Sascha Zahnd becomes new president of Digitalswitzerland
Effective July 1, 2021, Sascha Zahnd will become president of the Executive Committee of the Digitalswitzerland location initiative. He will succeed Ivo Furrer, who will continue to serve on the board of Digitalswitzerland. The General Assembly must still approve the proposal. Entrepreneur and FDP National Council member Marcel Dobler will remain vice president.
Sascha Zahnd from Bern was one of Tesla founder Elon Musk's closest associates until the end of 2020. As Head of Europe, he was responsible for Model 3 sales, preparations for the Gigafactory in Berlin, as well as the expansion of the Supercharger charging network and the development of the service infrastructure. Prior to that, Sascha Zahnd was Vice President Global Supply Chain and part of the top management team at Tesla in Palo Alto California since 2016.
Before Tesla, Zahnd was Vice President-Supply & Procurement at Eta Sa Manufacture Horlogère Suisse, a subsidiary of the Swatch Group. For Ikea, he worked in various leadership jobs in Switzerland, Sweden, Mexico, the USA and China. Zahnd holds a degree in Business Administration from the IMD Business School Lausanne and an Executive Master of Business Administration.
"This new task is as important to me as it is an honor. Switzerland has everything it needs to remain a leading business location in the future," Zahnd was quoted as saying in a statement. "However, our country must tackle the challenges with determination, transparency and enthusiasm. A key to this can be found in the inclusion of the population, startups, SMEs to large corporations, the public sector, education and training. Switzerland's digital future is for everyone from everyone."
In addition to his future chairmanship of Digitalswitzerland, Zahnd is also a member of the board of directors of the online luxury fashion store Mytheresa.com and vice chairman of Valora. In addition, Zahnd is an active investor focused on driving transformation and sustainability, including in the packaging industry at Circuloom and at Nokera, a platform for construction projects. As co-founder of Valuemaker.ch, Sascha Zahnd supports startups in the pre-seed phase.
Ivo Furrer hands over to Zahnd
The 45-year-old Zahnd will succeed Ivo Furrer on July 1, 2021. The latter had already announced when he took office that he would hand over the presidency after three years. "As a founding member, Digitalswitzerland and our goal of making Switzerland a digital innovation center has always been the main driver for my commitment and the implementation of numerous projects. Sascha Zahnd is an excellent choice. With him, we can set new impulses and further develop Digitalswitzerland in line with our strategy," says Ivo Furrer. He will continue to play an active role as a full member of Digitalswitzerland's Executive Committee (Board).
It will also be proposed to the AGM that the current Vice Chairman, entrepreneur and FDP National Councilor Marcel Dobler, be confirmed in office.
The nomination committee for the new presidency included: Political scientist Anja Wyden Guelpa, EPFL President Martin Vetterli, Google Switzerland CEO Patrick Warnking, entrepreneur and SVP National Councilor Franz Grütter, outgoing President Ivo Furrer and founder Marc Walder.
