Former Chair and Board Member, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama
AMBASSADOR EDWARD T. MCMULLEN, JR. (Young Leader 1995)
Vice Chair, American Swiss Foundation
Ambassador of the United States to Switzerland and Liechtenstein (2017 – 2021)
Senior Policy Advisor, Adams and Reese LLP Partner, LondUS Capital
DR. VANESSA E. BEARY (Young Leader 2016)
Executive Director, American Swiss Foundation
Member of the Board, Harvard Alumni Association (2020 – 2023)
Founder, Harvard Alumni for Education Shared Interest Group
PROGRAM
Introduction
Robert J. Giuffra, Jr.
Chair, American Swiss Foundation
Co-Chair, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Young Leader 1996
Welcome Remarks
The Honorable Callista L. Gingrich
United States Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein
Welcome from Alumni Dinner Host
Raymond Sagayam
Managing Partner, Pictet Group
Introduction of Keynote
The Honorable Edward T. McMullen, Jr.
Vice Chair, American Swiss Foundation
Young Leader 1995
Keynote Address
Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin
Vice President of the Swiss Confederation
Head of the Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research
Closing Remarks
Markus U. Diethelm
Co-Chair, American Swiss Foundation
Chair, ASF Swiss Advisory Council
SPONSORS
The American Swiss Foundation gratefully acknowledges the generous support of its benefactors and patrons.
SILVER ($30,000+)
Google Cloud • Holcim • Franz Albers
Roche • Rolex Watch U.S.A., Inc.
Steven G. Hoch
BRONZE ($15,000+)
Accenture • Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP
Diethelm Keller Holding • Edelman • Ernst & Young
Flywheel Commerce Network • Franke Group • IQVIA Inc.
KMPG • Miller Investment Management • Nestlé Purina
Nestlé USA • Palantir Technologies
PricewaterhouseCoopers • Russell Investments
Skadden • Syngenta • The Adecco Group
Vontobel Swiss Financial Advisers
Willis Towers Watson • WPP
SUPPORTERS
($5,000+)
Acutronic • Aon • Aperture Medical Technologies, LLC
Baker Hostetler • Baldi & Caratsch • Bank of America • Belmunt AG
Boston Consulting Group • Cargill • Circana • Cornerstone • Deloitte
Fullun LLC • Gregory F. Price • HVT Technologies Inc • labor team w Lonza • NERA • Newsmax • PSP Swiss Property • Salsify • Sedgwick • Uber
Speakers
Speakers
Markus U. Diethelm
Co-Chair, American Swiss Foundation
Chair,
ASF Swiss Advisory Council
Elected as Co-Chair of the American Swiss Foundation in 2021, Markus Diethelm most recently served as General Counsel at Credit Suisse from June 2022 until the merger of UBS and CS. From 2021 until the end of April 2022, Markus Diethelm was Of Counsel to UBS and for the previous thirteen years, he served as the General Counsel of UBS Group AG (2014 to 2021) and UBS AG (since 2008) From April 1, 1998 through August 2008, Markus served as the Chief Legal Officer of Swiss Re Group.
From 1998 to 2008, Markus Diethelm served as Group Chief Legal Officer at Swiss Re, and he was appointed to that company's Group Executive Board in 2007. Prior to that, he was with Los Angeles-based law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and focused on corporate matters, securities transactions, litigation, and regulatory investigations while working out of the firm's Brussels and Paris offices. From 1989 to 1992, he practiced at Shearman & Sterling in New York, specializing in mergers and acquisitions. In 1988, he worked at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York. After starting his career in 1983 with Bär & Karrer, he served as a law clerk at Uster District Court in Switzerland from 1984 to 1985.
Mr. Diethelm holds a law degree (lic. iur.) from the University of Zurich, a master's degree (JSM), and a doctoral degree (JSD) from Stanford Law School. He is a qualified attorney-at-law admitted to the bar in Zurich, Geneva, and New York State. He serves as Member of the New York State Council of Business Leaders in support of Access to Justice.
Speakers
Head
Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin
Vice President of the Swiss Confederation
of the Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research
Guy Parmelin was born in Bursins (Vaud) on 9 November 1959. He holds a federal baccalaureate specialising in Latin and English. Following a farming apprenticeship, he obtained a diploma from the agricultural college at Marcelin in 1979. In 1985, he obtained a Federal PET Diploma in agriculture and winegrowing. Guy Parmelin is married.
Guy Parmelin entered into politics in 1993 as president of Bursins communal council. Between 1994 and 2003, he was a member of the Vaud cantonal parliament. Between 2000 and 2004, he was president of the Vaud cantonal branch of the SVP. He was elected to the National Council in 2003.
