Speakers

Yvonne has a Bachelor’s in International Business Administration and a Master in Intercultural Communication. She is currently the president of Swiss Diversity and holds different Executive Member positions and chairs at national and international organizations.

Anna Stando is a DEI workshop facilitator, specializing in inclusive leadership, unconscious bias, allyship at work, gender equality and intersectionality.

Anna is also a Co-Leader of Lean In Network Switzerland, where she focuses on closing the gender gap.

She worked previously as Relations Manager for Advance – an association of 140+ companies – helping members to reach gender equality in their business. She also served as a Board Member at Capacity, a non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting refugees and migrants in Switzerland with finding an employment or starting their own business.

Her corporate career includes working for ECCO, where she first held the responsibility for sales of accessories in Europe (12 countries), and then Asia and the US (16 markets).

Born and raised in Poland, over the years she has lived in the Netherlands, Guatemala, Mexico, Denmark and Thailand, learning the practical way about inclusion, intercultural communication, unconscious bias, and more. She is now based in Switzerland, a melting pot of cultures and languages.

Find out more about Anna here.

Valentina is an intersectional, neurodivergent leader who has been on a mission to make companies more inclusive for the last 20 years. As an Italian/Chinese woman living and working in Switzerland since 2003 and working in typically male-dominated areas until recently, she has experienced almost all forms of bias and exclusion. Believing in taking action for the change I want, in my eclectic career, across companies, functions and countries, she has always tried to shape her teams and (and occasionally her leaders’) behaviours, creating cultures that are inclusive in an intersectional way. She’s also a mom, avid reader, musical theatre lover and marathon runner (in her free time).

David is a trained business IT specialist, has a degree in human capital management and made the switch from IT to HR over 16 years ago. At Swisscom, he is responsible for talent attraction with three teams in the areas of employer branding, recruitment marketing and recruiting/talent acquisition. As a member of the HR management team, he actively works on the further development of strategic HR priorities. His heart beats for new trends and developments in HR, HR Tech and football.

At 26, Kim leads a team of seven at MGB, which is responsible for transport management systems. Kim is an ambitious leader who started her career at Raiffeisen Switzerland in the commercial sector. The world behind the screens captivated her so much that she made the decision to expand her skills in the commercial area with IT knowledge. She began a Bachelor’s degree in Business Information Systems at the ZHAW School of Management and Law, which she successfully completed in summer 2020.

After graduating, she was able to gain valuable experience in the interface between technology and business as a service delivery manager for transport and logistics applications at MGB. This experience paved the way for her current role as Head of the Transport IT team at MGB.

Kim not only wants to develop her expertise in IT, but also strives to build her leadership skills. In summer 2022, she started an MAS programme in Business Psychology at the Fernfachhochschule Schweiz (FFHS).

Valeria’s passion lies in developing technology that has the potential to make a real-life impact and benefit people. Her vision revolves around creating smart clothing that seamlessly integrates into standard textile manufacturing techniques, making it accessible to individuals beyond the realms of tech or sports enthusiasts.

Beyond her work in the lab, Valeria finds great joy in playing the piano and indulging in classical music. She cherishes spending time in nature and has formed many close friendships through sports activities. Valeria’s love for travel fuels her excitement to encounter diverse individuals and learn new languages along the way. Her hunger for knowledge and experience drives her active contribution to the future of smart clothing in a vibrant field of research.

Jessie is Regional Director (Europe) at the Singapore Global Network, a division under the Singapore Economic Development Board. The Singapore Global Network is a diverse community of professionals, entrepreneurs, youths and thought leaders who share common interests and an affinity to Singapore. Her work at SGN involves connecting with local communities to inspire cross-border collaborations as well as building meaningful partnerships.

Martin, who holds a doctorate in business administration, has a broad range of expertise and many years of management experience at Zürcher Kantonalbank, which he gained, among other things, as team leader in application development from 2002 to 2011, then as team leader in facility management and, from 2012, as head of real estate. Since 2020, he has been back in IT as Head of Application Engineering. 

Michelle, MA HSG, is an energetic and passionate leader who drives the start-up ecosystem at Zürcher Kantonalbank and aims to further establish the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship within and outside ZKB. Her team “ZKB Start-up Finance” has been investing CHF 215 million of venture capital in 260 start-ups for 18 years as one of the largest and most active investors in Switzerland. In previous roles, Michelle was co-lead of the innovation lab at Zürcher Kantonalbank and has also implemented various strategy and digitalization projects.

Her experience focuses on meaningful growth, digital transformation, and venture investment. The growth spans over the field of business building through new distribution channel, product expansion, internationalisation, M&A, with people and P&L responsibilities. In addition, she drives enterprise-level transformation, with a focus on technology, digitalisation and distribution.

Some of the recent highlight includes setting up global business units, leading large scale digital agreement, build/ buy/ integrate / restructure / exit digital companies across entire lifecycle and portfolio with board positions.

She has extensive international experience in the US, Switzerland, Germany, Hong Kong and mainland China in the last 10 years; and speaks English, German, Mandarin and Cantonese.

Swan cares about social wellness and education. She participated in the Harvard China Education conference and is a board member of Harvard alumni for Women in Switzerland. She is a supporter of the iamtheCODE foundation to enable woman and girl coders and build STEAMD skills. She is also a certified yoga teacher where she conducts free, after-work yoga classes with her colleagues.

She is a Young Global Leader from the World Economic Forum. Her long term dream is to build a primary school in rural China.