Speakers at the 3rd St.Gallen Forum

Get to know the speakers at the 3rd St.Gallen Forum.


Valentin Ade - Finance Manager at Photon Energy Deutschland GmbH
	Valentin Ade is active in the capital structuring of international photovoltaic projects at Photon Energy Deutschland GmbH. The company belongs to the Photon Energy A.S. group, an international project developer, plant manager, investor and financial consultancy. Besides his practical responsibilities Valentin Ade has been using his interests and experiences concerning the perspectives and decision making processes of capital providers for a research collaboration. In 2011 this group consisting of partners from both, academia and business has published the study "The Myth of Bankability". In the workshop "Criteria for photovoltaic project finance" Valentin Ade will discuss from a management point of view first findings of a current empirical survey run by the collaboration.

James Barry - Chief Specialist, Project Finance, Vestas Switzerland AG
	James (‘Jim’) Barry joined Vestas the leading Danish based Wind Turbine manufacturer in 2010 to develop training to ensure a thorough understanding within Vestas of Project Financing structures and techniques. Prior to Vestas Jim worked for over 20 years in the Banking Sector with Barclays, Dresdner, HBOS and UniCredit where he ran various specialist teams focussed on both advisory and debt arranging and underwriting activities in the Project & Export Finance area. His financing experience goes across various sectors (Power, Infrastructure, Oil & Gas, Mining & Telecoms) and geographic regions, but in recent years he has focussed increasingly on the renewable energy sector including and spent time with Trinergy, a leading developer and operator of wind farms in Italy, as Head of Capital Management, on the development of a €1bn+ refinancing structure for a portfolio of Italian and German wind assets. He has an MA from Oxford University in Engineering and Economics and an LLB from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.

Dr. Claudia Bettiol - Founder, Be Network
	Claudia Bettiol is the founder of Be Network, transcultural experts who deal with Digital Energy System and Digital Car. The aim of the group is to find New Business Models for local communities and companies. Two of the achievements of the Be Network are Energitismo and European Common Goods. Energitismo (www.energitismo.org) is an industrial strategy platform where art meets energy technologies. European Common Goods (www.europeancommongoods.org) is a Manifesto on the importance of local management of common goods to maintain and promote the growth of new companies. She teaches Geopolicy of Renewable Energy at the University of Rome-Tor Vergata.

Fredy Brunner, dipl. Arch. ETH/SIA, City Council St.Gallen, Switzerland
	For 25 years Fredy Brunner had been leading a SME in office equipment and furniture. Since 1st January 2005, he member of the St.Gallen City Council and board member of Technische Betriebe of St.Gallen, that is regional utilities, waste management, public transportation, environment and energy). Fredy Brunner is amongst others responsible for the St.Gallen Energy Concept 2050, as well as for the projects "Geothermal energy in St.Gallen" and "Fibre to the Home FTTH". He represents the city in a variety of supervisory boards in the IT, energy and transportation sector.

Dr. Ladina Caduff - Head of CSR Management, Raiffeisen Schweiz
	Ladina Caduff has been Head of CSR Management at Raiffeisen Switzerland since March 2012. Before joining Raiffeisen she worked at Ernst & Young in the area of Climate Change and Sustainability Services. She supported companies with regard to positioning, internal implementation and performance measurement as well as reporting on sustainability. Ladina Caduff has a doctorate in Political Economy from the University of Zurich on the theme of sustainability and has held various positions in the academic world. She was senior research associate at ETH Zurich and has worked on the topic of sustainability at the London School of Economics and at MIT in Boston.

Sylviane Chassot - University of St.Gallen
	Sylviane Chassot is a PhD candidate at the Institue for Economy and the Environment at the University of St.Gallen. She takes care of two research projects on consumer behavior in the field of renewable energies. She studies the impact of political frameworks on consumption and investment behavior using different methods of empirical social science. Sylviane Chassot studied Economics at HEC Lausanne.

Markus Doetsch - Project Manager, Swisscom
	After completing his masters degree in Electrical Engineering Markus Doetsch became scientific member staff at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern where he developed parts of the UMTS standard in the scope of a European Research and development project. After that Markus Doetsch worked for Infineon Technologies Ltd. and Siemens Switzerland with various responsibilities around UMTS. In 2000 he joined Swisscom Ltd. holding serveral senior and executive management positions in product marketing, product development, IT and business development. Since 2010 Markus Doetsch is responsible for Swisscom's Smart Living program, including interactive home, ambient assisted living and smart grid/smart energy.

