital Swiss Dividend Fund and the zCapital Swiss ESG Fund. We have a fundamental approach and base our investment decisions on the results of our research. With eight analysts, we have one of the largest buy-side research teams for Swiss equities. We actively support improvements in corporate governance.

Head of Sustainability and Financial Reporting Firesys GmbH

Axel Müller joined firesys GmbH in September 2022 as Head of Sustainability and Financial Reporting. At the Frankfurt-based provider of a disclosure management system, he is building up consulting with a focus on ESG (CSRD/ESRS). He also supports the digitalisation of financial and sustainability reports (XBRL taxonomy; ESEF/ESRS). Previously, he was Head of Investor Relations at the HORNBACH Group for 22 years and also Head of Group Communications since 2014. He studied economics in Würzburg and is a trained journalist.

Legal Counsel SIX Exchange Regulation

Myrta Odoni is a legal professional working at SIX Exchange Regulation (SER), where her team (Corporate Disclosure) monitors and enforces issuers' compliance with the disclosure obligations in connection with ad hoc publicity and management transactions. If necessary, her team imposes sanctions or submits sanction proposals to the Regulatory Board.

Myrta holds a degree from the University of St. Gallen (Master of Arts in Law & Economics, 2018) and passed the bar exam of the Canton of Lucerne in March 2020.

Before joining SER, Myrta worked in a law firm in Lucerne, at Deloitte Zurich (Risk & Regulatory Assurance and Limited Statutory Examination) as well as at the Public Prosecutor's Office in Lenzburg (Aargau).

Myrta speaks German and English. She brings a wealth of legal knowledge from both the private and public sectors and is passionate about topics related to financial markets; in particular stock exchanges and their regulation in Switzerland.

Partner Kellerhals Carrard

An experienced M&A, corporate and capital markets lawyer, Emanuel Dettwiler advises clients on a wide range of international and domestic, public and private, transactions. His particular focus lies on distressed M&A transactions and restructurings, where he regularly supports clients in challenging situations. His clients are active in various industries, mainly in life sciences, technology, and IT. He also advises on demanding corporate law topics and assists clients in both equity and debt financing matters as well as selected contract law issues. He regularly publishes and lectures in his areas of expertise. An active member in a number of international associations and alliances, Emanuel enjoys a strong international network. As a former management consultant, Emanuel has an in-depth understanding of the commercial aspects of problems presented to him and honors the real needs of demanding corporate clients.

Attorney at Law Kellerhals Carrard

Marc Hanslin is partner at Kellerhals Carrard (Basel office) and part of Kellerhals Carrard's corporate/M&A and capital markets practice groups. He advises his Swiss and international clients in public and private transactions, restructuring and other areas of capital market and corporate law such as stock exchange disclosure rules, corporate governance or executive compensation and is an expert in market abuse regulations (i.e., insider trading and market manipulation). His clients are active in different industries, including life sciences, chemical industry and IT.

Marc Hanslin completed his law studies at the University of Zurich and holds a PhD in capital markets law from the University of Zurich as well as an MBA degree from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He has a background in politics and still serves as a general staff officer in the Swiss army.  

Partner, Attorney-at-law Kellerhals Carrard

Luca Bianchi advises clients in the areas of capital markets, banking, finance & fintech, regulatory and corporate/M&A. His practice focuses on capital market transactions and the regulation of financial services, financial institutions and financial market infrastructures. He specializes in complex issues (e.g. equity and debt capital markets, securitization transactions), financial products (e.g. structured products, ETPs, AMCs, CLNs) and collective investment schemes (e.g. ETFs and investment foundations). Luca also assists financial institutions in obtaining FINMA approvals. He regularly advises Swiss and international clients (especially listed companies) on the handling of key strategic issues.

Co-Founder / Managing Director Interaction Partners

Kilian is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience across management consulting, banking, brokerage, software, and investor relations advisory.

Since co-founding Interaction Partners in 2016, Kilian has been instrumental in providing Swiss listed companies with investor relations software and services designed to streamline the administrative workload of IR officers while boosting engagement with relevant investors.

Interaction Partners’ flagship platform, schedulR, offers comprehensive solutions in investor engagement and financial communications. It covers key areas such as investor databases, CRM, reporting, event management (including roadshows, investor days, and webcasts), and news distribution via email, newswires, company homepages, and SIX.

Additionally, Interaction Partners manages APIs for news and events on behalf of SIX, feeding the SIX Consolidated Corporate Calendar and Equity Issuer News.

Kilian also advises and supports companies, mainly in the banking and software/technology sectors, on investor relations related topics.

Kilian holds a PhD in Business Administration and a Master’s in Accounting, Controlling, and Finance from the University of St. Gallen. He is a CFA Charterholder and holds the CFA Certificate in ESG Investing.

