Startups attract prominent leaders to their board of directors

Some of Switzerland’s renowned entrepreneurs and industry experts have taken on new roles in Swiss startups. Pascal Koenig co-founder of Ava Women has joined the Scailyte’s Board of directors while Former SAP and Hewlett-Packard CEO Léo Apotheker took his seat in Appway.

Scailyte uses single-cell technologies and AI to discover biomarkers for diseases in oncology and immunology. The company’s proprietary single-cell data analysis platform, ScaiVision delivers best-in-class performance for supervised pattern recognition analysis of single-cell data. the startup has appointed Pascal Koenig to its Board of directors. Koenig is the co-founder of Ava women, a fast-growing health-tech startup offering a digital fertility-tracking solution to women attempting to conceive. Under his tenure at Ava grew the company to over 10 million in revenues, as per 2019 and raised almost USD 100 million of dilutive and non-dilutive funds.  Ava is currently available in 36 countries worldwide. In his new role as a member of the Board at Scailyte, he will support the startup in reaching greater heights. 

Appway attracts former SAP and Hewlett-Packard CEO
Léo Apotheker is the first independent Board member at Appway, a leader in technology for workflow automation in financial services. In June 2020, Appway announced its first external capital raise since its founding in 2003. the company secured a $37 million minority investment from global growth equity firm Summit Partners to support its next phase of growth. With Apotheker, the company has won an experienced industry leader who shares their vision of ’Connecting the Disconnected’ to accelerate the delivery and continuous optimisation of business-critical software applications. Apotheker spent more than 20 years at the German software giant SAP and held the role of the company’s Chief Executive Officer from 2007 through 2010. From 2010 to 2011, he served as Chief Executive Officer and President of Hewlett-Packard Inc. Currently,  Apotheker sits on the boards of a number of leading technology companies, such as Schneider Electric SE, NICE, and Syncron AB.

Sophia Genetics welcomes one of the most influential women in the Bay area
Over the past months, Sophia Genetics, a leader in Data-Driven Medicine, has been growing the number of seats on its Board of Directors (BOD). After Didier Hirsch, former CFO at Agilent, the company has welcomed Kathy L. Hibbs to its BOD and its Audit Committee. Hibbs is an accomplished healthcare technology executive, currently holding the position of Chief Legal and Regulatory Officer at 23andMe, the leading consumer genetics and research company. Regularly recognised as one of the Bay Area's most influential women by both the San Francisco and Silicon Valley Business Journals, Hibbs is ranked by Chambers as among the most influential General Counsels in the US. 

She sits on the boards of Decipher Biosciences, Inc. and Cadex Genomics Inc. During her 15 years' experience as an executive officer and corporate secretary for two public biotechnology companies, Genomic Health, Inc. and Monogram Biosciences, Inc., Hibbs developed her passion for personalized medicine and the power of innovation to improve the lives of patients. She is globally recognised for her effectiveness, having successfully pioneered the first-ever FDA clearance for over-the-counter genetic testing.

Cysec counts on Patrick Nicolet former CTO at Capgemini
Former Capgemini CTO Patrick Nicolet joined the BOD of Cysec, the provider of an innovative cybersecurity risks mitigation solution for the growing Confidential Computing field. With Nicole on board, the start has won an experienced industry expert that brings a wealth of experience in IT and strategic leadership. After working at EY as Partner for three years, Nicolet joined Nicolet Capgemini where he held various executive and strategic positions for over 20 years. Most recently the Capgemini’s CTO. CYSEC SA will leverage his know-how to further advance its agenda, increase market penetration and build new partnerships. 

Newsroom attracts Daniel Buser, chairman of Kongress + Kursaal Bern AG 
Newsroom Communications is one of the first leading points of contact for the conception and implementation of hybrid and virtual events. Among its clients are companies such as Axpo Group, Valiant Bank, Swiss-Ski, the Swiss Economic Forum, BSC Young Boys, Eintracht Frankfurt and Swiss Olympic. Following the outbreak of the pandemic, the Bern-based digital communications agency implemented its first hybrid events. In the past 10 months, the startup implemented more than 40 hybrid or purely virtual events for clients.

Moving forward to support this ongoing growth, the company has strengthened its BOD with the addition of Daniel Buser, professor emeritus in dentistry at the University of Bern. Buser is one of the world's leading specialists in the field of dental implantology and is instrumental in developing Bern into a leading medical center. As Chairman of the Board of Sitem-Insel AG, a modern competence center for translational medicine on the Insel campus, he is helping to promote the transition from medical research to practical applications. He is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the leading event venue in the city of Bern, Kongress + Kursaal Bern AG. Thanks to his work, many international congresses and symposia have been brought to Bern in the past. At Newsroom, Buser will ensure that the virtual implementation of congresses and other events in Bern remains innovative. 

(RAN)