Nicole Fahr - Project Manager, Reflection Marketing
	Nicole Fahr is a Project Manager at Reflection Marketing in the field of mystery marketing. She graduated in marketing at the University of St.Gallen. In her master thesis in collaboration with the electric utility company of St.Gallen, she conducted Eye-Tracking experiments with electricity customers in order to analyze what customers focus on when choosing an electricity tariff. With this project Nicole Fahr accompanied the redesign of electricity products offered by the electric utility company of St.Gallen.

Dr. Dörte Fouquet - Partner, BBH
	Dr. Fouquet studied law at the University Marburg and Hamburg. After working as a civil servant for the ministry for the environment and energy in Hamburg she became partner in the law firm Kuhbier in Brussels. Since 2011 she is Partner in the law firm BBH and head of the Brussels office focusing on international and European energy, environmental and competition law.

Dr. Thomas Funke – Head of the Research Studio e-Spark at WU Vienna
	Dr. Thomas Funke is founder and head of the Research Studio e-Spark at WU Vienna, which aims at supporting the very early-stages of entrepreneurship and innovation. Therefore, RS e-Spark develops methods that serve the purpose of raising awareness for entrepreneurship and transferring knowledge from universities to markets. For his academic career he was based in the U.S., Hong Kong and Vienna.

Bruno Giussani - European director of TED and curator of the TEDGlobal conference
	Bruno Giussani is the European director of TED and curator of the TEDGlobal conference. TED (www.ted.com) is a nonprofit focusing on disseminating "Ideas worth spreading" via events, the web, and a series of specific initiatives (education, books, awards, fellowship etc). As a member of the senior team, Bruno participates in the development of the organization' stragegy and its management. He is also a member of the Boards of the Knight Fellowships at Stanford University and of the Swiss software firm Tinext, which he co-founded. (Twitter: @tednews)

Peter Graf - Member of the Management Board, Sankt Galler Stadtwerke
	Peter Graf is Head of the Energy and Marketing Department at Sankt Galler Stadtwerke. He is responsible for the purchase and sales of natural gas and electricity as well as company and marketing communication. He is also in charge of customer service including meter reading, accounts receivables and the call center. Further responsibilities include the supervision of the accounting and customer information systems. Peter Graf is a business economist HF and completed his Masters in Sales and Marketing Management. He began his tenure at Sankt Galler Stadtwerke in 1993 and since 2002 he has been a member of the board of executives.

Pierre-Alan H. Graf - CEO, Swissgrid
	Pierre-Alain H. Graf is 49 years old. He has a degree in Law from the University of Basel and a second degree in Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen. He completed a financial training course at the International Banking School in New York. Between 1992 and 1997 he held various management positions in IT at Credit Suisse. He then set up several national subsidiaries for Colt Telecom and worked abroad for a number of years. In 2006 he moved to Cisco Systems Switzerland, where he was General Manager until 2008. At the end of 2008 he took up his current position as CEO of swissgrid and since February 2009 he has been responsible for taking the national grid company into the next phase of electricity market liberalization.

Robert Horbaty - Owner ENCO Energie-Consulting AG
	Robert Horbaty has been energy consultant for more than 18 years. With more than 30 years of experience in wind energy he is one of the most renowned experts in Switzerland. He is head of the energy research programme “Wind” of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy and operating agent of the IEA-Project “Social Acceptance of Wind Energy”

Hans-Jürgen Hübner - Member of the Board of Directors, Schoeller Textil Group, Sevelen (SG)
	Hans-Jürgen Hübner (67), a textile engineer, has been with the Swiss company since 1964. For 17 years, he supervised the technical area before taking on the position of Head of Marketing and Distribution in 1982. Between 1994 and end of March 2012, Mr. Hübner served as CEO of Schoeller Textil AG. Additionally, he is a member of the board of directors of Schoeller Technologies AG and a member of the board of directors of Schoeller FTC (HK) Ltd. In April 2012, Hans-Jürgen Hübner begins as CEO of Schoeller Medical AG and will continue his involvement with the research and development of Schoeller Textil AG.

