Meet the Foundation Board

Christine Beerli, former Vice-President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), was born in 1953.

She began her professional career as a lawyer and her political career as a member of the City Council of Biel, from 1980 to 1983. From 1986 – 1991, Christine Beerli served in the Bern cantonal parliament. In 1991, she was elected to the Council of States, to which she belonged until 2003. She was, inter alia, President of the Foreign Affairs Committee and President of the Social Security and Health Committee. Christine Beerli left politics in 2003. Since 2006, she has been President of the Agency Council of Swissmedic. Previously, she was Director of the Department of Engineering and Computer Science at the Bern University of Applied Sciences for ten years.

Daniel Endres, former Director of the Global Refugee Forum at UNHCR – a critical opportunity to build momentum towards achieving the objectives of the Global Compact on Refugees – held several other senior positions at UNHCR in recent years, in Geneva and Brussels (Director, Division of Resilience and Solutions; Comprehensive Responses; Division of External Relations; Bureau for Europe).

Having started his career in international cooperation as a Swiss JPO in Pakistan – after training in law and political science and a few years of practice as a lawyer – Daniel Endres also brings with him more than 20 years’ field work experience with UNHCR. Some examples: Representative for Iraq; Deputy Chief of Mission in Afghanistan; Senior Emergency Preparedness and Response Officer, with emergency deployments to DR Congo, West Africa, North Caucasus, Northern Albania, and more.

Isabel Günther has been Professor of Development Economics and director of NADEL, ETH Zürich since 2014.

From 2008 to 2014 she was acting as Assistant Professor for Development Economics at ETH Zürich. She had previously been research associate at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Göttingen for three years and at the Harvard School of Public Health for one year. Her main research interest is in empirical microeconomics with a particular focus on measurement of poverty and inequality, population economics, technologies and policies for poverty reduction, and effectiveness of development aid. Isabel Günther has carried out most of her research in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa.

Barbara Hintermann has been Director General of Terre des hommes Lausanne, the leading Swiss organisation for children’s aid, since 2020.

Director General of Initiatives of Change Switzerland between 2015 and 2020 working mainly in peace promotion and reconciliation, she also has extensive experience in humanitarian aid, mainly with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC): HR Director ad interim and HR Deputy Director; Director of operations for Europe and Northern America – both at the Geneva headquarters; Head of Delegation in Colombia; Head of Delegation / Subdelegation / etc. in Guinea, South Sudan, Rwanda. She also carried out missions in Lebanon and Israel/Occupied Territories. Previously, Barbara Hintermann was Head of Marketing with UNICEF Switzerland. She was originally trained in Business and Managerial Economics at the HWV Zurich (today: HWZ Zurich, University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration).

Lorenz Indermühle is Director of Fairmed, a Swiss foundation that promotes access to basic healthcare for the poorest communities in Asia and Africa.

Previously, he worked for more than 20 years with the Swiss Red Cross (SRC) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to protect human life, health and dignity. As an example, between 2012 and 2021, he was Head of the Africa/America Division of the SRC, responsible for the strategic planning and staff leadership. Lorenz Indermühle also worked for smaller NGOs in Central America. He holds an MSc in Development Cooperation from the University of London (School of Oriental and African Studies) and a CAS in Leadership Development from the FHNW.

David Keller has been Head of the Arthur Waser Foundation in Lucerne since 2018. The foundation runs an educational strategy in various African countries and is active in the fields of arts&culture and social affairs in Central Switzerland.

Previously, he was Head International Affairs at the Zurich University of the Arts and Director of the African Innovation Foundation (AIF) in Zurich. At the SDC, he was responsible for the development of the Public-Private Partnerships programme from 2008 to 2011. David Keller lived in Latin America from 1999 to 2005, where he worked for the AVINA Foundation. Before 1999, he worked as an opera singer in Germany and Switzerland. David Keller is a lawyer (University of Zurich), MBA (University of Toronto and HSG) and opera singer (Zurich Conservatory and Opera Studio Biel/Basel).

Erich Wigger, economic historian, has held the position of Head of Finance & Services and has been in the management of Helvetas since 2011.

Prior to this, he worked for nine years as a member of the Executive Board of INTERCOOPERATION. Erich Wigger originally completed a business apprenticeship, followed by a degree in economic history in connection with economics at the University of Zurich, where he worked for several years and wrote his doctoral thesis. He subsequently worked for the Swiss Metal and Watch workers Association (SMUV) and for Movendo, the Educational Institute of Trade Unions. Erich Wigger has been involved in the Foundation Board of cinfo since 2002.