As a master winegrower, he ran a farm and vineyard. Guy Parmelin was vice president of the board of the Federation of Swiss Agricultural Cooperatives (FENACO) and a board member of the ‘Etablissement d'assurance contre l'incendie et les éléments naturels’ (ECA) of the canton of Vaud.
On 9 December 2015 the Federal Assembly elected Guy Parmelin to the Federal Council. He took over as head of the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS) on 1 January 2016. Since January 2019 he has been head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research. He was President of the Swiss Confederation in 2021.
Speakers
Raymond Sagayam Managing Partner, Pictet Group
Raymond Sagayam has been a Managing Partner of the Pictet Group since January 2024 and co-heads Pictet Asset Management.
Before being named Managing Partner, Raymond was Chief Investment Officer of Fixed Income at Pictet Asset Management.
Prior to joining Pictet in 2010 to run and build a fixed income hedge fund business, Raymond was a Managing Director with Swiss Re Asset Management, heading dollar and euro investments. Before that, he worked for Bank Brussels Lambert (ING) trading US Credit. He began his career at ING Barings in Emerging Markets in 1997.
Raymond holds a Bachelor's in Economics from the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) and a Master's in Contemporary Theology in the Catholic Tradition from Heythrop College, University of London. He is a CFA charterholder.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to Jacqueline Hess and Dr. Patrick Raaflaub for their dedicated service as members of our Swiss Advisory Council. We’re deeply grateful for their insight, leadership and support!
Dr. Patrick Raaflaub Young Leader 2000
Swiss Advisory Counci Member 2019 - 2025
AMERICAN SWISS FOUNDATION
1990 UBS
1991 Swiss Bank Corporation & Nestlé
1992 Winterthur Swiss Insurance Company
1993 UBS
1994 Credit Suisse
1995 Ciba-Geigy & F. Hoffmann-La Roche
1996 Geneva Private Bankers Association & Rolex International
1997 Zurich Insurance
1998 Pharma / Chemical Industry Basel
1999 Nestlé
2000 Swiss Re
2001 Holcim
2002 Novartis International AG
2003 Schindler Holding Ltd.
2004 Geneva Private Bankers Association & Nestlé
2005 UBS
2006
Credit Suisse
2007 UBS
2008 Rolex International
2009 Swiss National Bank
2010 Novartis
2011 Nestlé
2012 Zurich Insurance Group
2013 Holcim
2014 Swiss Re
2015
Credit Suisse
2016 Syngenta, Adecco & Co-sponsors
2017 UBS
2018 Artemis Group & Co-Sponsors
2019 Swiss National Bank
2020 No conference due to Covid-19
2021 Roche
2022 Zurich Insurance
2023 Swiss Re
2024 Novartis
2025 Amazon Web Services
2026 DDSF Unlock Sponsors* ...
2029 Swiss National Bank
Young Leaders Conference 2026
Diana Davis Spencer Foundation Challenge Grant Unlock Conference November 7–14 | Zurich
For nearly four decades, the American Swiss Foundation’s Young Leaders Conference has united rising leaders from Switzerland and the United States to deepen mutual understanding, exchange insights, and build enduring crossborder relationships
Each year, more than 50 exceptional Young Leaders half Swiss and half American are nominated by members of the American Swiss Foundation and selected from the fields of business, government, national security, academia, and civil society
In 2025, ASF welcomed its largest class ever 60 Young Leaders, reflecting the expanding demand for deeper Swiss–U.S. engagement and the growing visibility of the program. It was also the first Conference sponsored by a U.S. multinational corporation A special thank you to Amazon Web Services for believing in ASF and the magic of the Young Leaders Conference.
Partnership Opportunities
In 2026, ASF invites new corporate partners to support our bilateral leadership initiative Through the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation Challenge Grant, contributions from four new-to-ASF corporate donors will be matched dollarfor-dollar, doubling their impact.
Diana Davis Spencer, Chair of ASF’s U.S. Advisory Council, is the daughter of the late Ambassador Shelby Cullom Davis, the longest-serving U S Ambassador to Switzerland (1969–1975) and a former ASF Chair.
Ms. Spencer carries forward his legacy of strengthening Swiss–U.S. relations into the 21st century. Through the philanthropic leadership of her family, partner organizations gain visibility among influential figures shaping policy, industry, and national security in both countries.