Global Director of IR soultions & Client Relations IDX

Liron, LL.B. is the Global Director of IR Solutions & Client Relations for IDX, joining in January 2023. With a legal background and 20+ years of experience in Sales and Service, including a tenure as IR Director for a London-based Private Equity firm, Liron is leading the drive to expand IDX’s IR Solutions and Events. His focus is on collaborating with IROs worldwide to elevate the impact of their IR websites. This involves implementing cutting-edge tools, crafting effective content strategies, leveraging data analytics and pioneering engaging virtual events. Together with his Client Relations team, Liron is dedicated to delivering the highest level of service to IDX's clients.

Head of IR and Corporate Comms IDX

Simon has spent 25 years providing strategic counsel to leading global companies on how to use and optimize their digital investor and corporate communications. From structuring investment narratives to advising on how to present strategic transformation programs, he has a wealth of practical communications experience.

He’s been lucky enough to work across many sectors from banking, prestige beauty, and brewing to mining, oil producers, and technology giants.

He’s British. He eats Marmite. And he does not support Manchester United.

Professor of Accounting and Finance Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow

Mark Aleksanyan is a Professor of Accounting and Finance in the Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow. He joined the university in 2004, after obtaining an MSc degree in International Finance and a PhD in Accounting and Finance, both from the University of Glasgow. Currently, Mark serves as the Associate Head of the Accounting and Finance subject group.

Prior to his academic career, from 1996 to 1999, Mark held various positions, including working as a financial analyst at a brokerage firm, senior economist at the Ministry of Finance and Economy of Armenia, and assistant to the Prime Minister of Armenia.

Mark’s academic research has been published in internationally esteemed journals such as Contemporary Accounting Research, Journal of Corporate Finance, European Accounting Review, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Journal of Empirical Finance, and Accounting and Business Research. He also co-authored a book on equity valuation and research reports for professional bodies. He is an Associate Editor of Qualitative Research in Financial Markets.

His current research projects focus the on impact of regulation and technology on the practices of key actors and decision-makers in the market for corporate information and investment advice, including investor relations officers, sell-side analysts, buy-side investors, and corporate brokers. Additionally, Mark’s long-term research interests encompass equity valuation, investment analysis, and corporate reporting.

Chief Economist Bank J. Safra Sarasin

Dr Karsten Junius is the Chief Economist and Head of Economic and Strategy Research of Bank J. Safra Sarasin in Zürich since April 2014. His business unit is the central research provider of the Bank globally, analysing and forecasting macroeconomic developments as well as key business critical variables like policy rates, bond yields, equity returns and FX-developments. His team presents the research input for the monthly Investment Committee and its weekly subcommittees, the Alco and Treasury meetings among others. It publishes a broad range of research products for internal and external use and supports the Bank’s sales activities by presenting its views to private banking and institutional clients around the globe. Karsten communicates the house view and ad-hoc economic assessments to the financial press, on TV and on radio.

He joined the Bank after having worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, DC since 2011. During this time, he took part in the surveillance of member states, in negotiations and reviews of IMF-programs through frequent missions to country assignments. Prior to that, Karsten headed the capital markets and the real estate research of DekaBank in Frankfurt. He worked for a year at Metzler Asset Management in 1999 after he had started his career as an economist at the Kiel Institute of World Economics in 1996.

Karsten Junius has a Doctorate in Economics from Kiel University (1999) and a Master’s degree from Wayne State University (1993). He conducted his undergraduate studies in economics at Freiburg University. He is a CFA® charterholder since 2005. He held teaching assignments at the University of Stuttgart (2018-2022), at Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen (2006-2010) and Bankakademie Frankfurt (2000-2003).

CEO and Managing Partner Embera Partners

Andreas Posavac is Managing Partner and Founder of Embera Partners. Prior to founding Embera Partners in 2024, Andreas spent 6 years at IHS Markit and S&P Global, which acquired IHS Markit in 2021 in a $44bn transaction, where he built and led the M&A, corporate governance and ESG-advisory team globally. Prior to that, Andreas spent more than 10 years at Ipreo, a leading capital markets and IR-advisory firm, where he led the company’s corporate business in D/A/CH and CEEMEA, building the market leading position with a team of +30 focused on investor intelligence, ownership and a specialty focus on corporate governance, shareholder activism and public M&A transactions.

Andreas has worked with some of the largest companies globally on board and executive level, advising both corporates and alsoinvestors on public takeover offers, shareholder activist campaigns, friendly and hostile corporate governance projects, restructurings as well as standard projects with companies building their capital markets attractiveness through active roadshows, investor access, corporate governance and ESG-strategies as well as IPO’s and del-istings. He also built the concept of data-driven advisory in the context of M&A, positioning the IHS-Markit team as the market leading advisers with a holistic offering, which he continued to refine and build for the unique approach at Embera Partners.

