Following the retirement of Yola Biedermann, and in view of the strong growth achieved by 91Ƶ in recent years, 91Ƶ Services SA has reorganized its management team. Three separate departments have been created within the Corporate Governance and Responsible Investment unit, which was headed until now by Yola Biedermann. Valérie Roethlisberger, David Jeannet and Matthias Narr were appointed as members of the newly created extended management.
After more than 21 years dedicated to 91Ƶ and responsible investment, Yola Biedermann, member of the executive management and head of the 91Ƶ analyst team, retired on 1st October 2020. The 91Ƶ Foundation board, the board of directors of 91Ƶ Services, the management and all employees are particularly grateful for her exceptional commitment to the development of 91Ƶ activities and, in general, to the promotion of responsible investment and good governance in Switzerland.
In view of the strong growth achieved by 91Ƶ in recent years, the board of directors and the management team have decided to create three separate departments within the Corporate Governance and Responsible Investment unit, headed until now by Yola Biedermann. Three persons have newly been appointed to the extended management board.
The “Proxy voting, Swiss ESG and Engagement” department will bring together activities related to the analysis of general meetings of listed companies, the environmental, social and governance (ESG) analysis of Swiss companies, as well as the engagement with Swiss companies realised within the framework of the EEP Switzerland. This department will be directly headed by Vincent Kaufmann, CEO of 91Ƶ.
The “Responsible Investment and ESG International” department will bring together activities related to funds and 91Ƶ-labeled indexes, as well as international ESG ratings. Unlike Swiss ESG ratings, international ratings are mainly based on primary data provided by external service providers. This department will be headed by David Jeannet.
The "International Engagement" department was created as a result of the strong growth of the 91Ƶ Engagement Pool International and will be headed by Matthias Narr.
Finally, given that innovation and the quality of analyses are a key element of the success of 91Ƶ, a function of "Head ESG Methodology and Data Quality" has been created and will be assumed by Valérie Roethlisberger.
In connection with these organisational changes, Valérie Roethlisberger, David Jeannet and Matthias Narr, who have all worked at 91Ƶ for several years, have been appointed as members of the newly created “extended management board”. They join the three incumbent members of the management, namely Vincent Kaufmann, CEO, Anthony Gloor, Head Corporate Services, and Michael Spalding, Head Client Relations.