Gunnar Geppert studied mechanical engineering at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and has worked for Swiss Krono since 1997. He has been a member of the management board since 2004. He specialises in chemical process engineering and thermal energy technology.
Under his leadership, Swiss Krono Zary has managed to dramatically reduce the thermal energy supply of the plant in Poland using fossil fuels.
Product Manager with many years of experience in product portfolio management and implementation of new solutions on EU markets. A graduate of the Poznań University of Technology and the Warsaw School of Economics.
Associated with Schindler since 2022, where is responsible for management and product development in the area of passenger lifts. Previously gained professional experience in the Amica Group.
Dr. Peter Richner studied chemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich and subsequently received his doctorate. After a postdoctoral period in the USA, he established a new research group at Empa in the field of ultratrace analysis, later headed the Corrosion and Surface Protection Laboratory and has been Head of the Engineering Sciences Department since 2002 and Deputy Director since 2012. He headed the Swiss Competence Center in Energy Research “Future Energy Efficient Buildings & Districts” and is the initiator of the NEST project. His research interests focus on energy-efficient construction and the promotion of technology transfer.
After studying architecture at ETH Zurich, Barbara Buser worked in Africa for over ten years: as a site engineer for a water supply project in Southern Sudan, and building up the Maintenance Department as well as renovating the buildings and infrastructure of the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
Back in Basel, together with Eric Honegger, she opened the architectural practice baubüro in situ, the urban think tank denkstatt, the project for intermediate uses unterdessen and the engineering planner for circularity Zirkular with over 100 collaborators al together today.
Her focus lies on sustainable construction, reduction of waste and CO2 emissions. She initiated and lead various important transformation projects such as Unternehmen Mitte, Gundeldinger Feld, Markthalle Basel, Hanro and Ziegelhof in Liestal, always starting from and valuating the existing structures, buildings and social context. She also co-founded several cooperatives in order to foster affordable housing in the cities.
At Lagerplatz in Winterthur she initiated the pilot project K.118 – a six storey building made up from 70% used construction elements, thus saving 60% of the CO2 as compared to a new construction. The experience is compiled in the book “Reuse in Construction – a compendium of circular architecture” edited by Park Books in 2022.
Buser received several awards for ecological building and sustainability, as well as the Swiss Grand Prix Meret Oppenheim for her life’s work and the Holcim Global Gold award for sustainability for the K.118.
Buser is presenting the urgency of reuse in various conferences all over the world and was asked to join ETH as a visiting lecturer. Her latest civic action is the foundation of the volunteer association RE-WIN for the export of used, yet intact windows from Switzerland to Ukraine, as an answer to the Russian invasion.
Michał Stępień – in UBS in Poland since 2008, before becoming General Manager of Poland Business Solutions Centers in 2013 and Country Head in 2017, he held positions of COO, IT Service Delivery Head, Legal and Compliance Head and Service Delivery Head. Michal has over 15 years of leadership experience. Prior to joining UBS, he worked in international companies such as Royal AHOLD and DELL. Michal is qualified Attorney in Law.
Fabrice Filliez is a career diplomat. Prior to his appointment as Ambassador to the Republic of Poland, he served as Ambassador to the Republic of Singapore and the Sultanate of Brunei from 2018 to 2022. Previously, he served in Berne for five years at the Swiss State Secretariat for International Financial Matters with the title of Ambassador in charge of multilateral tax matters where he was responsible for representing Switzerland’s interests in important multilateral tax negotiations, in particular at the Global Forum on Tax Transparency and Exchange of Information. Other positions during his career included appointments at the Swiss Embassy in London, at the Directorate for European Affairs in Berne, at the Swiss Mission to the European Union in Brussels, as well as at the Directorate for Public International Law in Berne, postings where he was actively involved in various Swiss-EU negotiations. Fabrice Filliez graduated from the University of Geneva with a Degree in Law and holds a Master’s Degree in European Law from the University of Brussels, Belgium.