Marco Huwiler - Member of the Management Board, St.Galler Stadtwerke
	Marco Huwiler is project leader for the construction of the geothermal power station and head of the innovation department of the municipal utility company of St.Gallen (Sankt Galler Stadtwerke). After a technical apprenticeship he worked in the branch of building services engineering and extra-occupational, he graduated his studies in energy-engineering at the technical college. Before his engagement in St.Gallen, he was head of the department of service at Hälg & Co. and member of management board.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen Kreusel - Head of Smart Grids
	Jochen Kreusel, born on November 19, 1963, is head of the Smart Grids programme of the ABB group, Zurich. He studied electrical engineering at Aachen University of Technology (Germany). Afterwards he worked as a scientific researcher at the department for power systems and power economics at this university and finished his doctor thesis in 1990. In 1994 he joined ABB where he hold different positions. Amongst others he was member of the management board of marketing and sales for the power technologies divisions of the ABB group in Germany and within this function responsible for marketing and technology. Effective January 1, 2011, he started in his current position. Jochen Kreusel is honorary professor at Aachen University of Technology. Since January 1, 2008 he has been chairman of the Power Engineering Society (ETG) within the German Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies (VDE).

Inga Kröger - Team Leader "Marketing Management 100% Renewable Energies", juwi Holding AG
	Inga Kröger has been team leader for the team "Marketing Management 100% Renewable Energies" at the juwi Holding AG since 2010. Among others she is responsible for the development of concepts to increase social acceptance of renewable energies. Before joining juwi she worked as a consultant at IFOK GmbH and Booz & Company.

Crispin Leick - Managing Director, Innogy Venture Capital GmbH
	Crispin is leading Innogy Venture Capital GmbH (IVC) since ist foundation in September 2010. Crispin has established the Corporate Venture Capital activities of RWE Innogy in February 2008. He has over 14 years of managing experience in the energy business with a focus on portfolio management, structured transactions and business development in power, gas and renewables markets. Crispin holds a Master degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Karlsruhe and an MBA from the GSB Chicago.

Urs Leuthard - Managing Editor Tagesschau, Schweizer Fernsehen
	Urs Leuthard is managing editor of the “Tagesschau” on Swiss television. Since 2002 he also chairs the voting and election broadcasts on Swiss television. From 2008 to early 2012 Leuthard moderated the political and economic magazine "Rundschau". From 2002 to 2008 he was managing editor and moderator of the political discussion "Arena".Previously, Urs Leuthard worked at Cash-TV, TeleZüri and Tele24 (deputy editor in chief). Urs Leuthard studied psychology, journalism and social and preventive medicine. After his first work as trainer in healthcare and editor in the communication of a major bank he went into journalism in 1997.

Andreas Markowsky - Managing Director, Ökostromgruppe Freiburg
	Andreas Markowsky (born 1952), holds a Master in Fiscal Affairs and has worked in the credit services sector for more than 25 years. He is CEO of Ökostromgruppe Freiburg.

Dieter Maurer - Head of Energy Automation, Smart Grid, SIEMENS SWITZERLAND Ltd.,
	Dieter Maurer is Head of Energy Automation, Smart Grid at Siemens Switzerland Ltd. He studied electrical engineer at the university of applied science (FH) Brugg-Windisch and has a Diploma as industrial engineer STV, Marketing/Sales from the KS St.Gallen. He brings along over 20 years of experience in the field of Communication and Network Control Technology and has been working for various companies, such as Rediffusion AG, Landis + Gyr (Switzerland), Telegyr Systems AG in different positions before he joint Siemens Switzerland Ltd. in 2001.

Joachim Masur - CEO, Zurich Switzerland
	Joachim Masur (born 1965) has been Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Zurich Switzerland, one of the largest insurance companies in Switzerland, since the beginning of 2012. The company is responsible for dealing with the commercial and personal lines of the Zurich Financial Services Group in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein. Joachim Masur joined the Zurich Financial Services Group at the end of 2005. After working as Group Controller, he was made Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the Global Life segment in 2010. Before his appointment at Zurich, Joachim Masur was a partner at KPMG in Germany.

Sebastian Olbert, Senior Manager, goetzpartners, Germany
	Sebastian Olbert is a Partner with goetzpartners in Munich Office at goetzpartners, a leading independent European advisory firm creating sustainable value for its clients through its unique integrated offering combining corporate finance and management consulting services. As a member of goetzpartners’ Industry Line "Energy", he is responsible for Renewable Energy and Mining. Sebastian has in-depth industrial expertise in the fields of renewable energies (especially solar and wind), fossil energy power generation and sales, as well as oil and gas. In the solar industry (PV and CSP) he has consulted national and international energy and industrial companies with focus on strategy and business models, organization, post-merger integration and business transformation. At the 3rd St. Gallen Forum for Management of Renewable Energies he will contribute to the workshop: "Criteria for photovoltaic project finance".

