Senior Experts team

Marcel Altherr

Expert Partner

INDUSTRY FOCUS

IT and Telecom
Trade
Industry
Health care
Public administration and financial services

CORE COMPETENCIES

Marcel Altherr is an expert in change management projects in the IT sector, for digital strategies, complex and innovative software projects and for management of large IT project portfolios. His work is coined by the image of bridge-building between technology and general management helping to achieve strategic company objectives in a direct and sustainable way. Marcel Altherr supports companies from developing innovative ideas up to their realization, he assumes leadership for turnarounds of IT projects and follows companies in their implementation of agile methods , structures and modern innovation processes. He supports companies by heading strategic IT projects, acts as interim manager in IT organizations or as a coach and group leader of workshops. He speaks German and English.

EXPERIENCE

25 years experience as a technology manager plus years of experience in multinational companies, as CIO, Head Innovation manager and Co-founder of several start-ups as well as lecturer of various universities.

DEGREES

Dipl. math., MTE IMD Lausanne.

Robert Augat

Expert Partner

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Construction
Process Automation
Design Office Equipment
Engineering & Planning Construction
Accounting & Consulting
Chemical Manufacturing
Automotive

CORE COMPETENCIES

Robert has an extensive track record in leading restructuring & Change Management projects. He is highly experienced in Optimized Resource Alignment & Process Improvement well as in Strategic and Operational Leadership. Robert supports companies in their Strategy Development, Implementation and Transformation challenges and has led many projects in High-Performance Teams Development.

EXPERIENCE

Robert has over three decades of professional experience spanning diverse and impactful roles. He has worked for 4 years as CEO and has occupied Board functions. Robert spent 19 years as a CFO and Head of Accounting & Controlling. He has extensive experience in production, logistics, and SCM. He started his career as a Technician for 4 years.

DEGREES

Bachelor’s Degree Finance, Accounting & HR
Master’s Degree Accounting, Controlling & Economics
Swiss Board School

Christoph Biedermann

Expert Partner

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Industrial applications for machine and plant construction
Automotive supplier
Medical technology
Chemical science and renewable energies

CORE COMPETENCIES

Christoph Biedermann specialises in sustainable value enhancement projects for small and medium-sized businesses and groups for which he develops innovative strategies and pragmatic solution approaches as the basis for operational excellence. In this, he focusses on the entire value added chain. Delivery and results are important to him. He is an expert in change management and internationalisation and also a specialist in succession management. Furthermore, he is willing to roll up his shirt sleeves and apply his many years of experience in industry and leadership in the service of a short-term commitment. He speaks German and English.

EXPERIENCE

More than 20 years of executive activity in the industrial and chemical sectors, both in international groups and medium-sized enterprises, in market-listed or owner-managed companies, as a group management member or as CEO, four years as a corporate consultant with McKinsey & Company, various administration mandates.

DEGREES

Dipl. El.-Ing. from ETH Zürich (Swiss Institute of Technology, Zurich), MBA from Insead, Fontainebleau, France (Graduate Business School)

Carsten Bremer

Expert Partner

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Machine Construction and Plant Engineering
Building Materials
Building Glass Manufacturing
Automotive
Watch Industry

CORE COMPETENCIES

Carsten Bremer is a pragmatic general manager with an international track record of building, leading and transforming industrial business units and an entrepreneurial engineer with proven successes of increasing industrial performance. He speaks German, English as well as French and is an innovative leader who initiates and leads changes in an international environment.

EXPERIENCE

Extensive industrial and international experience as CEO, COO and CTO in the building materials branch as well as in the mechanical engineering and automotive supply industry. Senior expert for reorganization and restructuring, project and portfolio management as well as ESG and sustainability.

DEGREES

Dipl.-Ing. Mechanical Engineering (Aachen); Executive MBA (St. Gallen); CAS Turnaround Management (Lucerne)

Sebastian Büchte

Expert

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Basic Materials & Chemicals
Machinery & Electronics
Consumer Products

CORE COMPETENCIES

Sebastian has an extensive track record of 15+ years professional experience in top strategy consulting and operations line management. He is highly experienced in managing digital transformation programs and defining corporate strategies. An additional field of expertise is data analytics as well as definition and implementation of AI models. In his position as COO for ERG Africa, Sebastian was responsible for mining & processing operations including responsibility for multiple turnaround and transformation programs. EXPERIENCE

COO of ERG Africa, a global diversified natural resource company. 6+ years experience at top strategy consulting firm BCG. Co-founder of various start-up companies in the consumer business and venture capital funds.

