Brendan Karch is Interim CEO at Swissnex in Boston and New York. He joined Swissnex at the Boston office in 2021 to lead academic engagement and more recently took on the role of Chief of Staff and Head of Research. As an American he has long nurtured a passion for connecting Switzerland and Central Europe with the US in education and research. He earned a PhD in German history at Harvard University, and previously served as a tenured professor at Louisiana State University, and as Executive Director of the Central European History Society.

Martina Peter is head of the Ecological Genetics group at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL. Her research focuses on various aspects of the symbiotic interaction between forest fungi and trees, the so-called ectomycorrhizal symbiosis. She is particularly interested in how ectomycorrhizal communities and populations function and adapt to changing environmental conditions, and what role they play in drought resistance and resilience of forest ecosystems.

Head of Science and Technology Office at the Embassy of Switzerland in South Korea and part of Swissnex since 2017, Alessandra Apicella is a passionate physicist and materials scientist that over her career has blended academic rigor with industry collaboration in an open innovation landscape. Her interest in international cooperation has been clear since her Master in Physics and PhD in Material Engineering in Italy when she was exchange student and then visiting scientist at the Institut de Nanoscience de Paris of Paris VI and the Institute of Nanoscience for Nanomedicine of Oxford University.

Emilia Pasquier is the CEO of Swissnex San Francisco. Her mission is to connect Switzerland with Silicon Valley and San Francisco—the dynamic heart of innovation and the birthplace of AI—in education, research, and cutting-edge technology. Before taking on her current role, Emilia served as the Policy Advisor to the Swiss President and Minister of Home Affairs, Alain Berset. She also led foraus – the Swiss Think Tank for Foreign Policy as Managing Director for four years and served as Deputy Secretary General at the International Chamber of Commerce Switzerland, as well as Focal Point for the UN Global Compact Switzerland.

Felix Moesner is CEO and Consul at Swissnex in Japan. He holds a PhD in robotics and is a graduate of ETH Zurich, MIT, and the University of Tokyo. He acquired comprehensive experience in working with professionals of governmental, private, and academic sectors in the economic superpowers that are the US, Japan, and China. He worked as Science Counsellor at the Embassy of Switzerland in Japan, continued as CEO of Swissnex in Boston and New York, and as CEO of Swissnex in China afterwards.

Jonas Brunschwig is CEO of Swissnex in India and Consul General of Switzerland. Prior to joining the team in India, he led Swissnex’s academic portfolio in Boston for six years. He is a graduate of MIT, where he studied innovation ecology, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. He also held positions at MIT in fundraising, at the Boston Global Forum in international affairs, and at Uncharted Play (now Uncharted Power) in social entrepreneurship.