Ulrich Schwendimann is active in bringing Polish and Swiss business communities together. This includes consultancy for both Polish and Swiss companies, wanting to enter the respective markets, as well as the organisation of events and other initiatives dedicated to various professional groups and industry sectors.
The Polish-Swiss Chamber of Commerce is an independent bilateral association representing more than 200 Swiss and Polish companies. It is registered in Warsaw as a voluntary association under Polish law and is not funded by public institutions. The Chamber supports networking among its members, promotes their interests, organises events, and contributes to successful bilateral trade and investment.
Ulrich Schwendimann graduated in Slavonic and Business Studies from the University of Zurich and completed an Executive MBA at the Warsaw University of Technology. Before his assignment with the Chamber he worked as a journalist and researcher at the University of Zurich.
Pablo Padrutt is the Head of Economic, Financial and Scientific Affairs at the Embassy of Switzerland in Poland. As a Swiss career diplomat, he was posted in Bern and Pristina before relocating to Warsaw in July 2020. Before joining the foreign service, Pablo had worked as a management consultant in India and in Switzerland. He holds a Master’s Degree in international relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and a Masters of Advanced Studies in Development and Cooperation from ETH Zurich.
PhD in Economics, Chairman of Supervisory Board GPW Benchmark S.A. and Deputy Director the Information Products and Indicators Development Department at the Warsaw Stock Exchange, responsible for the implementation of the ESG strategy for the capital market. In 2009, he was responsible for launching the RESPECT Index, first Corporate Social Responsibility index in Central-Easter Europe. In 2013, on his initiative, the WSE became the eighth stock exchange in the world to join the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative. In 2019, he was responsible for introducing the WIG-ESG index – the first ESG benchmark for a Polish Investment Fund. In first half of 2021, he coordinated the project “ESG Reporting Guidelines. Guide for issuers” and ESG Strategy for Capital Market.
A member of government teams for sustainable investment, ESG and CSR at the Ministry of Finance or Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy.
Actively involved in the education and promotion of ESG on capital market, among others by state administration and universities. Author and co-author of reports, articles and academic research focused on role of CSR on capital market, including report “Investment decisions and the ESG”.
Expert in sustainability and sustainable finance, lecturer, CEO of Swiss Impact Lead – impact investing advisory, and President of Swiss Impact Lead Foundation, supporting sustainable finance education and impact start-ups growth. Dr Wilk was a lecturer at Yale University, Ohio State University and EOI. She served as a policy advisor to the former President of the European Commission, currently is an expert for Horizon Europe. Dr Wilk received a PhD in sociology from Yale, holds the Environment Policy and Sustainable Development Certificate from Harvard, and MA in economics from Warsaw School of Economics. She is an author of policy and academic publications.
Witold Wilinski, CEO at GPW Tech S.A. (member of the Warsaw Stock Exchange Group responsible for the commercialization
of software products dedicated for the financial sector). Professor at Warsaw School of Economics (Institute for International Economic Policy).
Formerly member of: the Management Board in Asseco Systems S.A. and Softbank Serwis S.A., Supervisory Board at KDPW S.A. (the Central Securities Depository of Poland).
President of FinTech Poland. Previously he was vice president of Cashless Poland Foundation, director of the Payment Systems, Electronic Banking and Security Unity at the Polish Bank Association, Board Member of the European Payments Council, member of the Payment Systems Committee of the European Banking Federation, member of Payment System Market Expert Group at the European Commission and independent member of supervisory boards of leading payment institutions in Poland (First Data Polska SA, PayU SA). He was a co-director of Founder Institute in Warsaw and co-founder of Evenea.pl, He graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw and the Leadership Academy of Poland. Paweł is also an assistant professor at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw and head of Financial `Regulation and Technology Center. He graduated from the Leadership Academy for Poland.
Dr. Anna Stünzi is the President of foraus, a Swiss think tank on foreign policy. She studied psychology and economics at the Universities of Zurich and Copenhagen, received her doctorate at the Center of Economic Research at ETH Zurich and now works as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of St. Gallen. Her research centers on questions related to environmental economics, sustainable finance and governance. Beside research Anna Stünzi is a member of the Board of Directors at Descartes Finance. Since 2011 she has been a member of the grassroots think tank foraus where she has co-authored multiple publications, was co-head of the Environment, Energy and Transportation Program between 2016 and 2019 and cofounded the project ’Sustainable FinTech’ in 2016. Since November 2019, she has been the President of foraus.
Cornelia Stengel is attorney for financial market and data protection law and has special experience in the legal analysis of new products, systems and technologies in the financial market. She accompanies projects related to digitalization, FinTech, blockchain/distributed ledger technology and data policy in all phases, from the review and implementation of business and regulatory requirements to contractual arrangements and the design of internal processes.
Cornelia Stengel combines legal expertise with business experience gained and developed in a group legal service and as secretary of the board of directors of a Swiss financial services provider as well as Co-Director of Swiss FinTech Innovations (SFTI) and Managing Director of the Swiss Leasing Association (SLV). She accompanies extensive projects and advises management and boards of directors as well as other decision makers on legal and reputational issues in her areas of practice.
Cornelia Stengel contributes her practical experience to academia as a visiting professor and head of the interdisciplinary #FinTank at the FHNW and lecturer at various universities.
In addition, Cornelia Stengel is involved in working groups and associations related to her fields of activity, for example as a member of the working groups Financial Market Policy and Data Policy of economiesuisse or as a member of the Swiss Blockchain Federation. As an expert, she supported the Federal Administration in connection with the drafting of the DLT legislation and is elected as a permanent guest of the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) Commission on Digitalization.
She has worked at BGK since 2010, as a specialist and expert in the Structured Finance Department , and since 2014 as director of the office responsible for structuring finance for the energy, transport and municipal sectors. In 2020, she took over as a director of the Office for the Structuring of Difficult Transactions dealing with the early restructuring of companies. Since April 2021, she has been the director of the Strategic Relationships Department, which main task is to support the sustainable socio-economic development of Poland by providing financial solutions and comprehensive banking services to key business entities.
At BGK, she is also the director of the Strategic Security program. The aim of it is to develop and implement financial solutions responding to market needs in the area of energy, fuel sector, defence and cybersecurity.
Apart from working at BGK, she gained her professional experience, among others, at TFI Energa SA, where she was director of the Private Assets Management Office. She holds a master’s degree in Finance and Banking from the Warsaw School of Economics and in Economics from the Warsaw University of Life Sciences.
Privately, she enjoys spending her free time actively and is also interested in interior design.
Thibaut heads partnerships for F10. He has spent over a decade building and investing in innovative new ventures as well as advising large financial institutions to engage with the best FinTech companies worldwide. Prior joining F10, he was heading innovation initiatives for SIX and was a Founding Partner at The Heart, HQed at Warsaw UNIT.