Senior Consultant, Investor Engagement & Corporate Access Embera Partners

George has more than 25 years of corporate access and investor relations experience working for some of the world’s largest investment banks. Before joining Embera Partners in the summer of 2024, he held a variety of senior leadership roles at the likes of Barclays, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan in London; he was Head of Institutional Corporate Marketing for seven years at Barclays during which time MiFID II regulation was implemented and new strategies for corporate access were required. George has most recently extended his experience into private markets/alternatives where he was Head of Investor Relations at a Single Family Office. He is therefore able to tap into his extensive network of corporate access contacts, institutional investors, hedge funds, and UHNWs across Europe, and is located in London.

Director Communications and Capital Markets Semperit AG Holding

Bettina Schragl joined Semperit AG Holding, a leading global industrial elastomer specialist listed in Vienna, in mid-2023. As Director Communications and Capital Markets, she is responsible for group-wide communications, investor relations, capital market compliance, and branding. Prior to that, she spent over a decade at the international real estate group Immofinanz, where she led the Corporate Communications & Investor Relations department.

During this time, she also established and led the Group ESG Committee, was responsible for non-financial reporting and its further development in accordance with international standards, and supported numerous capital market transactions, including the spin-off and IPO of a subsidiary on the German and Vienna stock exchange, the first-time attainment of an IG rating and the issuance of benchmark bonds, the submission of takeover offers for peer group companies and defence strategies for takeover offers and campaigns by activist investors.

Bettina’s professional roots lie in stock market and financial journalism, a field in which she has been active for around 18 years, including as editor-in-chief and managing director of Styria Börse Express, part of the international Styria Media Group, as head of the finance and stock market department at WirtschaftsBlatt and in the management of a Swiss internet start-up specialising in online investor relations.

CIO JMS Invest AG

Dr. Miro Zuzak is a distinguished finance professional with a broad and accomplished career. He holds a lic. oec. HSG in Banking and Finance, a Ph.D. in Finance, and an M.A. in Law from the University of St. Gallen, alongside a CFA charter.

His career spans key roles as a research analyst and portfolio manager for equity funds at RBR Capital and Bellevue Asset Management. In 2014, Dr. Zuzak became a partner and CIO at JMS Invest, a Zurich-based investment boutique specializing in European small- and mid-cap companies. His expertise in these markets has contributed to JMS Invest's award-winning and longstanding track record.

From 2005 to 2020, Dr. Zuzak also shared his knowledge as a lecturer in accounting and finance at the University of St. Gallen. In addition, he co-founded Inyova Impact-Investing in 2017, a Zurich-based fintech company committed to impact investing.

Dr. Zuzak is married and father of three children.

Head Corporate Disclosure SIX Exchange Regulation AG

As Head Corporate Disclosure, Michael Urwyler is responsible for monitoring reporting obligations of the SIX Swiss Stock Exchange in the areas of ad hoc publicity and management transactions, as well as the corresponding enforcement proceedings. Together with his team he ensures a neutral and independent supervision of the stock exchange regulations for the benefit of a strong, competitive stock exchange.

Michael studied law at the Universities of Bern and Helsinki (MLaw 2009). After being admitted to the bar of the Canton of Bern (2011) he worked for the Federal Tax Administration in the area of international tax administrative assistance and most recently as deputy head of division. As trained OECD assessor, he reviewed the jurisdiction of Curaçao in the area of tax administrative assistance as a Swiss delegate (Curaçao and Paris, 2017) before joining SIX Exchange Regulation AG in 2018. Michael speaks German, English and Swedish.

Deputy Head Corporate Disclosure SIX Exchange Regulation AG

With a distinguished career spanning diverse legal roles, Matthias Weger currently serves as the Deputy Head of Corporate Disclosure at Six Exchange Regulation AG (SER) in Zurich, Switzerland. Since May 2019, he has played a crucial role in monitoring issuer compliance with stock exchange regulations and listing rules. Matthias Weger has been instrumental in establishing and enhancing SER's enforcement practices, ensuring professionalism and efficiency across the organization. His responsibilities encompass SER’s enforcement practice and the monitoring of obligations related to ad hoc publicity and management transactions.

Prior to his role at SER, Matthias Weger gained invaluable experience at LALIVE Rechtsanwälte in Geneva and Zurich, specializing in international arbitration and litigation.

Furthermore, Matthias Weger serves as a lecturer at ZHAW Zurich University for Applied Sciences, teaching public company law and consistently sharing his experience with the next generation.

Matthias Weger is multilingual, proficient in German, Italian, English, and Spanish. He has been trained in various jurisdictions, holding Master's Degrees in Spanish and Italian law, as well as an LL.M. in International Dispute Settlement from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in collaboration with the University of Geneva.