DEGREES

Ph.D. Mining Engineering (Clausthal University of Technology), M.Sc. Mining Engineering (Clausthal University of Technology), Study Abroad in Mining Engineering (Liaoning Technical University)

Patrick Chlapowski

Expert Partner

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Automotive
Industrial products

CORE COMPETENCIES

Patrick has a strong expertise in Operational turnarounds and task forces, global transformation programs and new product launch and industrialization. He lead many projects in operational excellence and lean manufacturing and helped companies in their productivity improvement and cost reduction challenges. His expertise covers also supply strategy and footprint design and supply chain planning and Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP).

EXPERIENCE

Patrick has over 15 years of experience in industry and strategy consulting. Before joining CYLAD, he worked for more than seven years for Strategy&, advising global industrial and automotive clients in Europe, USA, Mexico, and South Africa. Before that, he held multiple line roles in operations and supply at DuPont. He speaks French, English as well as German.

DEGREES

INSEAD, MBA; EPFL, Bachelor and Master in Microengineering

Daniel Frutig

Expert Partner

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Industrial: Manufacturing, Building supply
Life Science: Medtech / Healthcare
Support Services,
Proptech

CORE COMPETENCIES

Daniel Frutig is an expert for international business development, transformations, cost reductions, carve-outs and spin-offs. Leadership, corporate governance and people development are his core competencies striving to increase corporate value, creating and securing industrial jobs. He speaks German, English and French.

EXPERIENCE

Daniel Frutig is successful Swiss manager and entrepreneur. Longstanding international line experiences as CEO and Member of the Board of Directors. He is experienced in developing and implementing growth strategies, innovations, digital business models, product development, production/supply chain management, sales as well as customer services. 15 years of consulting and corporate services (Sulzer, Accenture), 15 years of industry experience as CEO/MD (Swisscom, Compass Group, Arbonia, Medela). Several board memberships.

DEGREES

Dipl. Ing, Executive MBA HSG, Insead IDP-C

Dr. Hans Geiser

Expert Partner

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Private Equity
Public
ICT
Retail
Real Estate

CORE COMPETENCIES Hans Geiser has a broad experience in business consulting and as an entrepreneur. He is especially interested in Business Development (incl. financial valuation), managing complex interdisciplinary projects and negotiations. He speaks German and English. EXPERIENCE International infrastructure-development project EU-Schweiz >CHF 1 bn, ICT-Top Tier reorganisation, strategy development leading retail-chain, business development real estate DEGREES PhD in economics, University of St. Gallen (HSG), Switzerland

Axel Gerock

Expert Partner

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Automotive and Automotive Supply (OEM, Tier 1 & 2)
Mechanical Engineering including suppliers
Measuring Equipment and Device Construction

CORE COMPETENCIES

Axel Gerock is an expert in restructuring (Strategic New Orientation, Turn-around, Business Fix etc.) as well as in change management in the areas of quality (reorganization, new alignment), nationally and internationally, as well as in conception and implementation. As an educated generalist he takes on Interim Management responsibilities in companies (business management and general management). He is fluent in German, English, French and Italian and has conversational skills in Spanish and Dutch.

EXPERIENCE

Technical Sales Management/General Management in the automotive supply industry Supplier TCG Herrmann GmbH (Germany) and TCG group (8 plants in 5 countries). More than 6 years in Consulting (Steinbeis Transfer-center turn-around/financing and Axel Gerock Consulting). Worked many years within the SME/family business sector, Private Equity companies and accompanied many start-up operations. Did Pro bono work at the IHA (economic minded youth) and in general sport.

DEGREES

Banking Clerk, Diploma in Business Administration VWA, Studies in Production Technology (Pre-diploma) at the Aalen University, Process Audit VDA 6.3, Quality Field Engineer VDA 19.1 Inspector for Technical Cleanliness.

Christoph Hendrickx

Expert Partner

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Private Equity
Multinational manufacturing SME and listed groups

CORE COMPETENCIES

Christoph Hendrickx is a CFO allrounder with a strong expertise in M&A, post merger integration and turnarounds. He has a solid track record in managing portfolio companies directly via board.

EXPERIENCE

For more than 16 years he has been active on finance, accounting & controlling projects within big corporations worldwide, in particular in South East Asia (BASF, Treuhandanstalt, Ascom, Oerlikon-Bührle). Christoph has 17 years of experience leading strategy, M&A , restructuring, portfolio company management projects within various PE vehicles.

