To ensure a consistently high standard of operational and financial management, Swiss Philanthropy Foundation can count on its team of highly qualified professionals. With experience in civil society and the private sector, these experts contribute their wide-ranging knowledge and skills, thereby guaranteeing the foundation’s independence to donors, beneficiaries and financial institutions. They engage with the Foundation as members of the following divisions.
The seven members of the Board of Trustees are responsible for the overall supervision of the Foundation’s activities and meet at least four times a year. In late 2014, the Board adopted a Governance Charter that guarantees the transparency and professionalism of the Foundation with regard to the individuals and institutions it works with and serves.
The Finance Committee advises and assists the Board in its supervisory role on all matters relating to its investment policies, investment processes and asset allocation. It ensures these are in line with the Foundation’s mission and aims, both in terms of the Foundation’s own capital and the funds it manages.
A small team is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Foundation, ensuring it is run as efficiently as possible. Members of the Board share their expertise with the management team on a daily basis.
Didier Cherpitel
External member of the Finance Committee
Maida Cikaric
Junior Project Coordinator
Laurent Douek
Board Member
Etienne Eichenberger
Board Chairman
Anne-Cathrine Frogg
Board Member and Chair of the Finance Committee
Dominique Goy
External Member of the Finance Committee
Sabrina Grassi
Director General
Laurent Hostettler
Finance Manager
Xavier Isaac
Board Treasurer
Pauline Joiris
Project Administrator
Martial Paris
Board Member
Sonia Perrenoud
Project Administrator
Olivier Ratel
Director of Finance and Administration
Muriel Reboh Serero
Board Member
Margaux Thullen-Lefebvre
Project Administrator
Aïssata Traoré
Project Administrator
Elisabeth Tripod-Fatio
Board Member
Bernard Vischer
Board Vice Chairman
Lucile Yersin
Director of Operations
After completing a Diplôme d’études supérieures (DES) at the Institut d’Études Politiques in Paris, Didier Cherpitel worked for J.P. Morgan in Paris, Singapore, Brussels and London from 1970 to 1988. He was at various times Managing Director of J.P. Morgan Guaranty Ltd., London, CEO of J.P. Morgan France, and Managing Director of private banking for Europe.
Didier served for four years as Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Geneva, and as a Member of the Board of several foundations, including the Fondation Mérieux and the Fondation FX Bagnoud.
From the creation of the Foundation in 2006 until April 2023, he was a Board member and is now an external member of the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation’s Financial Committee.
Maida Cikaric joined the Foundation in September 2023 as a Junior Project Coordinator for a 10-month period, as part of our Young Talent Program.
After a Bachelor’s degree in social sciences and political sciences from the University of Lausanne, she obtained a bilingual French-English Master’s degree in general management at the university of Neuchâtel.
During her studies, Maida was a member of the student association as well as a volunteer in a Human Rights association on the campus. She also gained some experiences in the social insurance market.d
A graduate of the Universities of St Gallen and Middlesex in London, Laurent Douek has over 25 years of experience in the IT services and software industry.
He began his career as a consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM Global Services, a global information technology services provider. Since joining SAP in 2006, he has managed large national and international accounts and sales of services and software in various industries in Switzerland and in Europe.
He is currently responsible for software sales in the public sector at SAP. Laurent also volunteers with several nonprofits in climate change, intercommunity dialogue and arts.
Etienne Eichenberger co-founded WISE-philanthropy advisors, the first company in Europe to provide philanthropy advisory services to entrepreneurs and their families, helping them define and implement charitable projects.
He previously worked for Fondation Avina for social entrepreneurship and the World Economic Forum. A graduate of the University of St Gallen, Etienne is also a Member of the Board of Fondation Hahnloser and a co-founder and former Vice President of Sustainable Finance Geneva.
He served as a Member of the Board of Swiss Philanthropy Foundation since 2006 and is currently its Chairman.
Anne-Cathrine Frogg is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Hugo Fund Services SA in Geneva, a firm focused on providing fund representation and distribution services in Switzerland. Prior to Hugo, Anne-Cathrine was a hedge fund portfolio manager at Mirabaud & Cie’s. Before joining Mirabaud in 2004, she was active in hedge funds analysis at Agora Capital Services, Banque Franck S.A. and Commodities Corporation/Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Anne-Cathrine is an independent board director for several hedge funds and investment management companies. She holds a Masters degree in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva.
As Chair of the Finance Committee, Anne-Cathrine Frogg’s know-how and experience strengthens its governance.
Dominique Goy is the founder of SwissLending, providing private debt investment opportunities.
He is also the co-founder of Wecan Group, a company specializing in the co-creation of software based on blockchain technologies. A graduate of EPFL and HEC Lausanne, Dominique worked for 13 years at J.P. Morgan, then for 4 years at Lombard Odier.
In particular, he was a portfolio manager with “private clients” and various foundations during these years and obtained the qualifications of Certified Financial Analyst (Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst).
In 2020, Dominique Goy joined the Financial Commission of Swiss Philanthropy Foundation.
Sabrina Grassi joined the Foundation in 2015 and today holds the position of General Director. In this position, she participates in the deployment of the Foundation’s strategy, advises private and institutional donors, oversees good governance and the development of hosted funds as well as the Foundation’s team, while acting as liaison with the Board of Trustees.
Previously, she worked in the field of international trade, in close contact with public and private institutional clients in Switzerland and various European countries, in particular Italy and Spain. She holds a degree in International Relations, during which she completed an Erasmus in Spain and an internship in Ecuador. She then went on to perfect her skills with a DAS in commodities trading. She is fluent in 5 languages.
She has been a member of the SwissFoundations Board of Directors since 2020, and has taken over as Chairman in June 2023.