Join Us Next Year in Zurich (November 7–14, 2026)
For the 2026 Young Leaders Conference sponsorship details, please contact ASF’s Executive Director, Vanessa E Beary, Ed D (vanessa.beary@americanswiss.org).
Ambassador Shelby Cullom Davis (1909 - 1994)
The Honorable Shelby Cullom Davis served as U S Ambassador to Switzerland from 1969 to 1975. He was appointed by President Richard Nixon and continued to serve under President Gerald Ford. Upon his return to the U.S., Ambassador Davis assumed the leadership of the American Swiss Association, as the organization was then called, serving as honorary chairman until the end of his life.
Ambassador Shelby Cullom Davis had a remarkable career as a scholar, public servant, and businessman He developed deep and personal ties to Switzerland early in life, even meeting his future wife on a train ride to Geneva where they both obtained doctorates from the Graduate Institute of International Studies before returning to the United States. In 1933, Davis became an economist for his brother-in-law’s firm, Investment Corporation in Philadelphia His 1940 book, America Faces the Forties, caught the attention of New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, who ultimately hired Davis as his economic adviser and speechwriter. In 1944, Governor Dewey appointed Davis as the first deputy commissioner of insurance in New York.
After World War II, Davis founded Shelby Cullom Davis & Co , an investment banking firm specializing in insurance securities. He served as managing partner of the firm until 1969, at which time he was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland, a position he held with distinction until 1975. One of Ambassador Davis’s defining successes during his tenure in Bern was the negotiation of the 1973 Treaty between the United States and Switzerland on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, which passed unanimously in both the Swiss Parliament and the U.S. Senate. Upon his return to the United States in 1975, he assumed an active leadership role with the American Swiss Foundation, serving as chairman and president until 1989, and as honorary chairman until his death in 1994
Throughout his life, Ambassador Davis remained passionately committed to the notion that the health of a nation depends on its citizens’ intellectual vigor, selfdiscipline and self-reliance, respect for the law and private property, and above all else, unselfish concern for the public good
Strengthening ASF’s Alumni Network A Letter from the Co-Chairs of the Alumni Committee
Dear Alumni of ASF's Young Leaders Conference,
It is our great pleasure to welcome you to this year ’ s Alumni Dinner during the Young Leaders Conference.
As Co-Chairs of the Alumni Committee, we believe deeply in the power of this community a network of leaders who are committed to strengthening the ties between Switzerland and the United States. Each of you brings unique talent, perspective, and purpose to this work. Tonight is an opportunity to reconnect with peers, meet new colleagues, and continue conversations that began during your Young Leaders Conference — whether last year or decades ago.
The Alumni Committee’s goal is simple: to help alumni stay engaged, informed, and connected. From regular gatherings in cities across both countries to exclusive programming and opportunities to work together on issues that matter, we hope you will take full advantage of the network you helped build.
Thank you for the role you play in advancing the Foundation’s mission and for remaining an integral part of this remarkable community.
With warm regards
Andy Hutchinson (YL 2001)
Co-Chair, ASF Alumni Committee
Alex Pieper (YL 2023)
Co-Chair, ASF Alumni Committee
Speakers
Speakers
Alumni Committee Members
Alex Pieper (YL 2023) Co-Chair
Swiss Members
Annina Bosshard (YL 2022)
Chloé Fässler-Higgins (YL 2023)
Sunnie Groeneveld (YL 2019)
Lena Harding (YL 2023)
Matthias Howald (YL 2023)
Erich James Hoesli (YL 2023)
Marco Issenmann (YL 2019)
Deepak Mohan (YL 2022)
Valeriya Pavlicheva (YL 2024)
Tamara Soyka (YL 2019)
ASF Alumni X-Mas Night
ASF Alumni Holiday event in Zurich, Switzerland
• For the registration link, please contact info@americanswiss.org
Join the ASF Alumni WhatsApp Group
Over 200 alumni are already part of the ASF Alumni private WhatsApp group a lively space to share news, updates, and opportunities with one another. Launching soon: regional groups, so alumni can connect locally, build new relationships, and uncover unexpected connections
Don’t miss out reach out to get added. (info@americanswiss.org).
DR. VANESSA E. BEARY (Young Leader 2016)
Executive Director
American Swiss Foundation vanessa.beary@americanswiss.org
EVAN AUSTRIA
Communications & Data Coordinator
American Swiss Foundation
evan.austria@americanswiss.org
JORDAN BOLDS-LOCKWOOD
Operations Coordinator
American Swiss Foundation jordan boldslockwood@americanswiss org
EMMA CARTER
Programs & Events Coordinator
American Swiss Foundation emma carter@americanswiss org
