Ambassador Niculin Jäger
Honorary Chairman

Ambassador Niculin Jäger, Consul General of Switzerland was born in Chur, canton of Grisons. He entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2002, where he worked first at the Integration Office, which is in charge of the relations with the European Union, followed by a posting as attaché in Mexico City.

In 2004, he was promoted to the position of Deputy Head of Mission to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, with residence in Tbilisi. Back in Switzerland he led the Section for Cultural Foreign Policy in Bern, followed by an assignment as Deputy Head of Mission in Maputo, Mozambique. He was nominated Deputy Head of Mission to Brazil with the title of Minister. From 2018-2022 he served as the Swiss Ambassador to Zimbabwe and Malawi, in 2020 he became also the Swiss Ambassador to Zambia. Ambassador Jäger assumed the position of Consul General of Switzerland in New York on September 1, 2022.

Jan Furrer
President

Jan Furrer grew up on a farm in the small town of Schongau (canton of Luzern). He left Switzerland in 2017 and moved to London before he moved to New York City in July 2019.

Jan graduated from the University of Zurich with a Master of Arts in Banking & Finance and is a CFA charterholder. He has worked for Zurich Insurance in various roles and locations (Zurich, Hong Kong, Sydney) within the Investment Management department before joining PwC in London as Investment Consultant. Jan re-joined Zurich Investment Management in New York in 2019 where he is currently Head of Investments.

Outside of volunteering for the SSNY, Jan loves sports (especially soccer, Tennis and running) and exploring the diverse culinary scene in NYC. Jan currently resides in the Financial District, Manhattan.

Jan joined the SSNY as a board member in 2021 and became elected President in July 2022, succeeding Daniel Schaufelberger.

Simon Schöllkopf
Treasurer

Simon Schöllkopf was born in Rothrist, Aargau and spent his childhood near Olten, Solothurn. He speaks fluent (Swiss) German and English.

He has 15 years of experience in the banking industry. Simon joined Vontobel Swiss Financial Advisors (“SFA”) in 2016 and has been transferred to SFA’s New York Branch in 2019 on an international assignment. Before joining SFA, he worked from 2010 to April 2016 at Bank Vontobel AG. Prior thereto, he completed the apprenticeship at Bank Vontobel AG from 2007 to 2010.

Simon obtained a Bachelor Degree in Banking & Finance of Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz in Brugg, Aargau.

He joined the Swiss Society of New York in 2019 as a member and took over the role of Treasurer by July 2022.

Simon likes to travel, Golf, running and cooking. He also enjoys meeting new people from all over the world.

Linda Braido
VP Events & Projects

Linda grew up in Amriswil and lived in a small village at the lake of Constance before she moved to New York City in summer 2021 and gained foothold in the US market. She obtained her Bachelor in Business Administration at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences. After graduating and working as an Operations Manager on the academia side for a few years, she went to California to expand her expertise and skillset in Event Management and Hospitality through an academic program at SDSU and worked part-time for an Event Agency in San Diego. Back in Switzerland, she was working as a Corporate Sales Manager for an American MNE in the hospitality industry. As she has always worked within highly customer-oriented companies, it lies in her DNA to set highest standards when it comes to developing and fostering valuable long-term relationships. Her professional expertise covers a wide spectrum on the academia, the hospitality as well as the governmental side.

Linda is a people’s person and enjoys connecting with people around the world, has a curious and open mindset and is very passionate about food, wine, hotels & designs. She therefore likes exploring new and hidden gems in New York City’s cultural melting pot.

Linda currently resides in Long Island City and joined the team in November 2022. She has always been interested in Swiss endeavors worldwide and is eager to contribute to SSNY’s future success stories.

Moritz Marti
VP Marketing

Moritz was born in Basel where he studied business and economics at the University of Basel. He met his wife, Gara, in Barcelona while completing his Master's degree in Macroeconomic Policy. They moved together to New York City in 2017 where they built up a successful escape room company in Park Slope, Brooklyn (MyssTic Rooms).

Moritz has been working in corporate pharma and management consulting for the past 10+ years and is currently freelancing as an independent management consultant advising executives in the healthcare and life sciences industry.

Besides healthcare and escape rooms, Moritz is a big soccer fan and enjoys a good Broadway musical or theater play.

Moritz joined the Swiss Society as a board member in 2021.

Silvan Lehner
VP Member Engagement

Silvan was born in Basel and studied Economics at the University of Basel and Zurich from where he graduated with a Master’s degree in Finance & Banking. His interest in exploring new cultures has always been part of Silvan’s nature and when the opportunity presented itself to build up a new team for a Swiss banking client in Singapore he and his wife relocated to South East Asia in 2014.

After spending almost three years exploring Singapore and the surrounding countries, they got the chance to relocate to New York City with his company in 2017 and they have been living in Manhattan ever since. Silvan loves sports and has been playing Soccer in the Swiss Soccer Club of New York for many years and finished the New York Marathon in 2022.

He has joined the board of the Swiss Society of New York in 2022 and is looking forward to volunteering to the community.

Chris Hauser
VP Sponsoring

Christoph Hauser grew up in the town of Winterthur (canton of Zurich). Before moving to New York Christoph completed his military service as a first lieutenant. He left Switzerland in 2003 and moved to New York City to work for SunGard, a consulting company delivering financial solutions hedge funds, banks, insurance companies, mutual & private equity funds.

