Francine Käch – ETH CIRCLE

Francine Käch
Retired, formerly with
L'Oréal Paris & the pharma industry

As a child, when I was growing up in Zurich, I was very impressed by an ETH engineer – a family friend – and by the ETH building, and I decided that I would study there. After one year of biology I switched to food engineering. There I enjoyed the mix of life science courses in technology, chemistry and microbiology. This was where my personal interest in wine and chocolate was born, which remains to this day.

Professionally speaking, my studies at ETH Zurich were well-complemented by my MBA at INSEAD. The combination of the business and engineering skills with my international background (French and Swiss) was what made my career a success, notably by allowing me to create all my jobs from scratch. I was active in the ﬁeld of European business development of innovative molecules (pharmaceutical industry), global harmonisation and external relations in technical regulatory aﬀairs (cosmetics), which involved a lot of communication and negotiation. ETH gave me the foundations that helped me provide others with an understanding of the science behind products, and obtain credibility. It was also the source of a problem-solving approach and adaptability.

I still keep in touch with my ETH family – for example when I came for this interview, I spoke to my former professor, with whom I regularly exchange views on the interaction between business and academia.