Sascha Zahnd is to lead digitalswitzerland
Sascha Zahnd is to take over the management of digitalswitzerland on July 1st. The former close employee of Elon Musk succeeds Ivo Furrer. Furrer will remain with the location initiative as a board member.
The digitalswitzerland general assembly is called upon to approve a change at the top of the location initiative: Sascha Zahnd is to take over the presidency of the executive committee on July 1, informs digitalswitzerland in a message . The Bernese succeeds Ivo Furrer. Furrer had already announced when he took office that he would give up the presidency after three years in office.
By the end of 2020, Zahnd was "one of the closest employees of Tesla founder Elon Musk", the message further explains. At Tesla , the designated President of digitalswitzerland had acted as European boss and Vice President Global Supply Chain. Zahnd had previously worked for ETA SA Manufacture Horlogère Suisse and IKEA . He is currently active for mytheresa.com and Valora AG , among others.
"Sascha Zahnd is one of the most impressive top managers in Switzerland with a lot of international experience," Marc Walder, founder of digitalswitzerland, is quoted in the press release. The designated president of the location initiative stands for “innovation, transformation and entrepreneurship”. According to Walder, digitalswitzerland wants to continue campaigning for the country's digital transformation. Here the pandemic "relentlessly exposed Switzerland's existing weaknesses".
Ivo Furrer will stay on digitalswitzerland as a member of the board of directors. The vice presidency is to remain with the FDP National Council (SG) and entrepreneur Marcel Dobler.