He is a member of a start-up team of a PE company with now eight portfolio companies. Since 2019, he has been working on consulting projects: strategy, m&a, business expansion, Co-Director of a boarding school

DEGREES

Lic. oec. HSG (1984), finance and accounting, Dr. oec. HSG (1989), Public Management, Additional studies in law at HSG

Nicole Knuchel

Expert Partner

INDUSTRY FOCUS

ICT
Hospitality
Retail
Real estate
Consumer goods
Education

CORE COMPETENCIES

Nicole Knuchel has a broad experience in the management and implementation of strategy, process design and service design projects. In addition, as an expert in human centered design in the field of organisational development and transformation, she has successfully supported numerous projects for well-known Swiss companies. Her management experience in both line functions and project-based environments makes her a strong implementer who always focusses on results. She speaks German, English, French and Italian

EXPERIENCE

Nicole has 10 years of management experience in process and service design, 5 years of project management experience in top management, organisational development and transformation as well as experience in building start-ups.

DEGREES

Executive MBA University of St. Gallen Switzerland, Business Economist FH, Professional Scrum Master

Urs Lampe

Expert Partner

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Industry & Services
Machinery, Automation and Engineering
Building materials
Security & Prop Tech, High-Tech, SaaS, IoT

CORE COMPETENCIES

Urs Lampe has a solid expertise in strategy development and transformation, in management of product & service offering and innovation as well as in business & ecosystem expansion and performance optimization. He further specializes in M&A and Venture Capital end-to-end from portfolio management, M&A strategy, pipeline, transactions to poster-merger integration. Urs speaks German, English as well as French, Spanish and Italian.

EXPERIENCE

Urs has worked 25 years in listed multinationals and SME companies, such as dormakaba, ABB and Airbus. He carried corporate and line management functions, amongst VP Corporate Development (10 years), BU-Lead/Chief Commercial Officer, VP Sales & Marketing, Product management, Service, Business development and R&D. He has a strong experience in leading projects with senior-executives and cross-functional teams in international context. He carries out board assignments in industry and technology firms.

DEGREES

MSc. Electrical Engineering ETH Zürich, MBA INSEAD, International Board Director INSEAD

Dominik Marti

Expert Partner

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Transportation
Construction
Industry and Services

CORE COMPETENCIES

Dominik Marti has an extensive and broad experience in the elaboration of strategies as well as the design of organisations and processes. He has led several projects with the top management of big Swiss companies, especially in business restructuring, creation of new business units or process improvement. Apart from his experiences in consultancy he has management experiences as CEO. He speaks German, English and French.

EXPERIENCE

Management experiences as CEO of two companies in construction industry and transportation. More than 5 years of management consulting experience in Swiss and French companies in telecommunication, production industry, banking and aviation.

DEGREES

M. Sc. ETH Zürich / Lausanne, specialty in production and business administration.

Markus Meili

Expert Partner

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Retail
Consumer goods
Industry, int’l market research
Health care
Interior design/furniture and Internet Start up

CORE COMPETENCIES

Markus Meili is expert for strategic marketing and sales as well as innovation management with the focus on profitable growth. In his career he successfully managed very difficult turn around situations. He is a solution oriented coach and motivator with very strong skills in negotiations. With his empathy and his social competences he is a very competent mediator resolving complex conflicts. He supports shareholders & management in mastering change and orchestrates succession planning in family enterprises. As an interim manager he takes over the responsibility for turn around and /or strategical new orientation of companies.

EXPERIENCE

More than 25 years of experience in the leadership of complex service and industrial companies. Successful turn arounds as well as development of new, internet based businesses.

DEGREES

OPM Harvard Business School, Betriebsökonom FH specialization in Marketing.

Fridolin Michel

Expert Partner

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Life Sciences

CORE COMPETENCIES

Fridolin Michel has expertise in optimizing financial reporting, incorporation of business processes in accounting and introduction of internal control systems. He has hands-on experience in the integration of acquired organizations and in the implementation of expansion strategies, both by organic internal growth and external acquisition. He speaks German, English and French.

EXPERIENCE

5 years of financial auditing in Switzerland and the USA. Financial Controller in various European countries for a multinational Medical Diagnostics Company. 15 years of experience as CFO/Financial Director in Swiss companies and in US Organizations with European headquarters in Switzerland. Honorary engagement in sport and local politics.