Dr. Dr. Tobias Paulun - Director Strategy and Market Development, eex
	Dr. Dr. Paulun works since 2009 at the EEX and is responsible for the department Strategy and Market Development. Before, he was Head of Research Group Asset Management and Regulation at the Institute for Power Systems and Power Economics at the RWTH Aachen. He received his PhD in economics and electrical engineering at the RWTH Aachen.

Udo Roos – Vice President Financial Service Industries EMEA, SAP
	Udo Roos is leading the Financial Services Industry Team for the Region EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa). Prior to SAP he worked as Senior Consultant at Steria Mummert Consulting and as Product Manager for Gothaer Insurance. He coordinated an international CRM Benchmarking Study in cooperation with University of St. Gallen for the sectors Utilities, Telecommunication, Banking and Insurances. Udo Roos completed the Executive Education ”Renewable Energy Management – REM-HSG“ at University of St.Gallen. He specialised on Low Carbon Strategies for Metropolitan Regions with focus on economic and financing aspects. He studied Business Administration at University of Bayreuth (Dipl-Kfm.) and ESC Bordeaux (DESCAF) and prior to this he completed an apprenticeship as Banker at Commerzbank (Bankkaufmann).

Dr. Wolf-Christian Rumsch - Corporate Development Manager, BKW FMB Energie AG
	After completing his studies of physics at the Humboldt University of Berlin and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2002 to 2006 W. Rumsch was Technology Scout for the German automotive industry at Inpro mbH, Berlin. From 2006 to 2009 Dr. Rumsch was a scientific assistant at the Institute of Technology management at the University of St.Gallen, Switzerland. Since October 2009 Dr. Rumsch is working as a corporate development manager at the Swiss generation company BKW FMB Energy AG and is heading the smart grid project.

Dr. Dorothea Schaffner - Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts
	Dr Dorothea Schaffner is lecturer and researcher at the Department of Communication and Marketing at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts – Business. In her research she focuses on communication effectiveness and consumer behaviour. In applied research projects she studies for example the influence of communication and psychological factors on the intention to buy power from renewable resources, with media-effectiveness for communicating innovations or the effectiveness of cross-media campaigns. Dorothea Schaffner studied social psychology, business and history at the University of Zurich. Her dissertation at the University of St. Gallen deals with information processing and decision making.

Urs Schaeppi - Member of the Management Board, Swisscom AG
	Urs Schaeppi (born 1960) has been responsible for business customers since 2006: initially as CEO of Swisscom Solutions Ltd, and, since its transformation into Swisscom (Switzerland) Ltd on 1 January 2008, as head of the Corporate Business Division. Urs Schaeppi is a member of the group executive board at Swisscom Ltd. He is also on the board of directors of the BV Group in Berne, a venture capital company operating in telecommunications and medical technology. Urs Schaeppi graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering (internal combustion engines, lightweight construction) from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH). He also completed a part-time second degree at the University of St. Gallen (lic. oec. HSG) in business administration and marketing.

Thomas Scheitlin - Mayor of the city of St.Gallen
	Studies and Master Degree of the University of St. Gallen. Afterwards different management functions in the private industry, e.g. Novartis or UBS. Since 2007 Mayor of St. Gallen and responsible for the Finance Department.

Markus Schwendimann - Member of the Management Board, Sankt Galler Stadtwerke
	Markus Schwendimann, born in 1955, dipl. El. ETH, executive MBA / NDU HSG, is working for Sankt Galler Stadtwerke since 1999. He is currently a member of the Executive Committee and head of department grid and electricity. In this function he is responsible for the planning, construction and the operation of the electricity supply of the city of St. Gallen. Since 2008 he is a member of the Executive Board of the umbrella organization of Swiss Verteilnetzbetreiber (DSV) and a member of the regulatory commission of the VSE (RegKom).

Christoph Solenthaler - CEO, Solenthaler Recycling
	As a construction and industrial engineer Christoph Solenthaler is responsible for the technical and strategic planning in the Solenthaler Recycling AG. Mr. Solenthaler enjoyed a military education in Switzerland. He used to be a member of the cantonal parliament and a communal councillor of the FDP. In addition, he’s committed in the managing board of the WISG and also the president of the HEV of the city of St.Gallen. He is married and father of two children.

Jerry Stokes - President Suntech Europe
	Jerry Stokes heads Suntech in Europe. Previously, he served as Suntech’s Vice President of Strategy and Business Development. Prior to joining Suntech in 2006, he served as the Vice President of International Sales and Marketing for MSK Corporation, one of Japan's largest PV manufacturers. Jerry Stokes has been actively involved in the solar PV, fuel cell, energy conversion, distribution and storage industries in Europe for over 20 years. He holds an honors degree in Metallurgy from Brunel University, England.