Christoph graduated from the University of Applied Sciences Rapperswil (St. Gallen) with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. He has worked for SunGard in Zurich and New York for over 10 years until 2010 delivering market and credit risk solutions as head technical services for the Americas. Christoph then joined JP Morgan Chase as a product lead in building a central credit risk solution. Since 2017 Christoph joined UBS in various roles for the group data management office including the group internal consulting unit.

Outside of volunteering for the SSNY, Christoph’s passion is sports, especially Squash & Snowboarding) and exploring the diverse culinary scene in NYC. Christoph currently resides in Herald Square, Manhattan.

Sylvie Eggertswyler
VP Operations

Sylvie was born and grew up in the small village of Château-D’Oex in the French speaking area of the Alps. At the age of 20 she left for Scotland for a year to learn English and so far never went back.

16 years ago, she met her English husband and moved to Australia where they lived for 15 years. She completed a bachelor of nursing at Deakin University in Melbourne and specialised in drug & alcohol/Psychiatry for 7 years.  While in Australia she enjoyed being on the committee of the Swiss Festival of Victoria organising the annual festival and other events for over 10 years.

Sylvie loves traveling, learning languages (at the moment Spanish) and reserves an enormous space in her heart for animals. Her dream is to see the polar bears in Canada.

After exploring Australia, Asia and raising two stepchildren, it was time for her and her husband to have a new challenge and moved to New York at the beginning of 2023.

She joined the Swiss Society as a board member in 2023.

Stephan Schoop
VP Family & Swiss Heritage

Stephan is a proud “Bündner” from Davos where he was brought up until attending University of Bern where he gained his MSc in Economics.

During his Master studies, Stephan worked as a student trainee for IBM and later on for the Department of Economic Affairs of the Canton of Bern. In 2003 he went to China to lecture in Macro Economics at the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in Chengdu.

Upon returning to Switzerland, Stephan started his career as a metals commodity trader – partnering with international metal producers and consumers to strengthen their supply chain and adding value to their operations. That job ultimately led him to New York in 2007 where he has lived ever since.

Stephan lives with his wife, Kirzy and his recently born daughter, Stella, in the Upper East Side. Kirzy and Stephan are keen for their daughter to not lose sight of her Swiss heritage, and so are passionate about the Swiss Society and all it does to foster a ‘Little Switzerland’ in the melting pot of New York.

Claudio Guler
Secretary

Claudio was born in Zürich, Switzerland and moved to the United States as a child with his family. He speaks English, German, Italian and French.

Claudio is an attorney in private practice at the law firm of Wuersch & Gering LLP in New York City. He holds a J.D. cum laude from New York Law School and a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. Claudio graduated from Oberlin College with a Bachelor of Arts in Politics with High Honors.

Claudio has been Secretary of the Swiss Society of New York since 2017. He lives in Manhattan with his wife Emily and son Ari.

Marie-Helene Blanchet Zumofen
Independent Director

Marie-Helene Blanchet Zumofen is from Cully/Lurty (VD). She was born and raised in Geneva until she moved to Lausanne for her PhD.

Along her career, she moved to Vancouver, Basel and New York. She came back to Basel 2015 and in January 2021 moved again to New York where she now resides.

Marie-Helene works in Global Access at Hoffmann-La Roche as a Global Access Evidence Lead since January 2019. Prior, she worked for the Swiss affiliate in Reinach, where she worked as a Strategy Project Manager on biosimilars within the sales/marketing team. Marie-Helene’s career in the industry also includes 10 years in Product Development (clinical trials). She holds a PhD from the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC) now part of the Swiss Polytechnical School of Lausanne (EPFL) and an MBA from Cornell University, New York.

Besides volunteering for the SSNY, Marie-Helene enjoys contemporary arts, traveling the world, food, dance and yoga.

She lived in Long Island City, NY with her Walliser husband and Basler son.

Markus Leu
Independent Director

Markus, born in the USA and raised in Switzerland, is well versed in both European and American cultures.

During his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration at ZHAW in Winterthur, he volunteered for the student association AIESEC, fostering connections and promoting cultural understanding.

Having already successfully relocated from Switzerland to Boston in 2016, Markus now currently resides in New York City as of 2021.

He is often engaged in one of many hobbies, such as kicking the ball with the Swiss Soccer Club of New York City, playing foosball, and hiking, while also immersing himself in the city's multicultural atmosphere. Speaking Swiss German, German, French, and learning Russian, Markus has an innate passion for engaging with various cultures.

Markus' contribution to the Swiss Drinks NYC community led him to join the board of the Swiss Society of New York in 2023 as an independent director, where he is looking forward to engaging the community, and helping to organize a broad spectrum of events.

Maria Fariello
Independent Director

Maria is from a small village near Aarau. Upon graduating with her Matura, she moved to New York to work full-time as a professional fashion model, where she walked New York Fashion Week for several seasons. After a few years in the city, she returned to Switzerland to pursue her academic interests and graduated from the University of Zurich with a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Mathematics. She eventually moved back to New York to complete her Master's degree at Columbia University. Today, she works in risk management at a joint venture between a tech firm and a hedge fund.

In her private life, Maria enjoys traveling, speaks five languages and is currently learning Spanish. She plays tennis, practices yoga and enjoys skiing in the winter. She has been part of the organizing committee of a charity ball in New York City for the past couple of years and volunteers for an organization that helps people in the city who are at risk of social vulnerability.

She joined the Swiss Society as an independent director in 2023.