05/25/2018

The general meetings of Ethos Foundation and Ethos Services will take place on the 14th of June in Fribourg. These meetings are an important milestone in Ethos’ history. Dr Dominique Biedermann, the last remaining Ethos founding member will not stand for re-election after 21 years of continuous engagement in favour of Ethos’ development. The boards of directors propose to appoint Dr Rudolf Rechsteiner as Chairman of Ethos Foundation and Ms Beth Krasna as Chairwoman of Ethos Services. The boards are convinced that these two personalities will actively contribute to maintaining Ethos’ strong presence as a major institution in the socially responsible investment field in Switzerland. 

Following a successful 2017 financial year during which Ethos group’s net income was up 26% to CHF 335'000 and the group’s equity reached almost CHF 5 million, Dominique Biedermann decided that the timing was right to hand over the organisation to the next generation. Ethos founder said “Now is the time for Ethos Services to expand its innovative role in terms of socially responsible investment, while preserving the values enshrined in Ethos’ Charter”.

The boards have decided to appoint two different persons to the chairmanships of Ethos Foundation and Ethos Services. In light of the significant development of Ethos Services, the specific roles of each board have been specified. Ethos Foundation is responsible for the strategic orientation of the organization, while Ethos Services proposes an extensive range of high quality services in the field of socially responsible investment.

Dedicated individuals

Dr Rudolf Rechsteiner will be proposed to Ethos Foundation’s annual general meeting as the new board chairman. As a member of the Swiss parliament from 1995 to 2010 and then of Basel’s parliament from 2012 to 2017, Dr Rechsteiner is well known as a renewable energy specialist, a topic on which he has published several works. In the context of his mandate in the Swiss parliament, he has also been an ardent defender of a solid pension system founded on a long term oriented socially responsible asset management. He is currently also chairman of Swissaid and member of the board of directors of Basel’s Utilities.

For Ethos Services, Beth Krasna will be proposed as chairwoman. A chemical engineer EPFZ by training, Ms. Krasna has both an in-depth knowledge of corporate governance and socially responsible investment as well as an extensive experience as a manager and board member of various organisations. She is also a director of Coop, a member of the board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology, as well as Symbiotics, a company specialized in microfinance. She will be called to chair the pursuit of the development and promotion of Ethos Services’ high quality products.

In addition to the two chairpersons, the board of Ethos Foundation proposes to appoint Ms Andrea Frost-Hirschi, vice chairwoman of the board of the Pension Fund of the Canton of Bern (BPK) as a representative of the members of Ethos to its board. Ms Frost is a lawyer and legal counsel of the Bernese section of the Swiss Association of nurses.

Finally, Jean-Louis Rimaz, the statutory representative since 2014 of the pension fund of the Canton of Geneva (CPEG) that was a founding pension fund member of Ethos in 1997, has decided not to stand for re-election to Ethos Foundation’s board. The CEPG has designated Jacques Folly, representative of the insured persons to the CPEG board and vice chairman of the audit and organization committee as its new representative to Ethos Foundation’s board. Mr Folly is a delegate to the economic development council of the Canton of Geneva.

Curriculum vitae
-    Rudolf Rechsteiner
-    Beth Krasna
-    Andrea Frost-Hirschi
-    Jacques Folly

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