ETH Zurich has always been central to me. As a child, I loved to disassemble radios, telephones, TVs and other technical products. But I never managed to put them together again. This fuelled my aspiration to someday become one of those people, who can build fascinating technical products. At that time ETH Professor Georg Epprecht, was our neighbour. My parents suggested I should talk to him to find out how to become an inventor or designer. I remember the visit as if it was yesterday. I was 11 or 12 years old. Professor Epprecht suggested that I should study Electrical Engineering at ETH. This became my non-negotiable plan and motivated me to manage school.

Throughout my career, ETH has always led me to many new opportunities. Years later, when I was in a position to recruit personnel, ETH became very relevant for human resources, as I knew that young graduates from ETH would have the outstanding, required talent and skills for success.

What appeals to me about the ETH Circle is the opportunity to help spread the word about what ETH does in terms of people. If we look at all the alumni of ETH, it is fascinating how many great managers, entrepreneurs, and leaders you find among them. People who make a great difference in our society, who help to keep Switzerland relevant on a global scale. Having an understanding of technology is a great advantage when leading a company. Economy or law still are relevant in leading positions; however, technology has become the key innovation driver in almost every industry.

When I was at Open Systems, we coined the phrase “engineers are the rock stars of today’s economy” (see here). It was a joint program with ETH to motivate more young talents to evaluate science and engineering as their career path. With the help of the ETH Circle, I believe that ETH can become even more people-centric, helping to spread the word of how technical excellence can drive people, careers, teams, organisations, and our society.