To ensure a consistently high standard of operational and financial management, Swiss Philanthropy Foundation can counts 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 towards to donors, beneficiaries and financial institutions. They engage with the Foundation as members of the following organs.
The eight 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 or serves.
The Finance Committee advises and assists the Board in its supervisory role on all matters relative 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 Foundation, ensuring it is run as efficiently as possible. Members of the Board share their expertise with the management team on a daily basis.
Etienne Eichenberger
Board Chairman
Bernard Vischer
Board Vice Chairman
Xavier Isaac
Board Treasurer
Anne-Cathrine Frogg
Board Member and Chair of the Finance Committee
Didier Cherpitel
Board Member
Elisabeth Tripod-Fatio
Board Member
François Marti
Board Member
Laurent Douek
Board Member
Maurice Machenbaum
Board Member
Coralie Leresche
External Member of the Finance Committee
Dominique Goy
External Member of the Finance Committee
Sabrina Grassi
Director General
Laurent Hostettler
Director of Finance and Administration
Nicolas Cuendet
Head of Partnerships
Aïssata Traoré
Project Coordinator
Arline Brisemur
Project Administrator
Lucile Bula
Project Administrator
Marie Dolla
Project Administrator
Sonia Perrenoud
Project Administrator
Lema Darmal
Intern
Etienne Eichenberger co-founded WISE-philanthropy advisors, the first company in Europe to providephilanthropy 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 Hahnloserand a co-founder and former Vice President of Sustainable Finance Geneva.
He servedas a Member of the Board of Swiss Philanthropy Foundation since 2006 and is currently its Chairman.
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 project.
He is currently Vice Chairman of the Board of Swiss Philanthropy Foundation.
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.
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 analyst 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 will strengthen its governance.
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.
He is currently Member of the Board of Swiss Philanthropy Foundation.
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 allow to strengthen Swiss Philanthropy Foundation’s good governance.
François Marti is an independent consultant in the fields of energy and services. Until 2019, François was Chief Operating Officer of the North American region for Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS) and was Vice President of the Industrial division between 2015 and 2019. Currently in charge of the group’s digitalization initiatives, he was also Vice-President of the Certification division for 3 years. In addition, François was also CEO of Fiat-Chrysler Services from 2005 to 2011. Since obtaining his master’s degree in international relations in 1994, his career has included working as a Senior Manager for PricewaterhouseCoopers IBM in Basel.
A graduate of the Universities of St Gallen and Middlesex in London, Laurent Douek has over 20 years 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 international accounts and sales of services and software in various industries. He is currently Vice President Sales for Middle and Eastern Europe at SAP. Laurent also volunteers with several nonprofits in the arts.
Maurice Machenbaum co-founded WISE-philanthropy advisors in 2004.WISE was the first company in Europe to provide philanthropy advisory services to entrepreneurs and their families, helping them define and implement charitable projects. Previously, he founded Casa Alianza, an international NGO which defends the rights of street children, and managed its programmes in Nicaragua. Before that, hewas a research officer with the International Committee of the Red Cross specialising in the issue of child soldiers, and Regional Director of Terre des hommes Lausanne for Latin America and the Caribbean. Maurice served as Treasurer of the World Scout Committee for six years and of Médecins du Monde Suisse for three years. He currently sits on the boards of Swiss Philanthropy Foundation and Cansearch.
Coralie Leresche is a specialist in “sustainable investment”. She is currently Head of Business Development at OpenFunds Investment Services AG, a Swiss company providing legal representation services and distribution of investment solutions.
Previously, she worked for ten years in the field of impact finance first at Symbiotics as portfolio manager and then at responsAbility Investment AG as head of business development.
After studying business law, Coralie joined JPMorgan Chase Bank as a specialist in credit structuring. After 10 years with the bank, she undertook an MBA from IMD in Lausanne before joining the impact finance community in 2010. ”
It is in 2020 that Coralie Leresche joined the Financial Commission of the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation.
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 13 years at J.P. Morgan, then 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 the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation.
Sabrina Grassi joined the Foundation in 2015 and holds today the position of General Director.
Previously she worked in the field of commerce international, in close contact with public and private institutional clients.
License holder in international relations and a Diploma of Advanced Studies in commodity tradinga, Sabrina Grassi support donors on the creation of their philanthropic fund, and supervises administration and proper monitoring.
She manages the operational team, while ensuring the link with the Foundation Board.
In addition, Sabrina Grassi is a member of the Board of Directors of the SwissFoundations association.
Laurent Hostettler has joined the Foundation in 2020 as Administrative and Financial Director.
With a 30-year career at within commodity trading companies, he brings his knowledge in accounting management and financial analysis.
Graduated from Geneva Business School, he also worked in as a volunteer accountant in local associations.
Laurent supervises the financial aspects funds, liaise with the Financial Commission and follow up on administrative files.
Nicolas Cuendet joined Swiss Philanthropy Foundation in March 2021 as Head of Partnerships.
After completing his Master’s degree in law at the University of Fribourg, he worked for a few years at the law firm Lenz & Staehelin in Geneva, as well as at the State Secretariat for Migration of the Swiss Confederation. He then worked for the emergency relief organisation Medair, in charge of relations with major donors.
At this position, Nicolas is responsible for the development of the partnerships of the Foundation. He also ensures its visibility among philanthropists, their advisors, and various institutions.
Aïssata Traoré joined the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation as Project Coordinator in July 2020, after having completed a first internship as part of her Master’s studies in Political Science at the University of Geneva.
Today, she coordinates all the activities related to the cross-border donation network “Transnational Giving Europe” and ensures the administrative support of the Foundation, as well as monitoring philanthropic funds.
Arline Brisemur joined the Foundation in January 2021 as Project Administrator where she manages and monitors a number of sheltered funds.
She has worked as a Translator and a Project Manager in France, Spain and Canada. She has extensive experience working for non-profit medical organisations.
Arline holds a Translation Diploma from ISIT (Paris) and an M.A in International Peace from Trinity College Dublin. She is also a certified PMP Project Manager. She has an interest in geopolitics and regularly volunteers.
Lucile Bula joined the Foundation as Project Administrator in August 2020. She is responsible for the administrative and operational management of several sheltered funds, as well as the relationship with donors.
In parallel with her Bachelor of Political Science at the University of Lausanne and her Masters in Migration and Citizenship at the University of Neuchâtel, Lucile worked in Senegal and Lebanon in projects focused on the needs of migrant populations. In particular, with actions focused on the needs of children and young adults on the move.
Marie Dolla joined the Foundation in May 2017 as a Project Manager.
Marie holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Communication from the Institute of Business Administration (IAE) in Nice and has a two-year experience as Parliamentary Attaché in Paris.
She is in charge of institutional and events communication for the Foundation.
Marie also ensures the management and monitoring of sheltered funds as well as the relationship with donors.
Wishing to acquire a field experience, Marie also carried out a two-month volunteer mission in an association in Cambodia.
It was in May 2018, after four years spent in Colombia, that Sonia joined the Foundation as Project administrator with the main tasks of managing and monitoring sheltered funds
as well as the relationship with donors.
She is also responsible for the Master Class in management of foundations.
Counting more than ten years spent working for international organizations, Sonia brings a solid knowledge of the field.
Graduated with a Master’s degree in Public Management and Policy from Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Lausanne (UNIL), Lema Darmal made her first steps with the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation as an intern in January 2021.
Throughout her studies, Lema enjoyed a rich experience within Lausanne’s associative community, through the animation and organisation of public events to raise awareness on migration and climate issues she also actively participates in various projects to help people in precarious situations.