DEGREES

Diploma in Business Management (lic.rer.pol), University of Fribourg; Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Karin Peter

Expert Partner

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Banking and Services
Consumer- and Luxury Goods
Retail Trade and Shopping Centers

CORE COMPETENCIES

Karin Peter is an expert in elaboration and implementation of internationalization and business development strategies. She accompanies projects with operational leadership skills and cross-cultural competence to success by putting strategies alive. She disposes of an extensive and detailed know-how of all relevant communication and sales channels in the focus field of Retail and E-Commerce. You can rely on her strength of an all-embracing view and synergetic combination of all touching points in the management of client relationships CRM. She speaks German, English, French, Italian, Spanish and Russian.

EXPERIENCE

10 years in Line: Associate Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. of NY (CH and USA) as well as Director Business Unit Jakob Schlaepfer & Co. AG (CH), Sales National Jockey International (CH) and International Cerruti 1881 (D) and Fink Modelle GmbH (D). 20 years as Entrepreneur: Development Export Markets and Retail Real Estate in Europe with Representative Office (RUS) as well as Interim Management Sales Marketing SMEs (CH).

DEGREES

lic.oec.HSG (CH) – International Management Program, Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. of NY (USA) - Swiss Board School Lausanne (CH)

Frank Rattey

Expert

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Automotive
Aerospace & Defence
Climate Tech
Construction

CORE COMPETENCIES

Frank has an extensive track record of 25+ years professional experience in top strategy consulting and operational line management. His core competencies are definition of corporate strategies, supply chain management and operational improvement programs. During his professional career at Airbus Group, he held various VP positions in Business Operations, Customer Support, Quality, Supply Chain Management and Sales. EXPERIENCE

Track record of 10 years in various management positions at Airbus Group including VP Quality Cabin Program, Key Account Management & Business Operations, and Business Efficiency. 10 years experience at top strategy consulting firm Kearney. Co-founder and MD of a start-up company in sustainability and climate protection.

DEGREES

Ph.D. Industrial Engineering (TU Braunschweig), Dipl. Wirtsch.-Ing Industrial Engineering (TU Braunschweig), Study Abroad in Production Technologies (Chalmers University of Technology)

Peter Riva

Expert Partner

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Media, publishing, printing industry
Service providers
Pharmaceutical packaging company
Asset Management
Agriculture, product processing and sales
Management Consulting

CORE COMPETENCIES

Peter Riva is an expert in creating enterprise-wide transparency and in developing process, operations and financial control systems. He has strategically realigned and successfully transformed several mid-sized companies and executed various turnarounds. His main areas of expertise are: Financial management, change management, strategy and organizational development. EXPERIENCE

Executive management experience as CFO, COO and CEO. Over fifteen years of experience as CFO in international companies mostly with HR responsibility. He regularly demonstrated his financial management skills in M&A projects. He started his professional career at a large management consulting firm. This experience helps him in his board of directors mandates.

DEGREES

Lic.oec. HSG

Marco Sieber

Expert Partner

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Financial Services,
Aviation,
Real Estate

CORE COMPETENCIES Marco Sieber is an expert in leading and modernizing ICT organizations in regulated and safety-critical industries, and in initiating and implementing business, IT, digital and agile transformations. As an interim manager or project manager, he immediately assumes operational responsibility. As a CIO advisor, he is available as a sparring partner to the CIO, the executive board or the board of directors. He is fluent in German, English and French. EXPERIENCE Experienced CIO with over 25 years of leadership experience as division and program manager. He brings profound IT knowledge and extensive project experience and has repeatedly been able to provide directional impetus for improvements in IT architecture and information security, identified methodological and technological innovations (Agile, DevOps, cloud computing, sourcing models, etc.) and successfully implemented them. DEGREES

MSc Information Science ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)
MBA INSEAD, Fontainebleau France

Ulrich Sieker

Expert Partner

INDUSTRY FOCUS

IT and telecom market
Public administration (federal and cantonal)
Transport and transportation

CORE COMPETENCIES

Ulrich Sieker is an expert in the development and optimization of organizations and their processes, as well as in supporting transformation processes. He is well versed in strategic issues and has profound knowledge in human centered design, digital transformation, use of blockchain technology, innovation and product development. He speaks German and English.

EXPERIENCE

Many years of management and leadership experience at Swisscom AG, as CFO of a large corporate unit, in the development of the subsidiary WinGo and the orientation of the service units as a sales channel. Consulting experience as Business Consultant at AWK Group and CGI Group.

