General Assembly of the SWA with elections to the Board of Directors and new Co-Director

The SWA is holding its "SUMMIT" today in Zurich-Oerlikon with around 400 members and guests from the Swiss advertising industry. Prior to this, the 77th General Assembly for invited members took place in the early afternoon. SWA President Jan De Schepper (CMO, Swissquote Bank and CEO, Yuh), who was newly elected last year, swiftly led through the agenda items. Founded in 1950, the association now has exactly 218 advertising member companies from all sectors, which is a new record. The President explained that the many association activities with events, webinars and expert groups are particularly appreciated by the members. After another successful year for the association, the members were presented with a positive income statement and an extremely solid balance sheet. However, things only got really exciting when it came to elections. This involved a new election, a re-election and finally the succession of the SWA Director.

Successor to Roland Ehrler

Constance Courtois, Head of Marketing at Coca-Cola Switzerland, was the first new member of the Board of Directors to be elected. This was followed by the re-election of Karin Held, Director Marketing, PR & Sponsoring at Jaguar Land Rover Switzerland. Both were unanimously elected and re-elected to the SWA Board. The President then reported on the recruitment process for the successor to Roland Ehrler, who will be taking early retirement at his request at the end of 2026 after 14 years. After numerous interviews, the Board of Directors has chosen Yvonne Baumgartner as his successor. Yvonne will start as Co-Director at SWA on September 1, 2026. After a joint induction period with Roland, she will then take over as Managing Director on January 1, 2027. With this early succession plan, the SWA is ensuring the continuity and continued success of the association's work.

Finally, Yvonne Baumgartner briefly introduced herself to the members at the AGM: She has over 18 years of experience in marketing and management roles in national and international companies and is very familiar with the advertising, media and communications industry. She has been Global Brand Director at Capri-Sun since 2024 and is responsible for the global brand strategy, innovation, communication and media for the beverage brand in over 100 markets. She previously worked for the Emmi Group for ten years, most recently as Global Marketing Head for the Emmi CAFFÈ LATTE brand. Earlier in her career, she worked for Johnson & Johnson and Swiss television SRF. She completed her studies at the University of Fribourg in media and communication science, business administration and sociology. She then continued her education in marketing and leadership.

Following the elections at the AGM, the SWA Board is once again complete and the following individuals are in office: Jan De Schepper (SWA Chairman, Swissquote Bank and Yuh), Pierre Besnard (Swisscom), Constance Courtois (Coca-Cola Switzerland), Heike Kammerer-Vercelli (Nestle Suisse), Karin Held (Jaguar Land Rover Switzerland), Marc Hofer (Bayer Consumer Care), André Hefti (Switzerland Tourism), Nadine Kamski (L'Oréal DACH), Rémy Müller (Migros Supermarkets), Aydin Sahin (UBS Switzerland), Sacha Zuberbühler (Coop).