NZZ: In the Club of Star Female Managers

Guido Schätti 28.06.26

A new generation of women has established itself at the helm of the economy. The quota for women has helped them – some of them are securing more and more attractive positions than their male counterparts. This has also attracted criticism. Link to article

It should have been the crowning glory of a successful career. Jeannine Pilloud had not quite made it to the very top at SBB and Migros. But she pulled off a coup at Ascom: in the summer of 2019, she became CEO of the telecoms firm. Yet just two years later, the adventure was over – Pilloud was sacked.

Srishti Gupta’s stint as CEO of the Basel-Landschaft-based biotech firm Idorsia ended even more abruptly. Founder Jean-Paul Clozel showed the former McKinsey consultant the door after just under nine months. And then there is the case of Philomena Colatrella. The long-serving head of health insurer CSS abruptly left the Swiss Life board of directors in January and joined the Axa Group. The glamour of Paris proved more tempting than Zurich’s staidness.

It is cases such as these that are reigniting the gender debate in the Swiss business world. On average, women in top management remain in their posts for only about half as long as men. In their recently published book *Bumerang Frauenquote* (*The Boomerang Women’s Quota*), economist Margit Osterloh and the late sociologist Katja Rost use this as a starting point to take stock of gender quotas.

The argument is that some women are propelled into top positions without sufficient qualifications, only to fail quickly or be poached by the competition. Ultimately, the quota harms both women and companies. “There are fewer women in top management. That’s why it’s more noticeable when one fails,” says Doris Aebi, one of Switzerland’s leading headhunters. “But you might also ask yourself about some men: why are they in the positions they’re in?”

The glass ceiling has become a glass lift

What the statistics on tenure fail to reveal is that there are also other women – those who do not fail, but seize the opportunity and establish themselves at the levers of power. But who are these women? They are no longer just a few shining examples such as the former SBB President Monika Ribar or the top European executive Barbara Kux. These pioneers were followed by a new generation of female managers: highly educated, with operational experience, well-connected and career-driven. When the quota system brought the glass ceiling crashing down, they were ready and waiting. They do not fear the ‘goldfish bowl effect’ – the fact that women are more visible than men – but rather make use of it: for prestigious part-time roles on the boards of other major companies.

One representative of this new generation is Emmi’s chief executive, Ricarda Demarmels. She earned her operational spurs as chief financial officer of the Lucerne-based dairy processor, was promoted to CEO three years ago – and has recently also joined the board of directors at Lindt & Sprüngli. Or take Géraldine Picaud: she combines the CEO role at the product testing group SGS with a board seat at the French food multinational Danone. Industrial manager Barbara Frei also holds two positions: she is CEO of the technology group Beyond Gravity and a board member at Sika. One level below the CEO, there are also prestigious additional roles on offer: UBS Switzerland chief Sabine Keller-Busse combines her job at the major bank with a board seat at Zurich Insurance. Nestlé’s chief legal officer, Leanne Geale, also sits on the board of Holcim.

Among men, one has to look far and wide to find managers with similarly glamorous side jobs. This does not mean, however, that women have displaced men across the board: according to the latest ‘Schilling Report’, which annually assesses gender ratios in the Swiss economy, 78 per cent of managers at listed companies are men. But it is precisely because women are in the minority that those who have made it into the select club are so sought after: thanks to the quota, the glass ceiling has become a glass lift.

Sought-after women
A selection of female multi-board directors in Swiss companies

Source: Company Annual Reports 2025, LinkedIn

This effect is even more pronounced when looking solely at the composition of boards of directors. Here, too, some women have drawn level with men – or even surpassed them – in terms of the number of positions they hold. According to the ‘Schilling Report 2024’, women hold multiple board seats more frequently than men.

The frontrunner is Monique Bourquin. The former head of Unilever Switzerland is vice-chair of Swisscom and sits on the supervisory boards of Lindt & Sprüngli, Kambly and Rivella, as well as two other unlisted companies. Close behind, with five board seats each, are lawyer Ines Pöschel and former SECO head Marie-Gabrielle Ineichen-Fleisch. The top 10 includes a number of women who hold three or four board seats, at least one of which is with an SMI company – the index of stock market heavyweights.

The best-known names include: Jasmin Staiblin, former Alpiq CEO and now Vice-Chair of Zurich Insurance; former SRF Director Ingrid Deltenre, who has enjoyed a brilliant second career as a professional board member; Geraldine Matchett, who sits on the boards of Nestlé, ABB and Swiss Re; Bernadette Koch, a board member at Swiss Post who also sits on the board of Luzerner Kantonalbank, a competitor of PostFinance; and finally, Renata Jungo Brüngger, former chief legal officer at Mercedes, who holds board positions at UBS, Munich Re and Daimler Truck.

Men with similarly prestigious roles at Swiss companies? A rare commodity. The notorious ‘old boys’ network’ has largely dissolved. The most successful ‘board hoppers’ today are Christoph Mäder, President of Economiesuisse, and former PwC chief Markus Neuhaus, who hold three board seats at major listed companies. All in all, the situation on boards of directors is similar to that among senior managers: men still dominate across the board, but top female executives are securing more and more attractive appointments.

Bourquin sees advantages in holding multiple directorships

The phenomenon is known as ‘overboarding’ – the accumulation of directorships by individuals, which raises the question of whether they can actually cope with their responsibilities. Whilst this has been a point of criticism for men for years, it is now also occurring among women. At annual general meetings, they are increasingly facing resistance from shareholder representatives. Four board seats at listed companies are considered the maximum. “Overboarding is still generally more widespread among men,” says Silvan Felder, owner of the firm Verwaltungsrat Management. “But women stand out more because the pool of visible female board members is smaller.”

But where does this focus on around two dozen women, who can be found everywhere, come from? “There are ‘trophy’ board seats that everyone wants,” says Aebi. If the pool of women in management grows over time, the problem will ease. Headhunter Erik Wirz expresses a similar view when he talks about the “vanity effect”. “Companies want the big names that are already everywhere. That was the case even before the women’s quota was introduced.”

It is not just companies that are chasing after the stars; recruitment agencies are also driving this trend by presenting firms with lists of well-known names. Some headhunters are therefore taking a different approach. “We deliberately avoid using a database of candidates, instead searching specifically for new names,” says Aebi. “But that’s back-breaking work; you have to leave no stone unturned and look where it’s not so obvious.” Silvan Felder goes one step further: he advertises board positions online and on LinkedIn, provided the client gives the go-ahead. “The effort involved increases considerably, but we reach people whom nobody knew about before.”

The multi-board directors themselves take a relaxed approach to their busy schedules. Bernadette Koch writes in response to an enquiry that she has no other professional commitments alongside her board mandates: “This means, on the one hand, that I can devote all my time to my board mandates and, on the other, that I have a great deal of flexibility when it comes to organising my time.” The total workload is well below 100 per cent – so she still has spare capacity even if a company requires more of her time in the event of a crisis.

“From my point of view, I was clearly never overburdened,” writes Monique Bourquin, the director with the most extensive portfolio.  Taken together, her directorships “would never amount to a full-time workload”. Bourquin even sees this diversity as contributing to good corporate governance: “Holding various directorships increases personal independence,”  she writes. Moreover, they allow her to “stay up to date and, as my experience grows, pass on certain best practices”.

Male ‘position hoarders’ used to argue in much the same way. The quota has turned Switzerland Ltd into a mixed club. However, the networks of power and influence still function.