Laurent Hostettler joined the Foundation in 2020, as Finance Manager.
With a 30-year career in commodities trading, he brings a wealth of experience in accounting management and financial analysis. As part of his activities with a major multinational, he was actively involved in setting up control and monitoring systems for entities based in China, India, Mexico, Egypt and the USA. He contributed to the creation of a joint venture with a major player in the agricultural sector in Brazil. A graduate of the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Genève, he has also worked as a volunteer accountant for local associations.
Laurent oversees the financial aspects of the funds, liaises with the Finance Committee and monitors administrative files.
Originally from Belgium, Xavier graduated magna cum laude in law from the Université catholique de Louvain. He served as the inaugural Vice President of the Swiss Association of Trust Companies (SATC) and remained active for many years as a committee member. He is currently Chief Executive Officer at Accuro. Xavier had over 20 years’ experience in management positions with ABN AMRO Bank and Trust in Luxembourg, Geneva and Jersey, before joining Investec Trust in 2005 as Managing Director of the Geneva branch and CEO as of 2009.
He is Treasurer of Swiss Philanthropy Foundation.
Pauline Joiris joined the Foundation in July 2022 as Project Administrator.
A native of Belgium, Pauline holds a degree in art history and a Master’s in cultural management. She lived in Brussels before moving to South Africa. There, she gained several years’ experience in promoting corporate sponsorship for art and culture and in tourism management. She also spent her spare time volunteering for local charities.
Today, Pauline is in charge of a varied portfolio of philanthropic funds, dealing with both private donors and donor foundations.
Martial Paris is Managing Partner of WISE Philanthropy Advisors, which he joined in 2008. He advises individuals and foundations on project identification, strategic planning, fund management and impact assessment. He also lectures at training courses in Switzerland, drawing on his diverse field experience in particular.
Sonia joined the Foundation in May 2018 as Project Administrator. In this position, her main tasks include managing and monitoring named sheltered funds, as well as donor relations. She has over ten years’ experience in international organizations and a solid knowledge of the field. In her professional life, she has lived in the Central African Republic, Mali, Cameroon, Burundi and Colombia, and made short visits to Côte d’Ivoire and Cuba.
She was responsible for organizing the Master Class in Philanthropy from 2018 to 2022.
Olivier Ratel joined the Foundation team in October 2023 as Director of Finance and Administration. In this position, he plays an active role in the Foundation’s strategic choices. He oversees accounting management, draws up the budget and carries out the financial analyses and projections essential to the Foundation’s equilibrium. He also oversees the administrative management of human resources.
Holder of a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Management in the service industry, he worked for nearly 15 years in the luxury hotel sector within several international groups in France, the United States and Switzerland. Today, he has decided to join the world of philanthropy, to put his expertise at the service of the Foundation’s initiatives.
Muriel Reboh Serero runs the Institut Maïeutique Foundation in Lausanne, providing care for adolescents and young adults suffering from psychological disorders.
She trained as an FSP psychologist-psychotherapist in Switzerland and Canada, and in hospital management at HEC Geneva. She has been interested in philanthropy for several years, and has developed skills in strategic planning and fundraising. She is Vice-President of the Groupement des hôpitaux de jour psychiatrique (Belgium, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg).
Margaux joined the Foundation in January 2023 as Project Administrator. In this position, she is in charge of a portfolio of registered philanthropic funds.
After completing a Bachelor’s degree in business economics at the Haute Ecole de Gestion in Geneva, during which she spent an Erasmus semester in Berlin, she spent 4 years working in marketing for several international companies. In the most recent of these, she worked with 6 subsidiaries worldwide. Margaux also spent 4 months in the UK on a language exchange.
On the strength of these experiences, she decided to focus her career on philanthropy, as it was important to her to put her skills at the service of a foundation whose values she shared.
Continuing her commitment to community service in her private life, Margaux is active as a non-commissioned officer in the local volunteer fire department.
Now a Project Administrator, Aïssata Traoré first joined Swiss Philanthropy Foundation in January 2020 as an intern as part of her Master’s degree in Political science at the University of Geneva. She has held a permanent position at the Foundation since July 2020.
Aïssata administers and coordinates all activities related to the network of cross-border donations “Transnational Giving Europe” and ensures the management and monitoring of sheltered funds.
During her university studies, Aïssata had the heart to mix studies, work and voluntary work in several fields as well as to go to Sweden and the United States to perfect her knowledge, thus allowing her to combine her studies with professional life experience.
Expert in communication, public relations and public affairs, Elisabeth Tripod-Fatio is at the head of De Facto, the agency she created in 2017. With a long-stanging experience in both the private and public sector, she worked for various communication agencies as Senior Account Manager and Director, but also as head of communications and relations with the press of the Head office of the economic development, the search and the innovation of the State of Geneva.
Passionate about governance standards and strongly involved in numerous causes in Geneva, the know-how and the experience of Elisabeth Tripod-Fatio strengthens Swiss Philanthropy Foundation’s good governance.
Bernard Vischer is an attorney admitted to the Geneva Bar, partner with Schellenberg Wittmer of which he was managing partner from 2000 to 2007 and now heads the “private clients” department. He is especially active in estate and wealth planning and advises regularly on family business governance and succession. He is also involved in various sustainable finance and charitable projects.
He is currently Vice Chairman of the Board of Swiss Philanthropy Foundation.
Lucile Yersin joined the Foundation in 2020 and is now Director of Operations.
With previous experiences in Switzerland, Senegal and Lebanon, Lucile supervises the operational team in their daily tasks while managing and monitoring several hosted funds. With a specialization in migration studies, Lucile accompanies donors in their philanthropic initiatives.