DEGREES

University for Applied Science Osnabrück, Germany/ University of Gothenburg, Sweden: Diplomkaufmann (FH) Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Certificate in Future Commerce

Dr. Alexander Strunck

Expert Partner

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Retail & Wholesale
FMCG/CPG
Supply Chain
High-tech
Services & Tertiary Education

CORE COMPETENCIES

Dr. Alexander Strunck serves as Consultant & Advisor for Strategy, Operational Improvement, Organizational & Process Development, Growth Strategy as well as Restructuring engagements. He supports and coaches Offer Management Strategies, customer-led Category-Management Initiatives and Partner-Management Programs. He is a native German speaker, professionally fluent in English und colloquial in French.

EXPERIENCE

Line management experience as BU-Head for Category & Partner Management in multi-channel Wholesale, Group Senior Director Customer-led Category Management, Head of Sourcing Professional Services in Procurement BPO Services; >10 years of expertise as Consultant at Bain, Booz and Kearney, Experience as Management & Supervisory Board Member

DEGREES

Ph.D. / Dr. oec. (HSG) – University of St. Gallen, Ms in Business Administration (Dipl. Kfm.) – University of Munster, Digital Excellence Diploma – IMD Lausanne

Adrian Stucki

Expert Partner

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Services & Trade
Transport & Industry
Health Care
Finance
Cross-Industry Management Information
ICT

CORE COMPETENCIES

Adrian Stucki is an expert in the design and implementation of information, innovation and leadership strategies, organizations, processes and systems. He is a passionate sparring partner for corporate management and development as well as innovation and transformation in the digital age, in particular through design thinking, business model innovation, digital business design and the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

EXPERIENCE Adrian has management experience as a managing director and board member and 20 years of consulting experience, including at one of the Big 4 management consulting companies. He has worked in controlling, the timber trade and the skilled trades. The basis of his success is the development of long-term business relationships in a wide range of industries and company sizes, so that he is a "Trusted Advisor" and his clients act as advocates for him.

DEGREES

Executive MBA in Business Engineering, University of St. Gallen.
Nachdiplomstudien (PGD) in Digital Business sowie in Innovation & Design Thinking, Emeritus online in Collaboration with MIT’s Sloan School of Management, Columbia Business School, und Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business
Generative AI for Business, Sprint 2023, IMD
Certified AI Trainer, AI Training Institute

Dr. Matthias Urban

Expert Partner

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Industry, especially Machinery and Plant Engineering
High-Tech
Automotive (OEMs and suppliers)
Private Equity

CORE COMPETENCIES

R&D and innovation management: R&D processes and efficiency improvement, R&D organization and outsourcing, modularization of product architectures and complexity reduction
Operational improvement: Design-to-cost and value engineering, purchasing and supply chain, lean manufacturing, process optimization
Restructuring and turnaround management: Fix cost reduction and restructuring controlling
Strategy/M&A: Due diligence for Private Equity companies, Business Unit strategy
Languages: German, English and French

EXPERIENCE

8 years line experience as Head of the global R&D of Bobst SA: Leading a global team of ca. 350 engineers. 14 years experience in consulting with Top-Management consultancies McKinsey & Company and Bain & Company.

DEGREES

Diploma in physics, University of Kaiserslautern, PhD, Swiss Federal Technical Institute, Lausanne.

Dr. Markus A. Zoller

Expert Partner

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Machine and plant engineering/construction combined with ICT/telematics in the energy
Mobility
Security
Defence
Infrastructure
Special vehicles and automotive sectors

CORE COMPETENCIES

Markus A. Zoller is an expert in strategic transformations, mergers & acquisitions, business and product development, as well as crisis management, restructurings, turnarounds, profitability increases and related change management. He knows how to lead complex international organizations, is dynamic, performance-oriented and combines conceptual strength with pragmatism and entrepreneurial decisiveness. As a consultant, coach and interim manager, he quickly recognizes problems and opportunities and consistently implements his holistic solution concepts. He speaks German, English and French.

EXPERIENCE

For more than 15 years he has been active on executive boards of corporate groups, international business units as well as medium-sized and owner-led companies, mainly in CEO positions. The common denominator of his broad industry experience is project and system business combined with strong market positions as an OEM and as a versatile service provider.

DEGREES

Ph.D. Business Administration/Marketing (University of St. Gallen), M.Sc. Mechanical Engineering (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich), Certifications in program, portfolio, project management IPMA levels A & B

Senior Experts team

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