Governing Board

PROF. R. GEOFF RICHARDS, FLSW, FBSE, FIOR, FORS, PRESIDENT

Since 1991 Prof Richards has been based at the AO Research Institute Davos (ARI) performing R&D of fracture fixation devices. In 2009, he became director of the ARI and has reinforced the academic credibility through continuation in improvement in quality of publications, acquirement of national and international grants and keeping at the forefront of high quality international conferences, editorial boards and society boards. Since 2020 he is additionally Director of Research and Development Globally for the AO Foundation. He holds three Professorships at Cardiff University (Wales, UK), Guangzhou University hospital (CN) and a lifetime one at the University of Freiburg (D). He has several fellowships in international societies, the highest one being a fellow of the learned society of Wales, the national academy for arts and sciences. For more information see his profile .

Both he and his family of wife and three children have their 'Heimatort' in Davos, though he grew up in Wales, UK with routes from Scotland and his wife is from Belgium, giving the children strong multi language starts in life, along with their home Swiss German. 


Philipp Wilhelm, Vice President

Davos Council & culture

Philipp Wilhelm  has been directing the president’s department of Davos as mayor since 2021. He grew up in Monstein and attended The Schweizerische Alpine Mittelschule Davos (SAMD). Afterwards, he completed a master's degree in architecture at the ETH Zurich. He also represents the SP in the "Grossen Rat" in Graubünden and was President of the SP Graubünden from 2016 to 2020. Philipp Wilhelm is involved in various foundations and is strongly committed to the cultural life in Davos. 


Walter O. Frey, Managing Director

Sport & Health

Since 2012, Dr. med. Walter O. Frey has been the leading physician of Balgrist Move>Med at the university hospital Balgrist in Zürich. Until 2010, he was a sports physician at the Swiss Army and since 2015 he has been Chief Medical Officer of Swiss Ski. Walter O. Frey has a private and professional connection to Davos: During his childhood, he often spent his vacation in Davos. Later, he lived in Davos for several years, first as junior and later as senior physician of the Thurgauer-Schaffhauser Höhenklinik. During this time, he was responsible for the development and management of the sports medicine centre of Swiss Olympic in Davos as well as the rheumatolocig/physical departement of the clinic.


Katja Bärenfaller

life science & Twitter

Since 2017, PD Dr. Katja Bärenfaller is group leader at the Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF) in Davos. Before this, she worked as a scientist at ETH Zurich and did her habilitation in Functional Genomics. Her research focus is to investigate the molecular basics of

biological processes, she is enthusiastic about science and dislikes pseudoscience. She grew up in Brig in the Canton of Valais and she is pleased that she settled on the track of the Walser population in Davos with her husband and the two children. 


Severin Gerber

education & events

Severin Gerber studied History, Latin and Political Sciences at the University of Berne. Since 2007, he has been a member of the school management at the Swiss Alpine Middle School in Davos, since 2015 as Director. Severin Gerber is married and has two children.


louise harra                                         

solar science, awareness of stem

Louise is from Northern Ireland and moved to Davos in 2019. She is the director of the PMOD and a professor at ETH. She studies the activity of the sun and is involved in designing and building instruments for spacecraft. She believes that everyone can enjoy science and that all children have the opportunity to become scientists and engineers. She lives in Davos with her husband, who is a spacecraft engineer.  (STEM = science, technology, engineering and mathematics) 


Franco Item                                            Literature & History

Franco Item leads the Swiss Text Academy as Managing Director. Moreover, he works as a TV editor, PR consultant, lecturer and research assistant. He actively engages in education policy. Within the Swiss Text Academy, Franco Item is responsible for the fields of Public Relations and Advertising.


JÜRG SCHWEIZER                                            Snow & Avalanche Research

Jürg Schweizer has been head of the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF and a member of the WSL Board of Directors since 2011. He teaches as an adjunct professor at ETH Zurich. After studying environmental physics, he did his doctorate in glaciology at ETH Zurich before being accepted into the national team of snow researchers on the Weissfluhjoch in 1990. He has been researching at the SLF for over 30 years, interrupted by a research sabbatical in Canada, with a focus on snow and fracture mechanics, avalanche formation and avalanche forecast.



Members at Large

URS GREDIG

COMMUNICATION & MEDIA

Urs Gredig has been a journalist since studying history and journalism. After stopping at print, online and radio media, he ended up at Swiss Television in 2003. There he moderated the main edition of the Tagesschau, various election and special programs.

From 2017 - 2020 he was  Editor-in-Chief of CNN Money Switzerland. Today he works for Swiss Television and has his own talk-show called "Gredig direkt" in addition to his work at 10vor10. 

In this function Urs will take on important tasks such as moderating at public events, but will not be involved in the day to day governance and operational duties.



Administration

Sabine marolf, webmaster & general ad

Sabine Marolf is working for the mayor of Davos since 2022. She is responsible for the website and organizes various meetings and events for Science City Davos. 

 



Ex Officio Guests

Valérie Favre Accola

Valérie is working as the Head of regional development Prättigau Davos region within Graubünden and is this role works closely with Science City Davos


Barbara Haller Rupf

Barbara is working as the Director of Academia Raetica Switzerland, supporting scientific research and education in the canton Graubünden and is this role works closely with Science City Davos.



Advisory Board

Prof. Dr. Cezmi Akdis
 
Maria von Ballmoos

 

Katharina Beisiegel
 
Adrian Dinkelmann

 


Brigitta Gadient

Prof. Jürg Kessler

Dr. Rudolf Minsch

Dr. Georg Schäppi



Alois Zwinggi

Director, Swiss Institute for allergy and Asthma Research SIAF
 

Dipl. phil. II Biologist

 

Director Kirchner Museum Davos
 
Head of Regional Management at the Economic Development and Tourism Agency of the Canton of Grisons

 
Former National Council, Lawyer

Director University of Applied Sciences Graubünden


Chief Economist, economiesuisse

Director Kinderspital Zürich 

Foundation Governing Board memberFoundation Governing Board Member, Stiftung aha! Allergiezentrum Schweiz

Managing Director World Economic Forum



Honorary Member

Prof. Dr. med. Peter Matter
Maria von Ballmoos