Dr. Suzanne Thoma - Member of the Executive Committee, BKW
	Dr. Suzanne Thoma, Member of the Executive Committee, is responsible for the network and network services business of BKW. As the largest dis-tribution network operator in Switzerland, BKW supplies more than one mil-lion customers with electricity. With the service business, BKW plans, builds and maintains infrastructure for all voltage levels throughout Switzerland. Suzanne Thoma graduated from the ETH Zurich and previously served in different management functions of industrial companies in Switzerland and abroad.

Otto von Troschke - Chief Investment Officer and Co-Founder, SUSI Partners AG
	Otto von Troschke is the Chief Investment Officer and Co-Founder of SUSI Partners AG, a sustainable investment adviser based in Zürich. Prior to SUSI, Otto worked in the acquisitions division of Fortress Investment Group, a global private equity firm, where he focused on a variety of financing activities in the German real estate sector. Otto completed professional experiences within the investment banking division of Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank. In recent years he has focused on sustainable energy infrastructure, sitting on the investment committees of two renewable energy funds and an energy efficiency fund. Otto studied in Hong Kong, London and received a Master in Science from EBS.

Dr. Eckehard Tröster – Senior Research Engineer, Energynautics GmbH
	Eckehard Tröster holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany. Since 2007 he works for Energynautics, a power system consultancy based in Germany. He has specialized on integration issues of renewable energies within power systems. Since 2011 he has been assigned as lecturer of the course „Renewable Energies“ at the Darmstadt University of Technology.

Heiner Tschopp - Business Development Executive Smarter Energy, IBM Switzerland Ltd.
	Heiner Tschopp is Business Development Executive for Smarter Energy in IBM Switzerland. In this capacity he supports clients in innovative projects and builds cooperations with clients, partners and academia. He maintains a strong relation to other country organisations and research of the IBM corporation in order to benefit from assets and know-how developed in other projects around the world. During his 35 years in the Information Technology field, he held several management positions in Sales and Services.

Elisabeth Weyermann - Joint Owner, Text & Auftritt GmbH
	Elisabeth Weyermann spurned a legal career in favour of journalism, and covered current affairs for television and radio for over 20 years with a brief foray into entertainment as a producer. She later became head of media relations for a large international enterprise. Journalism and corporate communication lead her to working for a consulting firm in Switzerland, Text & Auftritt GmbH in Ins. In 2001, Ms Weyermann became joint owner. The work of the firm places Ms Weyermann in several roles including that of ghost-writer; contract-journalist; public relations adviser for politicians, CEOs and senior civil servants.

Philipp Wunnerlich - Business Development Manager, ewz
	Philipp Wunnerlich is Business Development Manager at ewz, the Zurich municipal electric utility, in the department of Renewable Energy Asset Management. He is in charge of strategic market development and the evaluation of new investment opportunities in projects for electricity production from renewable energy sources (wind, solar, biomass). Prior to joining ewz in March 2011, Philipp Wunnerlich was working in an consulting and private equity company and as Business Development Manager at a leading Market Expansion Services provider, where he was responsible for the expansion of the activities in environmental technologies. Philipp Wunnerlich possesses a Master of Science ETH in environmental engineering and post graduate studies in Business Administration.

Prof. Dr. Rolf Wüstenhagen - Good Energies Chair for Management of Renewable Energies, University of St.Gallen, Switzerland
	Prof. Rolf Wüstenhagen heads the Good Energies Chair for Management of Renewable Energies and he is director of the Institute für Economy and the Environment. Before moving into academia, he was a financial analyst at SAM - Sustainable Asset Management. Prof. Wüstenhagen is Academic Director of the Executive Education Programme Renewable Energy Management (REM-HSG). He is host of the 3. St.Gallen Forum for Management of Renewable Energies.

Niklaus Zepf - Head of Corporate Development, Axpo Holding AG
	Niklaus Zepf is a mechanical engineer of the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) with special education in Industrial Management Technology. He spent 13 years at Ciba-Geigy, Ciba Specialty Chemicals and Vantico in the area of polymers in senior positions at home and abroad. Since 2001 he has been responsible at Axpo Group for Corporate Development including the aspects of strategy, strategic controlling, technology management and sustainability. He managed the project Stromperspektiven at Axpo, which gave in 2005 the impetus for the current debate on the electricity supply in Switzerland. He currently heads the steering committee of the Prevision 2012 of VSE (Swiss Association of Electricity Companies). The study will be published in November 2012. Niklaus Zepf is a member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW) in the area of energy.