Board of directors

gategroup

Timo Vättö

Chairman of the Board

 

He owns Cundo Management AG, a provider of corporate advisory services, and serves on the Board of Directors of Evalueserve Holdings AG and IHAG Holding AG. Previously, he served as Vice Chairman of Aktia Bank plc, Director of Rettig Rroup, Chairman at Altisource Portfolio Solutions SA, KYC Exchange Net and Director at Citibank Switzerland. Prior to 2008, he served 20 years at Citigroup in Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB). He holds a Master of Science, Economics and Business Administration from the University of Tampere, Finland.

Björn Bajan

Member of the Board

 

He is presently Chairman of the Board of Directors of two and a Member of Board of three Swiss or European Corporations and recently stepped down as Vice-Chairman of Susi Partners AG in Zurich, a leading sustainable infrastructure investor. He also serves and served as an Executive General Counsel and Corporate Secretary and Executive Board member in various Swiss listed and non-listed Companies.  

Mr. Bajan holds a degree in Law from the University of Zurich and is a member of the Zurich Bar. Additionally, he earned a Master of Law in international Business Law from the University of London.

Bernie Han

Member of the Board

He served as President and CEO and Frontier Communications from 2019 to 2021, and previously held several senior roles at DISH incl. EVP Strategic Planning, COO and CFO from 2006 to 2018. Prior to DISH, he spent 20 years in the aviation industry holding several senior roles at companies such as American West Airlines, Northwest Airlines and American Airlines. He holds a Master of Business Administration, Master of Electrical Engineering and Bachelor of Science degrees from Cornell University, USA.

Uwe Krueger

Member of the Board

 

Prior to Temasek, Dr. Krueger was CEO of WS Atkins plc. from June 2011 to July 2017 and from February 2010 to July 2011, he was President of Cleantech Switzerland, additionally serving as Senior Advisor for TPG Capital and up to September 2009, he was CEO of Oerlikon Group.

Dr. Krueger began his career at the international strategy consulting firm A.T. Kearney, followed by several positions at Hochtief AG, an $18 billion international provider of construction and engineering services. Posts during his 10 years at Hochtief AG included SVP and Chairman of Turner International (a subsidiary of Hochtief AG); CEO of Central Eastern Europe and SVP of Corporate Development. 

At the University of Frankfurt, Dr. Krueger received his undergraduate degree in Physics and Business Administration and his PhD in Complex System Theory and Brain Research. He also worked on various research assignments at Columbia University and Ecole Normale Superieur. As an honorary professor of Physics, he lectures at the University of Frankfurt. He also holds an Honorary Doctorate at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. In 2016 he won the ACE European CEO of the Year award.

Vivian Lam

Member of the Board

She is a home- grown seasoned private equity investor with 20 years direct investment experience and has been active in promoting Green Finance and ESG. Prior to joining RRJ, Vivian spent more than 11 years working in the Hong Kong
and Shanghai offi ces of GE and GE Capital, and 1.5 years at PwC. She is a Chartered Accountant and Financial Analyst (CFA) and holds an MBA from
Chicago Booth School of Business and a BBA from the University of Hong Kong with First Class Honors.

Richard Ong

Member of the Board

Prior to founding the RRJ Group, Mr. Ong was a co-founder and chief executive officer of HOPU. He served as gategroup’s chairman of the board from April 2019 until June 2021. Prior to 2008, Mr. Ong had a 15-year career with Goldman Sachs. Based in Beijing, he was partner and co-head of the Asian Investment Banking Division (ex-Japan). He became a managing director of Goldman Sachs in 1996 and a partner in 2000. Mr. Ong was also a member of the Goldman Sachs Asian Management Committee. Prior to his transfer to Goldman Sachs Gaohua Securities Co. Ltd. in Beijing, he was the co-president of Goldman Sachs Singapore. Richard also has experience working in Hong Kong, and prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Mr. Ong worked in New York City for Chase Manhattan Bank and Prudential-Bache Capital Funding. Mr. Ong graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science and MBA from the University of Chicago.

Andreas Schmid

Member of the Board

In 2008 Andreas Schmid was elected into the Board of Steiner AG and two years later into the Board of Wirz Partner Holding AG, where he has served as Chairman of the Board since 2017. In 2014 he was named Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Avenir Suisse and in 2017 was elected to the Board of The Radisson Hotel Group. Formerly, Mr. Schmid was Chairman of gategroup from 2009 until 2015.
He was appointed Chairman and CEO of Barry Callebaut AG 1999, where he subsequently served as Vice-Chairman until 2014 and thereafter as member of the Board of Directors until 2017. Between 2002 and 2006 Mr. Schmid chaired the Board of Directors of Kuoni Travel Holding AG and between 2007 and 2011, he chaired the Supervisory Board of Symrise AG. Mr. Schmid holds a master’s degree in law (lic. iur.) from the University of Zurich, where he also studied economics and management.

Christoph Schmitz

Chief Executive Officer, Member of the Board

Prior to his appointment, he served as gategroup’s Chief Financial Officer since January 2015. Before joining gategroup, he was CFO at Wild Flavors, an international supplier of ingredients to the food and beverage industry, where he successfully implemented a private equity-supported buy, build and exit strategy. Prior to this Mr. Schmitz held various C-level roles at several multinational companies in North America, Australia, Germany and India. Mr. Schmitz has over 20 years of experience in executive management roles, holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and an M.Sc.
in Business Management.

Thomas Weyer

Member of the Board

From 2008 to 2010, he served as Chief Operating Officer of Munich Airport GmbH, and from 2004 to 2008 as Managing Director of Berlin Airports GmbH and member of the Supervisory Board of Globeground Berlin GmbH. Prior to joining Berlin Airports, he served 14 years at HOCHTIEF AirPort and Infrastructure, HOCHTIEF AG, Philipp Holzmann AG and Mobay Corporation. He holds an MBA from Duquesne University, a Master’s in Civil and Struct. Engineering (Dipl.-Ing.) from TU Aachen and studies in marketing and fi nance from the University of Evansville, USA.