Bad Ragaz Board of Directors Conference

Outlook

The 28th  Bad Ragaz Board of Directors Conference will take place on November 29/30 2024 and the 29th Bad Ragaz Board of Directors Conference on 28/29 November 2025.

Knight Gianella founded the Bad Ragaz Board of Directors Conference in 1997 in cooperation with the ZfU (www.zfu.ch) as an exclusive and strategic platform for boards of directors and CEOs of larger Swiss companies. The focus is on exchanging experiences and discussion in the peer group. The framework for this is provided by live cases presented by sparring partners and moderated breakout sessions on the latest topics in strategic corporate management, developments in corporate governance, and the resulting challenges in board work.

Participation is by personal invitation only.

For information, please contact Sandro V. Gianella.

Looking Back

27th Bad Ragaz Board of Directors Conference on November 24/25, 2023, with the theme: «Standing still is not an option!!»

Fully booked! 80 board members & CEOs accepted our personal invitation. After a brief introduction by Sandro V. Gianella, the event kicked off with keynote speeches by Peter Voser, Chairman of ABB, and Ralph Büchi, Chairman of Axel Springer, each followed by a lively discussion moderated by Roger de Weck. As an introduction to the topic block «Leadership from the top», the results of the Knight Gianella Board of Directors survey 2023/24 (download results) - in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Stefan Michel (from IMD) and then, in the four breakout sessions, the highly topical issues of «AI as the biggest strategy disruption since the Internet», «Will enthusiasm for China increase again in our PRs or will the sentiment of caution towards China continue to grow?», «White West» - Part 3, «Skin in the Game: dealing with conflicting objectives in remuneration» were discussed with the top-class sparring partners.

Under the direction of Roger de Weck, the traditional fireside chat with Prof. Dr. Thomas Jordan, Chairman of the SNB Governing Board, was once again a harmonious highlight on Friday evening, as was the exciting presentation on «Digital Assets - Mass Market or Mass Illusion» by Dr. Thomas Wellauer, Chairman of SIX, and the subsequent discussion led by Roger de Weck on Saturday morning as part of the Leaders Breakfast.

The CEOs of Beyond Gravity, the Bossard Group and the President of the Swiss Ski Association gave extremely interesting presentations on how to deal with the transformation, which were then discussed. The «final bouquet» was delivered for the first time by Dr. Markus Somm with his reflections on economic and national policy.

Of central importance for all participants was, on the one hand, the space for reflection as well as the personal exchange of experiences and ideas, and on the other hand, of course, the opportunity to network among themselves in the peer group at the highest level.